News - TV prices to soar in 2009 as a result of the plummeting pound

[HEXUS]

Sony announced that its products could see a 30 per cent price increase in 2009, and other Asian manufacturers look set to follow suit.

Read more.

[MadduckUK]

oh noes - we better all run out and get one now then?

[kalniel]

oh noes - we better all run out and get one now then?

Good idea - all the people bound to be made redundant can at least console themselves with the thought they'll have more time to watch a shiny new TV

[TheBuZZard]

Dont we already pay more than Asia/US anyway? Another shabby excuse.

[shaithis]

Dont we already pay more than Asia/US anyway? Another shabby excuse.

What ever the reasons were before for high prices (high VAT, poor export market etc), the recent drop in the pound was inevitably going to effect highstreet electronics prices sooner or later....probably the only reason its taken longer then computer hardware to increase in price is due to how long it takes to shift stock.

[Saracen]

Well, exchange rates would certainly generally make imported goods cost more.

On the other hand, a recession, increasing unemployment, crashing consumer confidence and so on will all lower demand. If suppliers try to increase prices right when demand, worldwide not just here, is falling they're REALLY going to have a problem .... namely, where to store all those increasingly expensive consumer appliances they can no longer sell.

If this recession ends up as bad as it looks like it might, expect to see some big names going out of business, and others getting consolidated. If MFI can go under, and Woolworths can go under, and even GM etc., have to go cap-in-hand (even if the tactless morons went begging via executive jet ) to the taxpayer, there's no reason to suppose the like of Sony are exempt.

Will prices of many goods go up? Yeah, probably. But we are also (IMHO) going to see vicious competition for customers over the next year or two, depending on just how bad things get.

And as for how bad things might get, the Madoff affair is likely to SERIOUSLY not help. That's the equivalent of waiting for someone to collapse in the street with a heart attack, and then 'helping' by kicking him in the balls .... with steel toecap boots on. What worries me is whether the Madoff affair is just a (huge) scandal, or just the first of a series of such scandals.

[Plazek]

MFI and Woolworths have been in trouble for a long time anyway.

[Saracen]

True enough, Plazek.

I guess my more general point was that times have changed, and are likely to change a fair bit more next year. Exchange rates are certainly one impact on prices, but so are levels of consumer demand, restrictions on credit, and a general lack of confidence resulting in falling consumer spend. It's hard to predict the overall result, but some pressures will be upwards on prices ..... and others downwards.

[aidanjt]

Britain (and Ireland, for that matter) has been ripped off for long enough by several industries. Now times are hard for everyone, so with any luck, consumers will stand their ground and they'll have to bring prices inline with the rest of Europe.

[Brewster0101]

Britain (and Ireland, for that matter) has been ripped off for long enough by several industries. Now times are hard for everyone, so with any luck, consumers will stand their ground and they'll have to bring prices inline with the rest of Europe.

Consumers in the UK won't stand their ground. We never stand our ground. We let anything and everone walk all over us.

Prices will go up, people will pay these prices.