Dunhill Pricing Policy

flmason · Oct 1, 2013

Just a note which might help others.
I contacted Cup O Joes yesterday to order a Dunhill Pipe. I spoke to a member of management and was told their normal policy of discounting prices could not be shown directly on their website. Their normal discount rate was applied to my purchase and my order was shipped according to my specifications.
I was told this was per Dunhill directive but that Dunhill does not look at customer invoices.
Be sure to ask your preferred retailer about any discounts that might apply on Dunhill products.
I hope others find this helpful.

taerin · Oct 1, 2013

Something does not sound right here, why order your retailers to not show the discounted prices on their websites? It sounds way to restrictive and ham-stringy to make any sense. Being Dunhill, they certainly have the power to do this, I just don't see any benefit for doing so.

peckinpahhombre · Oct 1, 2013

Many companies refuse to allow distributors to show any discounts below MSRP on their website. I have encountered this many times, most recently on high-end stereo equipment.

captainsousie · Oct 1, 2013

This same policy is pretty common in the music instrument biz. Yamaha was one who for a long time, and to some extent still, would not allow online retailers to advertise prices below the MSRP. The reason for this was so that the B&M shops would have a chance at competing. I would guess something similar is going on here.

peckinpahhombre · Oct 1, 2013

That is one reason I think captain. I think others may be so they can offer different discounts in different geographic regions without having folks see what discounts others are getting. More generally, I think also that they may be worried that showing discounts on the internet might contribute to them being viewed as a discounted brand - ie one of those brands that no one would ever pay retail for.

cigrmaster · Oct 1, 2013

When I was buying Castello pipes from Agide in Italy, he never listed his prices, you had to email him and then he would give you the discounted price.
Try getting a discounted price on a Davidoff product, same thing, you have to ask the retailer to do it and in most cases they will.

mso489 · Oct 1, 2013

Dare I ask approximately what an average retailer discount on a new Dunhill might be?

foggymountain · Oct 2, 2013

I think it is 15% max. You can beat that by ordering from James Barber in the UK, a 19th century pipeshop.

pitchfork · Oct 2, 2013

More generally, I think also that they may be worried that showing discounts on the internet might contribute to them being viewed as a discounted brand - ie one of those brands that no one would ever pay retail for.

+1
I wonder if this doesn't apply to all Dunhill products (of which pipes are a small percentage).

namuna · Oct 2, 2013

What Dunhill is doing is actually VERY common in the marketplace. So much so that retailers refer to it as the "MAP" of a product...Minimum Advertised Price.
Companies with a well known brand that KNOW they have a well known brand are the largest culprits for enforcing a MAP to their products on resellers. It's a means of keeping their "perceived" product value high and at the same time also ensuring stability in pricing across all their official resellers.

dcrguns · Oct 2, 2013

This happens in the firearms industry all the time. Most well known gun manufacturers have a MAP price. If I am contacted directly, I will always sell below the MAP price but I can't advertise it that way on the net. I sell below MAP all the time in my store.

Perique · Oct 2, 2013

Mike, that's an interesting perspective coming from an estate specialist.
I'm wondering if current pricing policies help your business in some ways. There is often a perception (among collectors of anything) that the old stuff is better than the new stuff. In pipes, this is exacerbated by several big-name brands moving production to countries with cheaper labor cost and a perceived quality gap relative to the brand's home country. As pipe making becomes less and less an artisanal craft for the big brands, does that possibly help your business by increasing the demand for estates?

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