Most luxury watches are sold either by a corporate owned retail storefront or through an affiliate authorized dealership such as a jeweler or watch retailer, commonly referred to as AD. Clients expect full service sales at an AD and generally a sales associate will be well informed in certain brands of watches. Customers typically pay for items at listed retail price but there is some room for discounts, especially for those who are repeat customers. However, like any retail good, a watch will have a depreciation factor associated with it. That means when you walk out of the store with a fancy packaged watch, it has likely lost a certain percentage of retail value instantly. That is a retail margin that sustains livelihood of ADs but that is an instant loss to your personal net worth. There are ways around to limiting this loss, which I will address on a future blog post, but despite this well known fact, most watch buyers prefer to use an AD or visit the brand’s retail experience store. So what drives this loss-inducing behavior among the sophisticated and savvy retail buyer?
Here are Four reasons:
1. Lack of Knowledge – Either a first time buyer or someone not familiar with the nuances of types, styles and movements tend to prefer the familiarity of a retail showroom and sales person’s advice.
2. Scared to buy elsewhere – There is a vast network of professional dealers and private individuals who sell watches at significantly discounted prices, but since scammers are everywhere, most buyers are simply scared to look anywhere outside an trusted source.
3. Is ok to overpay for goods – Someone who is ready to put down a few thousand dollars on a wristwatch is probably not too concerned with overpaying for luxury asset.
4. Prefers convenience – Since a retail store offers a physical presence to view the watch, feel it, and know it is genuine, most don’t wish to be bothered to venture out of this comfort zone to find similar watches at significantly reduced price.
At SparkwithLark, we advice clients across Canada and USA on sourcing the right watch at the right price through our established network among alternate dealers and private individuals. If you are curious to hear how to save on your next luxury watch purchase, give us a shout on askus@sparkwithlark.com.
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