LUW said:From the pic it looks like only Buenos Aires will get a boutique :'( .
Axel66 said:For me in Europe that might be bad news!
Why?
Seikos are much higher priced here and there can be some trouble with customs if you want to import one, as they might send the to Seiko to check if it's a fake (at least I know, that things like that happened in Germany). Well as long as this watch is only available outside Europe, Seiko will not make any trouble, but if the same model is sold considerably higher here in Europe the Japanese dealer might be pressurized by Seiko.
Cheers,
Axel
I've been wondering about the same point that Axel raised. Once Seiko goes international with GS, they may force our well-known JDM dealers (at least the ones who are Seiko authorized dealers) to stop selling GS watches to foreign customers. I think Seiko was ok with these guys selling GS watches abroad because they weren't competing with Seiko's distribution abroad, but once GS becomes an international line, Seiko may not ignore this anymore. This is why I viewed the news of GS becoming international as bad news...markrlondon said:I understand that a Seiko boutique will be coming to London. Should be nice to browse but unless I win the lottery I expect I'll be be more likely to make actual purchases from certain well known Japanese online vendors.
Isthmus said:While I am all for Seiko finally making available their high end stock internationally, I don't know if I like the substantial price hike involved. Also I have to ask, Wasn't credor specifically designed to be Seiko's international high end brand? It's pretty crazy that Credor never really left japan in any real quantity and now GS is doing so. Are the boutiques carrying Credor as well?
You're assuming that Seiko will still let the amigos sell GS abroad. I'm not so sure - they basically become gray market dealers once Seiko starts distributing GS internationally themselves.minidriver said:In terms of price hikes, this is why our 3 online amigos from Japan are for. ;D
ocularguy said:You're assuming that Seiko will still let the amigos sell GS abroad. I'm not so sure - they basically become gray market dealers once Seiko starts distributing GS internationally themselves.
This is certainly a risk but I don't think it will materialise for two reasons:ocularguy said:I've been wondering about the same point that Axel raised. Once Seiko goes international with GS, they may force our well-known JDM dealers (at least the ones who are Seiko authorized dealers) to stop selling GS watches to foreign customers.
I don't see a problem with that. There is probably enough margin overall to support a grey dealer tier just as with other manufacturers' watches. I.e. The Japanese ADs sell to grey dealers who then do the international distribution.ocularguy said:they basically become gray market dealers once Seiko starts distributing GS internationally themselves.
This is only if the boutiques and the Japanese online vendors target the same customer segments. The fact is, however, that they do not (as far as I can see).ocularguy said:What you'll see happening is that the US outlets will start complaining about being undermined by Seiko ADs in Japan who divert goods to the US at a lower price
What you'll see happening is that some people will go to the boutiques to check out the watches and try them on. Then they will try to haggle on the prices based on what they can get from the amigos. Then they will tell the boutique people thanks, but no thanks, I'm going to order it from the guy in Japan. After this happens a few times, the boutiques will contact Seiko Japan and tell them to get their act together on the channel conflict. It's pretty much unavoidable in my view... Even if most boutique customers are not WIS and not aware of the Japanese dealers, the minority who are and who will open their mouth at the boutiques will be enough to make the boutique people think that they're losing a lot of potential business and that this problem needs to be fixed.markrlondon said:This is only if the boutiques and the Japanese online vendors target the same customer segments. The fact is, however, that they do not (as far as I can see).
WISs buy from the Japanese online vendors but it's the non-WIS wealthy who are targetted by the boutiques. The non-WIS wealthy vastly outnumber us WISs (whether or not we are wealthy).