UK Price Rises

The price rise is ridiculous. At least keep it constant across the board Sonos. I certainly won't be adding to my system anymore and will look to other streaming solutions. It's a shame, but I can see a lot of shops stopping to stock Sonos as demand falls.

I don't think I have read as much garbage on any thread ever as on this one.

Sonos wants to maximise its profits in the UK (as everywhere), as it should do. The new prices are those at which it thinks it will do so, in the current situation. It makes not a blind bit of difference whether or not this is really currency / Brexit related. Sonos is entitled to list its products at any prices it wants, and if it gets it wrong, it will suffer. That is commercial reality. It doesn't HAVE to justify its strategy to anyone. Nobody HAS to buy the products.

There is no inalienable human right to buy Sonos at a particular price. To read the nonsense written by so many people on this thread you'd think there were.

And as for those who have never even run a whelk stall but think they are better judges of Sonos' business strategy than the entrepreneurs who have built a multi-billion dollar business... well, the arrogance is staggering.

And one final point for all those saying the increases are suicide. Denon, Yamaha, Bluesound, Bose.... which of these competitors has its costs denominated in sterling? They are all feeling the currency pain in the UK. Will their strategy be to absorb the currency losses to steal market share? Or will they follow with their own price hikes? I have no idea - this is business and it is tough and competitive. But let's see how competitive or otherwise Sonos' prices look in a few months.

For avoidance of doubt I'm am not trying to defend the price increase, nor criticise it. I have no idea if it is a good or bad decision. It's the spectacular ignorance of business and the stupidity of so much of the comment as a result, that makes me want to scream.

Rant over.

As always needs to be said in these pricing threads, directly comparing the price in a country with a VAT calculated into the price vs. the US listing is quite unfair. Sales tax in the US is collected by the states, not the federal government, and the rate varies from zero up to nearly 10%. As such, it is never added to the list price, it is calculated at time of sale. So for a true apples to oranges price comparison, one must delete the VAT from the price before comparing to the US listing.

Whoops, make that "apples to apples" above.

There is no VAT on apples.

The market will find its own level however I see an opportunity being created for a grey market in components sourced outside of the UK.

FlyingScot wrote:

There is no VAT on apples.

The market will find its own level however I see an opportunity being created for a grey market in components sourced outside of the UK.

Except that you will still only get 2.1 Matabele Gumbo Beans to the £ when trying to buy abroad. Isn't that the point?

John B wrote:

I don't think I have read as much garbage on any thread ever as on this one.

Sonos wants to maximise its profits in the UK (as everywhere), as it should do. The new prices are those at which it thinks it will do so, in the current situation. It makes not a blind bit of difference whether or not this is really currency / Brexit related. Sonos is entitled to list its products at any prices it wants, and if it gets it wrong, it will suffer. That is commercial reality. It doesn't HAVE to justify its strategy to anyone. Nobody HAS to buy the products.

There is no inalienable human right to buy Sonos at a particular price. To read the nonsense written by so many people on this thread you'd think there were.

And as for those who have never even run a whelk stall but think they are better judges of Sonos' business strategy than the entrepreneurs who have built a multi-billion dollar business... well, the arrogance is staggering.

And one final point for all those saying the increases are suicide. Denon, Yamaha, Bluesound, Bose.... which of these competitors has its costs denominated in sterling? They are all feeling the currency pain in the UK. Will their strategy be to absorb the currency losses to steal market share? Or will they follow with their own price hikes? I have no idea - this is business and it is tough and competitive. But let's see how competitive or otherwise Sonos' prices look in a few months.

For avoidance of doubt I'm am not trying to defend the price increase, nor criticise it. I have no idea if it is a good or bad decision. It's the spectacular ignorance of business and the stupidity of so much of the comment as a result, that makes me want to scream.

Rant over.

Consumers are unhappy about seriously old technology being increased in price by 25%. As much as Sonos are entitled to put their prices up, their customers are entitled to bemoan it.

Deal with it.

alberto98 wrote:

their customers are entitled to bemoan it.

UK wanted to Brexit, didn't it? Deal with it.

alberto98 wrote:

Consumers are unhappy about seriously old technology being increased in price by 25%. As much as Sonos are entitled to put their prices up, their customers are entitled to bemoan it.

Deal with it.

Seriously old? Play 5 is less than a year old and in the last year alone there have been at least 3 major Software and Firmware release to the system. Plus Sonos is the only multi room speaker manufacturer to be be openly supporting voice control. You may be unhappy but please don't speak for me or many of my friends, and probably the majority of customers, who are quite happy with their "old" technology. One of the beauties of Sonos is that all the "really" old kit (5ys plus) still works.

No I don't like the price rise as it means I may have to buy a playbar now and hide it for a while 😞

alberto98 wrote:

Consumers are unhappy about seriously old technology being increased in price by 25%. As much as Sonos are entitled to put their prices up, their customers are entitled to bemoan it.

Deal with it.

Quite.

Can we have some new products Sonos? The Connect is antique and seriously lacking in functionality. No bathroom speaker. No portable (battery) speaker. No bedside clock/alarm speaker. Controller software that gets poorer with each release. Failure to integrate Apple Music properly. Withdrawal of Audiable support. It seem only playing around with pointless misguided trivia such as speech recognition for the teens is all that matters.

A Serious loss of focus all round. For me (and many others) this is the final straw, whatever the usual evangelists here might believe.

alberto98 wrote:

Consumers are unhappy about seriously old technology being increased in price by 25%. As much as Sonos are entitled to put their prices up, their customers are entitled to bemoan it.

Deal with it.

We are all entitled to be disappointed it's happened. We are all entitled to bemoan / lament this development. But we are also all entitled not to buy the product. If the product is overpriced it won't sell. If it still sells it isn't overpriced because people are still looking at what it has to offer and buying it. Why is that so hard to understand?

page3 wrote:

Can we have some new products Sonos? The Connect is antique and seriously lacking in functionality. No bathroom speaker. No portable (battery) speaker. No bedside clock/alarm speaker. Controller software that gets poorer with each release. Failure to integrate Apple Music properly. Withdrawal of Audiable support. It seem only playing around with pointless misguided trivia such as speech recognition for the teens is all that matters.

A Serious loss of focus all round. For me (and many others) this is the final straw, whatever the usual evangelists here might believe.

Ah, now we understand the real problem with Sonos. You aren't the CEO.

Although.... Sonos is a networked hifi music system and your priorities are for it to produce a non-networked speaker, to invest in reinstating a non-music service, and to tell the time. If ever there were a lack of focus....

I've done a bit of math (can't post it here because it won't get past the Spam filters). Subtracting the difference for the VAT and given the exchange rate as of this AM, the Play:5 - VAT% x exchange rate gives the same price in the UK as the US. Same for the Playbar. Even starting from the US price and adding VAT yields only a £18-20 difference, which could easily be chalked up to shipping expenses, or just plain old "nearest hundred" price rounding.

So the real question to ask is why the hell US residents have been paying so much more than the UK for the last few months!? (Just kidding) 😉

BTW Brits, thanks for the dossier. It's being looked into carefully now. Hope there's something actionable therein!

John B wrote:

page3 wrote:

Can we have some new products Sonos? The Connect is antique and seriously lacking in functionality. No bathroom speaker. No portable (battery) speaker. No bedside clock/alarm speaker. Controller software that gets poorer with each release. Failure to integrate Apple Music properly. Withdrawal of Audiable support. It seem only playing around with pointless misguided trivia such as speech recognition for the teens is all that matters.

A Serious loss of focus all round. For me (and many others) this is the final straw, whatever the usual evangelists here might believe.

Ah, now we understand the real problem with Sonos. You aren't the CEO.

Although.... Sonos is a networked hifi music system and your priorities are for it to produce a non-networked speaker, to invest in reinstating a non-music service, and to tell the time. If ever there were a lack of focus....

Not at all. I suspect in your rush to be unpleasant you forgot to actually read what I wrote.

The disappointment is not a surprise, no one likes paying more money for the same product. But after that natural response, people have the option of buying something else, to the extent there are valid options. I suspect the problem is that in the area of audio there aren't too many even with the higher price point, which may be one reason for more complaints than is the norm?

For now I see that the Sub is still in stock on Amazon UK, for GBP 549. As is other kit.

page3 wrote:

The Connect is antique and seriously lacking in functionality.

May I ask what you think the Connect is designed to do? Because its purpose is to turn a legacy hifi into a Sonos player, which it does as well now as when it was designed. There seems to be a general perception growing that the Connect is supposed to be a general connection hub. It isn't. It is a music streamer that happens to have an analogue line in as a very subsidiary feature.

page3 wrote:

No bathroom speaker

In most countries the Play:1 can be used in a bathroom. Some people use a Connect:Amp and in-ceiling speakers

page3 wrote:

It seem only playing around with pointless misguided trivia such as speech recognition for the teens is all that matters.

Amazon Echo is / was a potential strategic threat to Sonos, and so partnering with them doesn't seem like "playing around".to me

ok understood 🆒

These prices also still available in my country, the UK. But trading on the forum is against forum rules. If you are an authorised Sonos reseller, and wish to remain so, it would probably be in your best interests to delete your post.

alberto98 wrote:

Sonos just added £100 to a 4 year old bit of kit, that is absolute business suicide.

The exchange rate was 1.5 back in Feb 2013 when the playbar was launched. Today's exchange rate is 1.25 - that does not equate to an extra £100!

This will go down in history. Almost comical.

You are correct. That equates to more than £100.

Exrate change plus 20% VAT = a 20% increase.

jgatie wrote:

As always needs to be said in these pricing threads, directly comparing the price in a country with a VAT calculated into the price vs. the US listing is quite unfair. Sales tax in the US is collected by the states, not the federal government, and the rate varies from zero up to nearly 10%. As such, it is never added to the list price, it is calculated at time of sale. So for a true apples to oranges price comparison, one must delete the VAT from the price before comparing to the US listing.

Plus 3.7% import duty to the UK.

John B wrote:

alberto98 wrote:

Consumers are unhappy about seriously old technology being increased in price by 25%. As much as Sonos are entitled to put their prices up, their customers are entitled to bemoan it.

Deal with it.

We are all entitled to be disappointed it's happened. We are all entitled to bemoan / lament this development. But we are also all entitled not to buy the product. If the product is overpriced it won't sell. If it still sells it isn't overpriced because people are still looking at what it has to offer and buying it. Why is that so hard to understand?

Whether something is overpriced is a subjective assessment. I personally think the PlayBar was grossly overpriced as it was, now it's just up there in la la land. Others I know think it's the best device available for what it does (granted I haven't yet met one who's heard anything else).

People will always buy Sonos, it's a luxury mass produced consumer item like Apple, many people buy for the brand not the product - you could stick a dog poop on a popsicle stick, shove an apple logo on it and people will buy it, Sonos is no different - it has it's loyal fans. That is how branding works.

It's like Beats headphones, most of us know they sound crap, and better headphones can be had for considerably less money but hey, lots of people on the beats forum will disagree until death.

But more to the point, why does this bother you? You are not the CEO, you are not a shareholder, you have nothing to defend. If you are happy with the price rise and think it's still wonderful value that's your right.

But don't bemoan people who think Sonos are taking the proverbial. You'd be better off just ignoring the thread (and the press).

For what it's worth, the price of Sonos products in Canada rose substantially when the Canadian dollar fell against the US dollar. The C$ was at par until late 2013, with its decline accelerating in mid-2014. However, if I recall correctly, Sonos held off on price increases for a while.

Fully agree with you all in the UK, Sonos what are you playing at?!! Sometimes price rises are inevitable, but what I see is a short sighted decision no doubt to increase prices on OLD technology (some comments have also picked up on this), BIG mistake!! The size of the rises is a joke and I'm sure consumers will research other brands and products more closely before purchasing. I bought into the Sonos eco system like you all and had planned to buy another Play5 and Connect:AMP to run a turntable through. Where is the innovation with Sonos like with Apple? It's too thin (update app and new Play5 in 2015, whoohoo) I would like to see a Play 1 with battery hot shoe to take anywhere (Bose have a battery powered Smart Touch speaker). The rises will hurt business I'm sure in the UK, rises are no way to attract new customers, keep loyal customers and see repeat purchases. Oh dear, own goal!

JohnnyGUK wrote:

Fully agree with you all in the UK, Sonos what are you playing at?!! Sometimes price rises are inevitable, but what I see is a short sighted decision no doubt to increase prices on OLD technology (some comments have also picked up on this), BIG mistake!! The size of the rises is a joke and I'm sure consumers will research other brands and products more closely before purchasing. I bought into the Sonos eco system like you all and had planned to buy another Play5 and Connect:AMP to run a turntable through. Where is the innovation with Sonos like with Apple? It's too thin (update app and new Play5 in 2015, whoohoo) I would like to see a Play 1 with battery hot shoe to take anywhere (Bose have a battery powered Smart Touch speaker). The rises will hurt business I'm sure in the UK, rises are no way to attract new customers, keep loyal customers and see repeat purchases. Oh dear, own goal!

As stated above, the UK have been getting a huge price break for a few months compared to the US:

jgatie wrote:

I've done a bit of math (can't post it here because it won't get past the Spam filters). Subtracting the difference for the VAT and given the exchange rate as of this AM, the Play:5 - VAT% x exchange rate gives the same price in the UK as the US. Same for the Playbar. Even starting from the US price and adding VAT yields only a £18-20 difference, which could easily be chalked up to shipping expenses, or just plain old "nearest hundred" price rounding.

And this is not even figuring in the 3.7% import duty. So you are welcome for the price break, while we here in the states were paying what you are finally paying now!