I've been reading this with interest. Rancilio got it wrong with the red VINYL covered machine. It seems they dont really look around them or ask their importers and distributors much before making some of their decisions. If I recall correctly, they called it "animal friendly" leather. Machines covered in vinyl etc may look good on display before use, but they can look very very iffy once they have been put to work. Ultimately a coffee machine is a working device and as such will always look better over a period of time, if it has clean simple lines made from materials that are easy to clean and dont scratch or stain easily or take on a drab look. The price of equipment is "self levelling" and depends on a number of factors including the expectations of all the vendors concerned down the chain including the manufacturer at the top of the chain. If an importer or distributor is trying to sell at too high a price, he sells little. Sooner or later the manufacturer, if he is hungry for sales, steps in and advises the importer distributor to lift their game sales wise to help his manufacturing plant along, or he will start looking for others through which to sell. Some manufacturers are dynamic and on the move, and others are only "hobby manufacturers" content to run out a small number of units. Some type of machines are current models of choice in the market selling the most numbers, and others are "specialties" that only run out in very small numbers. Its all an individual thing governed by many factors. The web is a gigantic show room that bombards us with an endless supply of stuff to read and dream about, making it look like everyone is getting into stuff. But for all the hoo haa in the forums about lever machines, unless you are in the southern part of Italy where they are THE commercial espresso machine models of choice, elsewhere they are not much more than a reminder of a bygone era that trickle out in very small numbers by comparison to modern design units. Form a retail point of view, some of these "units" sell in such small numbers that it is hardly worth carrying them in the showroom. That may be why initially, an RRP (recommended retail price) is set at a high level....when a retailer sees the thing sitting there indefinitely with not a bite, usually the price starts to go in a downwards direction. And very often after the unit is sold, it is not replaced because there is no regular income in selling "specialty items" that turn over in miniscule numbers. The reality is, these forums can paint you pictures that simply lie, about what's really going on in the market. And this is also why with very small production / demand models, it isnt worth it for a manufacturer to sell through a system of importers and distributors....the numbers simply arent there.....and nowadays with the advent of the web, it has never been easier for a manufacturter to sell direct to an end user. Some manufacturers use this scenario as a basis for putting out there, that they and their products are so very exclusive that they wont appoint importers and agents because they want to be able to strictly control their own quality and supply....when the other side of the coin actually is, there arent going to be enough numbers in the game for importers to take the products on and the manufacturer will have to go it alone. So really, you can get quite biased outlooks from inside special interest forums, when discussing matters of business and finance. That's really what it all boils down to. Its the vendors choice if they do or dont want to haggle over a price, and a client that wants something, has to find a level of denaro where both he and the vendor are happy and remember, you only see what something is advertised for....you dont know what deal was struck by the individuals concerned in any given purchase / sale. Also of course, if a vendor is happy to let a unit sit in the showroom indefinitely without doing the usual things to try and move it along, then its his right to do so, and a client should be able to find a similar product to buy elsewhere. And of course that takes us back to a manufacturer putting the hard word on an importer that is not doing the numbers....... The machine concept in the picture above looks great. My guess would be it would sell in single numbers to a very very very micro sized part of the market. The price would be high due to micro production and lots of hand labour and expensive metals. Most clients I deal with would not be prepared to pay the ransom, and most retailers would never replace the first one they eventually sell with another after it has sold. Products like that are a great talking point in a showroom, but very very few will put their hand in their pocket to buy, and I know of instances where specialty units have been sold at below cost in the end to get them gone.
