UK 2010 Budget.

[r0lan6]

Quite happy to hear that our government will not be increasing the tobacco tax this month... yet. However I think 20% on VAT is enough to get me thinking of stocking up on sticks before Christmas.

[Glo0]

yeah i know i ended doing a dance for a few customers, no need to reprice the shop........yet.

[Paulie]

Say the increase on cigars was 1%. Would that mean you would increase your prices by 1% and that would cover the increase in tax while maintaining the level of profit you make.

Is the 1% increase at the POS or at the source thus the shop pays the extra 1% on the cost price or the customer does?

I am not knocking this, but if it is at the source for the shop, then a 1% increase on the retail price would be more than the 1% the shop pays, so more profit per stick for the shop.

Always wanted to know that one. Same for fuel and alcohol.

[Glo0]

A lot of products would need changing, when you only make 8-10% on cigarettes that 1% makes all the difference. Also it reflects the prices we have to pay for them, so a lot of suppliers increase there prices. With fuel added it often makes a differnce of paying more for products.

Most gantry products are magneti numbers so thats easy. Other pos i print my self about 21 tags per sheet of A4. The biggest ball ache is time, waiting for pricelists from everyone so you can begin to work it all out.

We have 2-3 rounds of price increases throughout the year from almost everyone already, so its a nightmare. i have folders full of price lists and a laptop full of spreadsheets.

No if cigarettes and tobacco are your bread and butter products then 1% is worth the time & small costs

[Lee Nub]

Vat increase and decreases are a pain for us retailers. I have several thousand items in stock, all of which need re-pricing and the epos system updating. When Vat went back up to 17.5 I staggered my price increase over 2 months and took the hit myself. I will probably do the same next year with this one

It was encouraging to see the government taking control, I don't watch the markets anymore but do closely watch currencies. Just before the budget, sterling/dollar was dropping down to 1.46840. It is up to 1.48540. Let's hope this has encouraged traders and investors and they start to see sterling as a safer currency againm

[Paulie]

I must admit I had not thought about the merchandising side of things and the advertising changes etc to reflect the new prices. It must be a real pain in the neck to change every price.