←back to thread

689 points taubek | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.559s | source
Show context
phkahler ◴[] No.43636256[source]
I've always wondered why the supply chain has exponential price increase at each step. The example given (guessed at) is the factory produces the shoe for $12.5 and sells it to Nike for $25. Nike then sells it to Footlocker for $50 and they then sell to a customer for $100. Everyone expects to mark up their costs by about 100 percent. Why is that the case? Even if we say the markup isn't 100 percent, why is it a percentage of cost at all? If the shoe factory can make $12 then why can't Nike and Footlocker both make $12 and retail the shoe for $50?

I'm not saying things should be different, just wondering why it is the way it is. If Footlocker was also selling some cheapo shoe for $50 presumably they do the same amount of work to bring that to the store. Are they only paying $25 for those? Why does it cost half for them to handle a cheaper shoe?

replies(8): >>43636287 #>>43636525 #>>43636532 #>>43636887 #>>43640309 #>>43640417 #>>43641310 #>>43642290 #
1. gnfedhjmm2 ◴[] No.43636525[source]
Because then one unit of thing is theoretically one standard deviation from being profitable. So you can have a break even price.
replies(1): >>43638409 #
2. phkahler ◴[] No.43638409[source]
Can you clarify that? It sounds like there may be theory behind it, or are you trolling?