3 ms·

is there branding to this? Because if Vitamin C is 10 bucks in bulk and 100 bucks in drug stores I'm about to open a 50 bucks vitamin C store in the US. Competi

is there branding to this? Because if Vitamin C is 10 bucks in bulk and 100 bucks in drug stores I'm about to open a 50 bucks vitamin C store in the US. Competition generally eliminates these kinds of margins. Quick check here on the German Amazon you can get Vitamin C ranging from 13€/kilogram to 117€/kilogram, they show that ratio explicitly. If people want to pay 10x for the fancy bottle and name they can but I don't think they lack the alternatives.

Animats 5y ago
Competition generally eliminates these kinds of margins. That's last-century thinking, from when manufacturing cost dominated. Today, it's all about building a monopoly and crushing any new entrants. Comcast. Apple. Google. Facebook. CVS. The US is down to four big banks.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  Four big banks, but I don't see much competitive advantage to having such large banks. In fact, many people choose one of the thousands of smaller, regional banks because customer service or services in general are better.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    US has more banks than any other country by a factor of 10. Now, they may not all be retail banks, but still, there’s more choice in the US than elsewhere. Then there’s credit unions too. https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/what-country-has-the-most-banks/#:~:text=Based%20on%20a%20comparison%20of,and%20Lesotho%20with%204.00%20banks https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/what-country-has-the-mos....
- Barrin92 5y ago
  That's not last century thinking. You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. You're not even forced to buy an an expensive Apple or Google phone. You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs. They reason why people are running around with 1k phones is because it's a status symbol. It's exactly this century where you can buy anything at manufacturing cost from India or China if you want to, there's an entire political class upset about it. I mean I'll give you Comcast, ISPs in the US in particular seem bad, but otherwise? Digital and electronic goods in particular have been driven down to the marginal cost of production, that's why 90% of the former are free.
  - bjourne 4y ago
    Do you have any idea on how I can avoid the excessive interest rate the bank charges on my mortgage? :) Yes I checked, other banks loans are just as expensive. So it seems I'm not able to buy loans at "manufacturing cost" and neither am I able to buy gas or electricity for minimal cost.
    - aj7 4y ago
      Never walk into a BANK and apply for a loan. Use one, or better, a number of mortgage brokers. Make a spreadsheet. Add in all garbage fees. Estimate the life of the loan. Now calculate real APR. Points and garbage fees dominate if you’re going to sell or refinance in a few years.
    - briandear 4y ago
      You could get a loan at prime rate if you were a bank. You likely aren’t a bank, so a retail loan is what you get. Prime rate is the interest to the bank. Retail rates are higher because there are costs associated with your loan. Those costs also include the degree of risk to the bank.
  - BbzzbB 4y ago
    >You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs Two weeks ago I got a "9.5" (looks brand new, battery too) used Pixel 3a for 100$ on eBay. It's a perfectly fine phone with picture/video quality undersold by it's camera pixel count.
    - regularfry 4y ago
      ...that's out of android updates as of this month. The specs are fine, the security isn't, and that's the problem.
      - BbzzbB 4y ago
        Very fair.
  - 4y ago
- daniel-cussen 4y ago
  Yeah I just mentioned Comcast and a hospital, along with Wells Fargo. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31384732 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31384732 "Don't say the money is like magnetically charged. It's not the money is attracted to the north. It's the people, an asshole whose idea of invention is coming up with excuses, couldn't come up with shit if he cleaned up after his dog for once. Wants what is rightfully for innovators (creation of wealth that can scale, through thought that can be imprinted many times) and tries to corner a market. It always has a name, it's not an organic thing, there is always a guilty party. Not ISP's, Comcast. Not local banking, Wells Fargo. Not healthcare, Christus. Say it, corner the market. They're trying to corner the market. The markets have been cornered."
- bluedino 4y ago
  7-11 came out with their own brand chips, donuts, etc a few years ago. It's every hit as expensive as the brand name stuff was.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Costs of goods sold always dominates. Comcast, Apple, Google, and Facebook are all who they are because they manufacture the thing they're selling for cheaper than anyone else can. Whether that "thing" is last mile connectivity, iPhones, or segmented advertising eyeballs.
tsimionescu 4y ago
Where will you sell this? Will the people normally buying supplements buy from you?
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
The branded products (EmergenC and such) come with more of a markup But Vitamin C in general is an extremely cheap compound. The costs are going to be in things like packaging, shipping, warehousing, shelf space, accounting for lost shipments and returns, and similar overhead. For simple products that overhead can be orders of magnitude more than the core product.

Animats 5y ago

Competition generally eliminates these kinds of margins. That's last-century thinking, from when manufacturing cost dominated. Today, it's all about building a monopoly and crushing any new entrants. Comcast. Apple. Google. Facebook. CVS. The US is down to four big banks.

jjeaff 5y ago
Four big banks, but I don't see much competitive advantage to having such large banks. In fact, many people choose one of the thousands of smaller, regional banks because customer service or services in general are better.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  US has more banks than any other country by a factor of 10. Now, they may not all be retail banks, but still, there’s more choice in the US than elsewhere. Then there’s credit unions too. https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/what-country-has-the-most-banks/#:~:text=Based%20on%20a%20comparison%20of,and%20Lesotho%20with%204.00%20banks https://www.helgilibrary.com/charts/what-country-has-the-mos....
Barrin92 5y ago
That's not last century thinking. You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. You're not even forced to buy an an expensive Apple or Google phone. You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs. They reason why people are running around with 1k phones is because it's a status symbol. It's exactly this century where you can buy anything at manufacturing cost from India or China if you want to, there's an entire political class upset about it. I mean I'll give you Comcast, ISPs in the US in particular seem bad, but otherwise? Digital and electronic goods in particular have been driven down to the marginal cost of production, that's why 90% of the former are free.
- bjourne 4y ago
  Do you have any idea on how I can avoid the excessive interest rate the bank charges on my mortgage? :) Yes I checked, other banks loans are just as expensive. So it seems I'm not able to buy loans at "manufacturing cost" and neither am I able to buy gas or electricity for minimal cost.
  - aj7 4y ago
    Never walk into a BANK and apply for a loan. Use one, or better, a number of mortgage brokers. Make a spreadsheet. Add in all garbage fees. Estimate the life of the loan. Now calculate real APR. Points and garbage fees dominate if you’re going to sell or refinance in a few years.
  - briandear 4y ago
    You could get a loan at prime rate if you were a bank. You likely aren’t a bank, so a retail loan is what you get. Prime rate is the interest to the bank. Retail rates are higher because there are costs associated with your loan. Those costs also include the degree of risk to the bank.
- BbzzbB 4y ago
  >You can buy a 200-300 dollar phone with more than decent specs Two weeks ago I got a "9.5" (looks brand new, battery too) used Pixel 3a for 100$ on eBay. It's a perfectly fine phone with picture/video quality undersold by it's camera pixel count.
  - regularfry 4y ago
    ...that's out of android updates as of this month. The specs are fine, the security isn't, and that's the problem.
    - BbzzbB 4y ago
      Very fair.
- 4y ago
daniel-cussen 4y ago
Yeah I just mentioned Comcast and a hospital, along with Wells Fargo. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31384732 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31384732 "Don't say the money is like magnetically charged. It's not the money is attracted to the north. It's the people, an asshole whose idea of invention is coming up with excuses, couldn't come up with shit if he cleaned up after his dog for once. Wants what is rightfully for innovators (creation of wealth that can scale, through thought that can be imprinted many times) and tries to corner a market. It always has a name, it's not an organic thing, there is always a guilty party. Not ISP's, Comcast. Not local banking, Wells Fargo. Not healthcare, Christus. Say it, corner the market. They're trying to corner the market. The markets have been cornered."
bluedino 4y ago
7-11 came out with their own brand chips, donuts, etc a few years ago. It's every hit as expensive as the brand name stuff was.
ethbr0 4y ago
Costs of goods sold always dominates. Comcast, Apple, Google, and Facebook are all who they are because they manufacture the thing they're selling for cheaper than anyone else can. Whether that "thing" is last mile connectivity, iPhones, or segmented advertising eyeballs.

tsimionescu 4y ago

Where will you sell this? Will the people normally buying supplements buy from you?

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

The branded products (EmergenC and such) come with more of a markup But Vitamin C in general is an extremely cheap compound. The costs are going to be in things like packaging, shipping, warehousing, shelf space, accounting for lost shipments and returns, and similar overhead. For simple products that overhead can be orders of magnitude more than the core product.