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Rutger-Jan van Spaandonk says if his parents had known he’d eventually make a home for himself outside of The Netherlands, his country of birth, they’d have given him a name that’s easier for foreigners to pronounce.
The executive director of Core Group, who is known by most people simply as “RJ”, emigrated to SA almost by chance in the late 1990s. He says he’s since fallen in love with the country and, though he still travels extensively to Europe and West Africa on business, he says he has no intention of living anywhere else.
Van Spaandonk is a colourful character in SA’s technology industry. In the little more than a decade he’s been in the country, he has courted more than his fair share of controversy, particularly in his role at Core Group, the exclusive distributor of Apple products in SA, where he has been since 2001.
When we meet outside Core’s new head office building in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, Van Spaandonk, wearing his trademark braces and carrying a copy of the Financial Times, makes it clear he is keen to get down to business.
As we wait for our coffee in the company’s well-kept and peaceful gardens, overlooking the wealth of the Sandton central business district, he begins to recount the path that led him from The Netherlands — via the US and London — to the southern tip of Africa.
The son of construction firm executive and a high school teacher (both now retired), Van Spaandonk grew up in a small village called Berkel-Enschot. After school, at the age of 18, he was enrolled at Nijenrode, a private university built around a storied 13th century castle, where he completed a three-year bachelor of business administration degree.
He spent four years as a consultant in the property and infrastructure industries before securing a bursary from McKinsey & Co and heading to the US in 1995, at the age of 25, to do an MBA at the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Why the US, I ask? “It’s very expensive,” he concedes, “but most international companies, especially in consulting and financial services, will repay your investment very quicky.”
Van Spaandonk adds with some hubris: “There are people who have an MBA and there are people who have an MBA. It’s something people in SA don’t want to hear but it’s very different studying at a local school and studying at one of the world’s top universities. If you want to do an MBA, go to one of the well-established institutions, otherwise you’re wasting your time and money.”
After completing his MBA, Van Spaandonk joined US consulting firm Mitchell Madison Group, a McKinsey spin-off, based in London. But the grey weather quickly got to him. So, in February 1998, when he came to SA on Mitchell business — the company was establishing an office here — he decided to stay. “I found such a great, positive vibe,” he says. “Everyone in SA had this attitude that they could make something of the country.”
Still with Mitchell Madison Group, Van Spaandonk helped Transnet and Standard Bank drive some of their e-business initiatives at the time.
However, Mitchell, which by then had morphed into MarchFIRST after various corporate mergers and deals, went bust.
“My pension fund, everything, was tied up in the dot-bomb bullshit,” Van Spaandonk says. “I know what it means to lose a lot of money.”
After the MarchFIRST collapse, Van Spaandonk struck out on his own, forming a small, Johannesburg-based consultancy called Future Foresight with several ex-McKinsey colleagues.
But it wasn’t long before he met Core Group CEO Rodney Ichikowitz. At that stage — it was 2001 — Core was a relatively small distributor of IT solutions for the media industry. Today, it has revenues of “well in excess of R1bn/year” and is the sole distributor in SA for the Apple and Nintendo brands.
Ichikowitz brought Van Spaandonk on board to help run the company as head of strategy and business development, and to be its public face.
It is in the latter role that Van Spaandonk has racked up a number of detractors, people who accuse him of being arrogant and defending a company whose prices, they say, are excessive.
Perhaps Core’s biggest strength — the fact that it has sole distribution rights in SA to the Apple and Nintendo brands — is also one of its biggest PR weaknesses. Because no-one else is allowed to import these companies’ products through official channels, some consumers have accused Core of monopoly pricing and behaving like a bully.
It’s a charge that makes Van Spaandonk see red. “I’ve informed every serious representative in the media in SA that the iPod attracts 25% import duty over regular ad valorem taxes. If people write blog entries accusing you of all kinds of things, you don’t respond to that.”
Except, Van Spaandonk did respond — in a series of sarcastic and ill-considered messages on Twitter, the micro-blogging service, in which he took on his detractors. He admits the way he handled it was a mistake, and that it backfired. “The interesting thing is, though, that the discussion died down for a while once I’d put the facts out there.”
The question remains, though, why consumers — even if a small minority — get so het up over Core Group and its prices. I ask Van Spaandonk what he thinks the reason is. He says some of the blame must go to people who want to get their hands on the Apple distributorship. He says there are people in the market spreading anti-Core Group propaganda.
“I have a number of colleagues in the industry who would love to get their hands on the Apple distribution business and they bring [the pricing issue] to the attention of Apple all the time,” he says. “All this is aimed at other people positioning themselves to take over the Apple distributorship.”
Van Spaandonk defends the fact that there is only one Apple distributor in SA, saying in an environment where there are multiple distributors, resellers simply play them off against each other for the lowest price. As a result, the distributors have no money to invest in marketing the brand and creating demand.
This was the case when the now-defunct Siltek Distribution Dynamics was also an Apple distributor, he says.
Van Spaandonk says he has little time for bloggers who criticise Core Group and its prices without doing adequate research into prices in similar markets around the world. He seems to be trying his best not to let them get to him, but it’s clear he takes the attacks personally.
When I ask him what he does for fun, he tells me about his love for writing, and the articles he writes for Business Day’s Wanted supplement and for GQ magazine. But he quickly uses this to take a pot shot at Core Group’s critics. “I tend to write a lot, but not on blogs,” he says. “Please put this in your story: unlike bloggers, I actually get paid to express my opinion.”
It takes a little effort to steer the conversation back to his private life, but eventually Van Spaandonk eases back and begins talking about his love for the finer things in life: Cuban cigars, luxury cars, and good food and wine.
“I take food and wine very seriously,” he says. “I can wax lyrical about a bottle of wine for hours.”
And a meal in a restaurant is never to be rushed. “Taking someone out for a meal is the start of a relationship. Sharing food with someone is one of the most basic and meaningful things you can do,” he says. “That’s why when I meet people for the first time, I do it over lunch. And you’d better cancel your appointments for the rest of the afternoon.”
He says his favourite restaurants include La Colombe at Constantia Uitsig near Cape Town, Reuben’s in Franschoek and Auberge Michel in Johannesburg. But if he had to choose just one, he says he’d have to go with the Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse in the Camberg area in KwaZulu-Natal, run by his good friend Richard Poyton. “You go there, you check in, and they just feed you.”
One of Van Spaandonk’s other great passions is reading. He gets through a book a week — fiction and nonfiction. And he doesn’t only read in English and Dutch. He is fluent in German and French, too. “It’s important to delve into ideas in depth,” he says of his passion for reading. “The Internet and television are not enough.”
He also enjoys travelling and says he is “not afraid” to explore Africa. He spends considerable time in Nigeria on business.
Van Spaandonk, now 39, is not married but is in a long-term relationship of more than 17 years. He has no children and professes to have no interest in having any. “I’m too busy enjoying life,” he says. “You need the freedom if you want to travel a lot. Kids are a drain on your energy and on your time.” — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral
I’m left with a slight feeling of contamination after reading this. The man appears to be one of those who Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s erstwhile spindoctor would have described as being ’so up his own bum he has no perspective.’ If he wonders why people go after him the whole time, a careful re-read of his responses to Duncan in this article should point to the problem. His self-serving insularity. Obnoxious. Eish!
not one mention of his customers or the love of what he does. I am unimpressed by this guy on many levels thus far, not least of which his ability to win the “hearts and minds” of his customers. I have no doubt these guys are at risk of loosing the disty here and if they do, what is he and his company then?
some advice to RJ: start caring and loving your customers. The reason Jobs can charge silly margins on his products is because of his love for them, which filters through to us as consumers.
Wait, he doesn’t want multiple players because “resellers simply play them off against each other for the lowest price.”. Um, isn’t that kind of the point of a free market!?
This does not really leave me impressed with the guy – you would think his fabulous “real” MBA would teach him about things like competition and free market.
“Please put this in your story: unlike bloggers, I actually get paid to express my opinion.” – unlike many journalists in SA, bloggers actually pay for the devices they buy from Apple. This, in my opinion, makes their opinion even more valuable in many cases.
“Van Spaandonk defends the fact that there is only one Apple distributor in SA, saying in an environment where there are multiple distributors, resellers simply play them off against each other for the lowest price. As a result, the distributors have no money to invest in marketing the brand and creating demand.” – Apple does most of the marketing for the brand themselves, and the internet is always abuzz whenever a new Apple product is released. And this entire statement makes me believe he does not care a fig about the South African consumer.
If this guy is “Mr Apple”, I think Core must really rethink their PR plan.
“ACCUSED” of being a monopoly? Is sole distribution rights (ie high barrier to entry, one supplier & big demand) not the DEFINITION of a monopoly? This is Economics 101, no MBA needed.
I wonder how long Apple would last id this guy had Steve’s job?
1. How is acting as both Distributor AND Reseller not a monopolistic practice?
*for those who don’t know, this Core lot also own the infamous iStores.
2. I wonder if Apple know it’s South African distributor is also involved in African Arms deals?
* http://www.paramountgroup.biz/index.php/about-us – Notice the Paramount Logo which is photoshoped onto the Core’s Head office in Johannesburg.
3. Mr Genius-MBA, when people have taken the time and effort to create a website, whose sole purpose is to complain about your company, surely you must realise you’re doing something wrong.
4. “Please put this in your story: unlike bloggers, I actually get paid to express my opinion.” – Did this guy not learn from his last PR blunder?
*His last attempt at “engaging” SA bloggers http://www.themacblog.co.za/2009/06/rj-van-spaandonk-twitter-a-pr-disaster/
Ons kommin mense sal sê hy’t ‘n regte moer-my-gesiggie.
Very interesting perspective indeed!
Is it possible for TechCentral to verify the 25% import duty on iPods? This is the first time I’ve heard of of it. (We have an importers code & frequently import electronic goods, though not portable music players)
Also, I can’t find any Ad Valorem tax category that the that iPod would fit into (http://www.sars.gov.za/home.asp?pid=4139) (Ad Valorem being a tax rate based on locally manufactured goods. I don’t know of any locally manufactured MP3 players, so doubt there’d by any reason for an Ad Valorem tax)
It would be great to get these import duties verified independently.
Not a single positive comment. I suppose any publicity is good publicity.
Looks like the title should say “prefers his own bullshit to reality”.
Each time he has a new, vague and inexplicable reason for the rapacious Core prices. Go figure.
Wow, such arrogance. He keeps addressing the issue of price, however most Apple using South Africans would be happy with premium pricing if we got anything near premium service. We don’t.
What we get is a monopolistic view on service from a company who’s attitude is, “we’ll get to you when we get to you, if you don’t like it…”
Also, to cite marketing as the reason is a cop-out, we’re talking Apple and Nintendo here, and to imply that being an Apple distributor had anything to do with Siltek’s demise is propostorous.
Dude, Wharton called, they want their MBA back…!
What a chop! The arrogance is sickening. Now wonder he lost everything once, its called Karma.
Look….I admit I like arrogant foodies so let me shed that load upfront. I was at the iStore in Sandton on saturday and bought the new nano (see http://www.richmarksentinel.com) . My wife and I had superior service and I think Mrs B is about to “invest” in a rather spectacular computer. The knowledge and patience shown was commendable. While I was there I ran into the CEO of a major bank and the GM of a major hotel. I am a happy Apple customer and I like people with balls who don’t mince words. I may not be able to pronounce your name but RJ…..you’re the man.
David.. Love the products. Love the stores. Wouldn’t use any other products.. BUT crack your iPhone screen visit an istore and see what they say.. “Buy another one.” if you’re lucky you’ll find you can drop off your bust fone at a biltong shop in Pretoria for repairs.
I honestly love Apple products but seriously don’t see how mixing arrogant aftersales service and biltong shops with such a sexy brand makes good MBA sense.
ps. The store u mention sold me iLife 08 for a thousand Rands when 09 was on the shelves of other stores for R850. It’s the little things like that..
I got a twitter including a link to “Why SA’s Mr Apple prefers fine wine to bloggers”. My ignorance was the articles seduction – Who IS SA’s Mr Apple I wondered. Lofty praise to be compared to mr Jobs. Who could it be?
Duped by a journalistic headline again I’m afraid. What would Steve think if he knew who was his ambassador in SA is?
I’m not sure Mr. Spaandick’s MBA class taught consumer engagement.
Every bit of ink you get is an opportunity to sell. Dude, as someone that’s been reasonable impressed with Apple’s technology thus far but don’t own a single device yet, you haven’t sold me squat.
All I hear is “everybody’s against me.. they hate me.. they’re after me”.. your “MBA” should have taught you that such is the nature of business in its most elementary form. In the words of some rap artist whose name escapes me: “As long as there’s players.. there’ll be haters”. deal with it.
Our friend Dave’s “activity that normally ends in a brown tongue” there is not surprising either. He has a similar disdain for public opinion and thinks his is the only one that matters. (enjoy the Nano guy)
I have one compliment though.. I was so enthralled by the 26 inch monitor I forgot my phone next to the Macbook Air at the Sandton store a few weeks ago. A member of staff politely followed me and handed me my phone.
This was a perfect opportunity to smoke peace pipe and nibble on some humble pie.. second chances are rare..
Oh yeah.. I’m getting my Macbook Pro bought in the UK and flown in by my sister when she comes home for Christmas.. can’t see myself contributing to your next Armani suit..
Damn right Mr Van Wyk……and I also get well paid to express my disdain for public opinion. Re: pricing……shop around guys and decide if the price you want to pay at an iStore saves all the bother of getting your sister to bring you one from overseas. Nobody forces you to pay local prices (although if you’re too tight to afford a local Apple Mac maybe you deserve to be using a PC).
“Nobody forces you to pay local prices”.
Stupidest. Comment. Ever.
How to miss the point entirely….
What’s this you are saying about getting payed to badmouth the public?
Oh dear, David Bullard, Duncan Macleod,, please take your masticating orifice off Spaandock’s appendage. These are the facts:
Core is going down, they will not survive the storm coming their way, WTO rules do NOT look favorably on exclusionary business practices.
We, the tech community of SA know that you receive Apple products from Core for “review” (albeit 2-3 year “review” cycles)
Tread very carefully, if you decide right now to take side’s we will rip you apart in our peer groups, we know people, you know people, let the best man win as it were.
Without us you are nothing, without you, some people are nothing, the wise man would keep his mouth shut and let the end game play itself out, the natural way…
Jokes aside.
I feel the need to set the record straight on bloggers NOT getting paid to express their opinion. Who said that remuneration is only measured in pieces of paper with Tito Mboweni’s scrawl on them?
What about the satisfaction (not to mention gratification) that comes with owning your media.. with not being subject to guidelines, policies or procedures.. having your expressed opinion read in undiluted unadulterated form.. not having your opinion edited or chopped & changed at the drop of a dime.. and.. (wait for it… drumroll…) not getting fired for expressing your opinion ???
Nothing beats blogging as a form of expression.
Nicholas …..you effin bedwetter geek. I can show you the invoice and the credit card slip for my purchases. You sound like a bloke with an axe to grind. Or a bitter ex employee.
And “nobody forces you to pay local prices” because nobody forces you to buy anything. Jesus H…..we’ve got some real c***s visiting this site hey Duncan?
Oh dear Mr Van Wyk….ever tried paying your municipal bill with satisfaction? Give me money any day and the attendant fame that goes with it. I would recommend that everyone get sacked for expressing their opinion…..you couldn’t buy that sort of publicity. I’ve never been busier.
Ah – so is that what the guy looks like who heads up the organisation that in my personal experience is always trying to dodge its after-sales responsibilities?
In my case – first experience was an iBook G3 800MHz – one of Apple’s lemons. Big fight was necessary to get it repaired of repeated mainboard failures (like most of them did). Second experience is my Macbook Pro. Lots have problems with the NVidia graphics chip. Another huge fight required to get Core to honour their responsibilities on this issue.
Steve
David, aren’t you that journalist that got fired for being racist? If you are going to resort to ad-hominem attacks, we can do so to. Or is all this aggressiveness just part of your celebrity class controversial satire?
We’ve got some real c***s visiting this site hey Duncan?
David, by your logic we should not complain that the sole distributor is ripping off South Africans who want to buy Apple products because nobody is forcing us to buy Apple products. If I decide I really want an Apple product, I just have to man up and take it up the butt. You are also comparing an iPod to a municipal bill…
Duncan, I don’t understand why you didn’t hit him with some more hardball questions. The above comments reflects a valid question: how can he defend a monopoly and still claim fair deal for Apple consumers?
Don’t tell me these kind of puff pieces are going to be the staple of Techcentral.
Love thy customer not thyself.
> finer things in life: Cuban cigars, luxury cars, and good food and wine
Made possible by saying “screw you” to customers wanting the after-sales support that should be a given for such a premium product range.
Steve
David.. away from personalities and who gets paid for what.
Have you ever called into a Telkom or MTN call centre? If you have (and I’m sure you have) then you probably experienced the dreary-voiced agents who sounds like they don’t really want to help you but they do anyway because helping you means money in their account at the end of every month. Now I’m sure that’s not the kind of attitude or service Telkom or MTN wants to render or put out there, but nobody from “on high” has the time to monitor each agent’s posture, voice tone etc. for 8 hours every day. At the end of the day what you get is the service that individual employee wants to render.
Same thing at the iStore my friend. That superior service, knowledge and patience you were exposed to had absolutely squat to do with Van Spaandock.
The people that work there did that. Yes they are ambassadors of the brand but their treatment of you is exactly that.. THEIR treatment of you.
Your giving HIM a “big up” for something he has NO control over.. EISH.. your face is buried so deep in his crotch, your knees must really hurt.
Leon, it’s called a personality profile. If you think it’s a puff piece, you’ve misread it.
OK Duncan….I’ve done my bit to get your comments into decent double digits. I’ll send you the bill……and Carlo….spot on. Delighted that your memory is so good. Or did you just read the comment two above yours you retard? Arthur….I have been known to bury my head in a few crotches in my time and I can tell you that it’s not your knees that suffer (unless you have Arthuritis (geddit?). You do need to floss after though….
How interesting to see that blogging (and comments such as these) allows users to say things that no newspaper editor would dream of allowing to go to print. So maybe there are some pros (besides the hard cash) to blogs after all….
It’s also nice to know that there are still some people out there in today’s economy who can afford to spend afternoon-long lunches “doing business”. Great job if you can get it.
Oh, and to be able to run a company like that! It must be nice not have to worry about those simple things in business life that most of us have to deal with – such as competition, and marketing, and customers complaints.
My overall thought – forget getting the MBA and just tell me which business school I need to go to to meet the “right” business contacts….
@DavidBullard’s first comment re: the iStore in Sandton… I’m pretty sure that’s not an iStore, but rather the CAB store. So, if that’s the case, your good service was not courtesy of Core. You also better hope that Nano doesnt give you any trouble, else you’re gonna have an uphill battle when trying to get it repaired.
Cool Apple Buddy are ‘evil’ grey importers according to Core. Check out their bullshit stopgrey.co.za site. I wish they put that much effort into not sucking.
LOL, for 2 gentlemen that don’t give a rat’s ass about bloggers, you sure seem bothered (upset?) by them, hey RJ and David?
Truth be told, I can understand RJ’s position as it is not too different to most big corporates executives. They simply have bigger things to worry about. Pity RJ found a gap in his busy schedule to muck about in an area he knows nothing about. Yes, like everyone else, even execs don’t know everything. We’re all simply human after all.
Finally, some figures from Core! “…the iPod attracts 25% import duty over regular ad valorem taxes.” Henk Kleynhans asks for these figures to be verified independently – I agree (who could do that?). If we could just understand why Core charges so much, Core’s detractors might actually turn into their supporters.
I emailed Core on May 31st this year to ask whom I should enquire from as to why Apples are so much more expensive in South Africa than anywhere else (also published at StopCore.co.za. I was told to email Greg Hill, which I did on May 31, June 7, June 15, June 22, 1 July and 16 July, after which I gave up after no response to any of my enquiries.
Given that RJ claims to have “informed every serious representative in the media” about why iPods cost to much to import, surely it wouldn’t be that hard for Greg to forward my email to someone in PR (assuming they have PR) and ask them to forward me the relevant details?
It comes down to what RJ said – he does not consider bloggers to be “serious representative[s]“, or at least, people to be taken seriously. So Core’s policy is to not engage with the web conversations at all, and so when RJ pulled his twitter stunt and got burned, he recommended that businesses shouldn’t interact with their customers online as they will just be malicious without any recourse.
Way to miss the point. Core could’ve realised that the vocal blogging community could help their brand (think Google Ad’s for Apple Mac all over local blogs, for instance, which send readers to Core’s site) and could’ve, say, asked the community to pick a representative which Core would then meet with, and get all their questions answered in an hour.
A little bit of an investment that could really have helped them.
Gabriel….the big place on Sandton Drive. Next to the US embassy. Not the one in Sandton City. And I hope the service is good because my new nano has just died. Maybe it didn’t ike the music I loaded.
How so Stii? Don’t understand what you are trying to say.
David, hold down the “menu” button and the centre button simultaneously for about 10 seconds. This is the Apple equivalent of yanking the battery out and reinserting it. Your nano might just come back to life.
David – my bad on the store. Didnt know there was a new one in Sandton. The rest of my comments still ring true.
Sorry, David, I’m just stuck with the whole “air guitar journalist” image at the back of my mind.
That and every time I stumble across your comments and writings you tend to be on the bad side of bloggers and/or geeks and I cannot help but feeling it is intentional.
As for RJ, I think he’s being stubborn-stupid and will simply not give in to turn to bloggers for what could be a very good symbiotic relationship. He may be missing out on a potentially great opportunity or two and more so do we Apple lovers and users feel we’re missing out.
bloggers with a self inflated sense of importance are almost as annoying as the core PR piece… but they are also completely harmless and the choice to read is exactly that, a choice. There are a scattering of good writers around.
Having dealt with core on and off for years, it’s a crappy company to deal with – but just a company that has leveraged it’s monopoly position and pretty much ridden the wave of apple’s reincarnation over the last decade. I don’t think Mr overseas MBA guy had much to do with it, a 7 year old with exclusive rights would have achieved much the same.
If he was any good, I imagine there wouldn’t be nearly as much negative sentiment. Seems like a pretty standard business school McKinsey type to me.
They are pretty appalling to deal with, but most companies (think: telkom) are when they hold all the cards. At least I can buy apple products, I guess.
Duncan…..you bloody genius. It lives…it lives. Thank you so much. Stii….I will never be rude to a geek again. Besides the air guitar bit was years ago. Before I become a blogger. Bygones hey…..forgive and forget. And Stii….I am really rude about editors who don’t read what goes into their newspapers. But it’s all show business. Duncan…..respect man. Now I can listen to Radiohead and video my goldfish. A perfect evening……
Sorry, David, you’re absolutely right. Bygones be bygones. I did not realize that you started blogging again which is my bad!
wow.
Bullard: the fact that a really smart guy like you takes one example and draws a trend from it is really scary. Dude, you bought a nano from their main store! Of course that will be good and yes, you are clearly price insensitive at that level. Secondly, you really need to get a real job as you have far too much time on your hands to be replying to all these comments. Such a sad fall from grace for someone I used to really enjoy reading. (Read: be more aloof, its good for your rep!)
Bottom line: there are tonnes of unhappy apple customers in SA directly because of Core’s actions. Prices are inexplicably high (his rand dollar rebuttal doesnt account for all the math – not even close). And as Rich Mulholland says, we are happy to pay high prices, just give us high service…
read: just show us some LOVE and we are okay with being ripped off
Thanks Justin. No I don’t need to get a real job (whatever that is) and when you are older and wiser you will realise that you can never have enough time on your hands. Think about it laddie…..the only commodity you can’t buy. And being fired from the Sunday Slimes certainly aint a fall from grace I can assure you. More a merciful release. Unless you happen to like working for mediocre c***s that is.
Usually people can walk away, without having to be released…
@Duncan McLeod, RJ just ****ed in your face and you wrote a story about what an obnoxious **** RJ is… the thing with RJ is that you don’t need to do it cos he does it himself, he’s gotta be one of the most hated men in SA tech. I’ve met RJ and this is how he rolls, a satanic version of vanilla ice.
If you like apple products buy them from http://www.Ebay.co.za, i’ve never paid import duty and skip paying for ****** *******’s lifestyle
[This comment has been edited to remove obscenity]
[...] Sense. Since the Twitter PR disaster and now the article on Tech Central where he states that he “prefers fine wine to bloggers”, I thought I’ll lay out a couple of [...]
This guy is an idiot, He is arrogant and treats his customers like rubbish. The only reason he still has a job is because he runs a monopoly. For instance, the iStore in Gateway NEVER have stock – They have nice products on shelves but ask them to buy one, and the answer is sorry… sold out not sure when the stock is coming in.
Nintendo products are MUCH more expensive than anywhere else in the world is this covered in this mystery 25% tax too ?
I wish we could all import iPods and Nintendo products so the Core Group can be closed down.
I love Apple products – over the past few years I’ve had 3 Powerbooks, 2 Macbooks, 1 MacBook Pro and even 3 iPhones… But I will never buy it new from Core. I’ll either import it or buy it grey or 2nd hand…
The same goes for Nintendo products – the Wii standing next to my TV is is anti-Core as I am…
How does one get hold of the Competition Commission to report Core? Coz we’re finally seeing some movement on cell interconnect charges, time to bring down Spaandonk Corp as well!
I mean, the reason they can post revenues “well in excess of R1bn/year” is because of the inflated Apple and Nintendo pricing!
First off, as much as we love to hate the Core group they have done an outstanding job of increasing Apple sales over the last 5 years, outstripping pretty much every other market in the world. Their PR and service aren’t what I would call case studies on how to do things right but they certainly seem to get things done.
I work closely with one of the other major US technology players and sadly there are a few bigger forces at play when it comes to the Apple pricing in South Africa. First off our wonderful currency tends to exaggerate things a bit. All distributors take forward cover on currency and when the Rand strengthens we basically get screwed on the relative price and everyone gets up in arms about how cheap it is in the US. We also sit at the bottom of the world and air freight costs to RSA are close on the ridiculous.
All said though a warning to the Core group is that as technology dependability improves and your customer gets a bit more savvy (ie can order online from somewhere else) you better start thinking about how you add some value or things as they always do will change!