Burton pricing
So I just picked up the new transfer with the board guide and I can’t help but notice how cheap the Burton boards are compared to everyone else. Like your talking $100-150 cheaper than most other companies.
Does anyone know the deal? Are they just trying to crush all the other companies? Its been about 10 years since I bought one and when I did I paid more than double the current pricing.
I’ve worked with Burton extensively over the years. Here’s the truth: Burton has always been at the forefront of listening to retailer and customer concerns. One of the major concerns going back a few years ago was the price difference between the States and Australia. They worked with Burton USA to rectify this problem, not to crush competitors, but to help the Australian retail market. Don’t quote me on this but I think this is why Burton officially took over the distribution in Australia; it’s now Burton Australia where as it used to be a distributor, Expression Sports. I believe other brands followed suit with lowering pricing because of this over the recent years as well. Pricing for all brands has come down significantly. This does fluctuate a bit with our dollar however.
The other thing Burton has always focussed on was reducing grey imports, and their strong policies in the States to protect Australian retailers is evident of this. You can’t get Burton shipped to Australia otherwise the offending retailer in the States will lose their account—and true to their word, this has happened.
In a nutshell, I think they’re just listening to everyone’s concerns and doing what they can to address these problems for the benefit of the entire industry. Say what you want about Burton, they have always been great this way, and they do care about snowboarding and those who rely on it for a livelihood.
I will also say, I don’t think the price difference between Burton and other brands is that significant at all. Maybe some lower end models, but the 2015 Burton Custom X for example, which is a high end board, retails for $799. Compare that to the 2015 YES Greats for example, which is also a high end board, retails for $779. The 2015 Rome Mod, also a very high end board, retails for $849. It really depends on the board but pricing is somewhat on par across the leading brands I would say. These are all premium, top of the line snowboards. That said, the Custom X used to be around the $1200 mark, so it has come down significantly over the years. There’s a lot of good value in Australia these days, and when you factor in customer service, warranties, no shipping costs etc., I think we can be quite competitive with the overseas market, and that’s really important.
Yeah i knew the boards came down about about 4 years ago? They had the whole support local snowboarding thing.
i was just kind of surprised to see most the burton boards sitting around $400-600 with most other brands sitting round $500-700.
I guess if your a burton loyalist you’re unlikely to look at the other brands, but if you were someone with a little less knowledge I could see them walking into a store seeing the name, seeing the price and just go i’ll take that one.
I was kinda basing my pricing on the brands like fyve, yes, stepchild etc. I had considered taking a leaf out of bonfires book when they released those green pants in their first year for $120 about 1/3 of the cost of everyone else. But then run the risk of being considered like a budget brand. So i decided against that.
I will have to revise my pricing thought, trying to get a foot in the door and having prices more expensive than the market leader is suicide.
Yeah, I’d say it was about 5 years ago. I remember them talking about it at the Burton product launch back then (I think 2009). I was still working in retail at the time, which was about 5-6 years ago.
Burton really is like no other giant brand in any board industry like say Rip Curl. They kill teams if they don’t make a profit ie Forum…It’s a business and I personally don’t support the cut throat style they have adopted. I do ride a Scallywag Forum which I love dearly aaarrrggghhH!
They have some seriously great products though especially their boots and bindings but I think in the boards you have a lot better options with other companies.
yeah i don’t really like their management style either. It comes across a bit cult-ish and they have done some really douchey shit. But that’s business.
Totally agree with you about the bindings and boots being better than the boards. I’ve always found burton to be too stiff too heavy and just not fun to ride. I may as well be wearing a lycra race suit.
Although I dont ride burton boards, bindings, boots or outerwear I think we owe a lot of where modern snowboarding is to them. From what I see anyway, they support industry, make great products and sign some of the best riders..
Dont take this the wrong way Kyneee but I wouldnt let burtons pricing rattle you too much - of course be considerate of it, but dont let it drive you.
I thought i had looked at their pricing in the US over summer and they had 1 board they were advertising as like a budget board around the $300-400 mark.
It doesn’t really rattle me. It makes me feel like a bit of a dumb ass for just assuming and not doing more research into their offerings. But i’ll get over it.
Its made me more comfortable lowering my prices. Not that I don’t think I have a quality product, just I have low overheads and I’m not really in this to become a millionaire so I’m not putting huge mark ups on my boards.
Totally agree with you about the bindings and boots being better than the boards. I’ve always found burton to be too stiff too heavy and just not fun to ride. I may as well be wearing a lycra race suit.
You need to try more boards before you overgeneralize
over the years i have tried dozens hundreds maybe even. Spent the first five years riding only burton. It was only once i did seasons as opposed to family trips things changed, to be honest I haven’t ridden one for about 5 years. I got sick of what I thought were boards not living up to the hype. Too many buzz words and spin.
But this is just my personal opinion really, we all obviously have different ones.
The other thing Burton has always focussed on was reducing grey imports, and their strong policies in the States to protect Australian retailers is evident of this. You can’t get Burton shipped to Australia otherwise the offending retailer in the States will lose their account—and true to their word, this has happened.
This is true and while it’s important for local stores to be viable, the price difference between the States and Australia is borderline ridiculous at times. I purchased a 2014 Burton Name Dropper here in Aus which is currently retailing at MainPeak for $549.95. Conversely, in the States it’s currently retailing for US $337.45. Had I been able to ship it in from a US retailer I would have.
Burton is the arrogant asshole of snowboarding as can be seen by its endless endeavor to have different binding mount configurations to the rest of the industry.
Probably just trying to get everyone over to est so they can kill the binding companies as well.
actually, the channel is a great concept. It’s amazing to be able to get the exact stance you want, and easy to slam the bindings back on a powder day.
EST bindings ride pretty sweet but I hate the idea of being locked in to buying only Burton boards. I’ve had 2 pairs of EST bindings which I ended up selling after the season.
I don’t think the EST system is any indication of Burton being ‘arrogant’. Any other examples?
Before est it was the 3 hole mounts.
Kicking solid riders off your team so you can pay the salary of 1 guy. Remember why yes started? They fucked over those guys.
I believe they wanted Torah to go head to toe Burton as well so she left back in the day.
As much as Jake Burton did in the early days he sure is doing a lot to turn the place to shit now.
They throw money into events just so they know can get double back not because they think its good for the sport. Why do you think they stopped the Australian open.
I’m not going to get into the politics of Burton vs non-Burton, but I do agree with MarcD that the channel is innovative and works really well. The EST bindings are also very good, but restrictive obviously in that they only work with channel boards. That all said, I hardly think innovative products are a show of arrogance. Even the 3D pattern was innovative in that it gave the same adjustability options with less inserts (less structural damage to the board and weight savings). Someone has to push innovation and I’m glad some brands, including Burton, focus on innovation and push the envelope of what’s possible with product design and construction.