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A puzzle

#1

Here’s a puzzle I’m trying to understand.

On the TWS website, there’s a link that says “Boizel Champagne Save up to £78 – if you’re quick!”

Click on it, and it reveals you can get Champagne Boizel Brut Réserve NV reduced from £210 for six to £150 for six - a saving of £60 (the £78 saving is for the rose version).

There’s nothing too puzzling there. But what puzzles me is this…

If you search the TWS website for “Boizel” you find that halves and magnums of this Champagne are available. And what’s strange is that they apparently cost less than regular bottles. Here are the prices:

Bottles: £210 for six (now reduced to £150)
Magnums: £195 for three
Halves: £192 for 12

My understanding was that you always paid a slight premium for halves and magnums (relative to the amount of wine) - for halves in particular there’s more glass and cork and work involved.

So it’s a puzzle to me - why at original price would the regular bottles have cost more than the halves relative to the volume of wine?

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#2

It is not a puzzle… just a dubious (probable perfectly legal) marketing practice.

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#3

Perhaps no one buys halves so the lower price is an attemp to persuade the buer to buy.

#4

Is it because most of TWS NV Champagne is sold on a semi-permanent ‘6 for 5’ case offer for 75cl bottles (except when there are larger reductions, eg now), but not the other formats- so the ‘usual’ price for 6 75cl bottles would be £175? That doesn’t explain the per bottle price difference though…

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#5

(A long way of repeating what @szaki1974 said.)

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#6

I have long since given up buying bottles at the full list price anywhere, as there are semi permanent reductions on offer if you can wait more than about ten minutes…

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#7

I find it more puzzling how Priti Patel is home secretary… :thinking::thinking:

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#8

It would surprise me if it was a discount from an artificially high price, because it would be at odds with the ethos of the Society (why would an organisation owned by its members do that - what reason?), and at odds with the general thrust of the Society’s marketing as I understand it (emphasising mutual status, etc). That’s why it’s a puzzle - it’s either a puzzle of why the bottles had a higher initial price, or a puzzle of why the Society would choose to set a higher initial price for them - it makes no sense to me. Or am I missing something?

#9

I seem to remember the Boizel 75cl bottle price jumped by about £5 or so last year at some point- maybe the halves and magnums stayed inline with the previous lower price for some reason (older stock bought at a lower price?). Not sure it answers your question, but could be relevant.

#10

Perhaps Boizel misjudged how many halves it would sell and is now trying to reduce a surplus via TWS rather than dropping prices on the “open” market?

#11

Exactly. It could be that the real bargain here is the halves, in a way. Or maybe they’re left over from a previous year. It’s a puzzle.