6 replies to this topic

[David]

I have many years expereince buying consumer fireworks, and I find the same problem every year. Shops and retailers selling " Cut Price " " Discount " " buy one get one free " fireworks.

Be aware that VERY FEW of these are actually offering what they claim. It could simply be the case that they are using banners for temporary shops that are a few years old (IE they were once a genuine discount reatiler). It could be an outright lie. It could be that CERTAIN items are discounted.

But in my experience shops that offer " Discount " fireworks are in fact some of the most expensive- often simply selling stock at the full retail price.

Buy One get one free is also dodgy. Often this will be old stock. Also I have know reatailers to sell stuff Buy one get one free because of its weak performance, or because it was over priced to begin with. For example a Buy on Get one free Rocket at ?15 is really 2 Rockets at ?7.50 . And those Rockets might not be as good as a ?5 Rocket! Or Best of all, Tesco Classic trick- Double the selling price and offer Buy One get one free. The key is- common sence do the mats, work out what you are paying and what you are getting- don't be wowed by phoney bargains!

" RRP " is rather a meaningless guid, because the " Recommended " price could be anything. There are no guides or standards for RRP's. This is especially the case when a line has been produced by a manufacturer to be sold by a single retailer such as Tesco or Lidl.

For example Lidl sell a " Benstar " cake "Rainbow Storm" at ?6.99 from a RPP of " ?13.99 " . However, EXACTLY the same firework, with a different label " Colour Blitz" , is sold at a RRP of ?6.99 under the Cosmic Brand name.

Edited by David, 21 October 2006 - 06:23 PM.

[5thElement]

Good points, especially about the Lidl one, on another forum i frequent so many people are banging on about how good value Lidl's are, but obviously it's not the case!

[Reb]

ah yes, the power of marketing !

The money that must be spent, on paying the wages of those wonderful people who think up new and exciting ways of telling the public, "ours are the best value , buy from us".

probably out strips the profit made from the sale of that range anyway ! lol
ah well thats marketing for you!
regards
Reb

[Dec]

totally agree. tesco usually sell their: BOGOF fireworks, however lidl sell mostly the same stock and claim to be 'half prcie'. it confuddles me!

[proformancepyro]

There are many fireworks store are selling their products by taking this way. Sometimes It is cheaper, sometimes just a means of selling .

[pyromaniac303]

In a 48 shot cake I found, there were actually only 24 tubes! Each tube contained 2 stars, but they launched simultaneously so I felt I had been lied to... I did get them in a very large set of cakes, around 20 for £15 which provided all the new years entertainment (was moving house at the time so all chemicals and tools were packed) so not all that bad value after all.

[Farnet]

One place that I found amusing was Costco (big American chain that has set up over here now, and very very good for practically everything). They were advertising fireworks for sale, and when it came down to it, they actually meant FIREWORK for sale, singular.....

I had to buy one just to try it out as the size and weight of it was astounding (think of a small suitcase full of bricks and you'll get the idea).

The fun part was turning up at my inlaws house on new years eve and there was an agreement that everyone brought some fireworks to let off, and when I said I only brought one they looked down their noses until I went to the car and presented it to them. Lets just say noone touched it.

As for the firework itself, fantastic, 3 mins long and very very impressive, with some serious multishot barrages and some spectacularily well thought out sequences... not to mention a few ear bleeding reports. Not bad for a single ignition cake.