New Zealanders who enjoy the latest gadgets are likely to be paying substantially more for their electronics compared to five years ago, new research has revealed.
PriceSpy, the price and product comparison website, compared the prices for the most-popular tech goods today with the same in 2017 and there were some shocking surprises.
"According to our latest research, across the last five years there have been significant price hikes happening across consumer electronic shopping categories," said Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy.
"One of the biggest price hike examples found was for graphics cards with the average price across the most-popular products now costing $854 more, an increase of 141 percent.
"Similarly, the average price across the most-popular virtual reality (VR) headsets costs $581 more, an increase of 116 percent."
PriceSpy's research compared the average price across the most-popular products between January 1 and March 28, 2017 to the most-popular products between January 1 and March 28, 2022.
Matinvesi-Bassett said many factors impacted on the cost, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The cost of manufacturing has risen, as businesses continue to be hard-hit by ongoing staff sickness, issues with supply chains, stock and component shortages, increased consumer demand and heightened shipping costs," she said.
The high inflation rate in Aotearoa is also likely to be playing a part.
"Margins for businesses get squeezed and essentially, price rises get passed back on to consumers," she said.
Product innovation and technological advances could also have an impact, like the addition of 5G functionality for mobile phones, another product which has seen a massive increase.
Back in 2017, the average price amongst the most popular mobiles was $528; now it's $947, a 79 percent jump.
"Essentially, the more capabilities a product offers, coupled with better technology and features, the more it costs to make and the more a consumer can expect to pay."
However it wasn't all bad news, Matinvesi-Bassett said, with some price drops offering a welcome relief to consumers.
The research revealed the average price across the most-popular headphones appeared to be falling. In 2017, the average price was $454, whereas now it's $411 - nine percent less.
"With so many factors affecting the price of goods right now, conducting price research before couldn't be more important," Matinvesi-Bassett concluded.
Key findings in PriceSpy's research of average prices:
- Most-popular graphics cards cost +$856 more today compared to five years ago (an increase of +141 percent)
- Most-popular VR headsets cost +$581 more today compared to five years ago (an increase of +116 percent)
- Most-popular mobile phones cost +$528 more today compared to five years ago (an increase or +75 percent)
- Most-popular power banks cost +$114 more today compared to five years ago (an increase or +163 percent)
- Most-popular headphones cost -$58 less today compared to five years ago (a drop increase or -13 percent)
- Most-popular smart home transmitters cost -$19 less today compared to five years ago (a drop increase or -27 percent)
- Most-popular Nintendo Switch games cost -$19 less today compared to five years ago (a drop increase or -27 percent)
