| [Volume 9 Issue 10, #1959] |
| Weak Purchasing Power: High Price or Low Income?? |
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| 我可以話係見到日本有眾多KitKat口味而大開眼界.. 前幾日, 終於俾我喺呢度某超市見到個比較特別嘅KitKat口味, 「烘烤KitKat」, 當然係入口貨啦.. 無可厚非, 我當時係非常興奮, 不過最終都係冇買到, 因為我寧願買便宜好多又可以喂飽我六餐嘅お茶漬け啦, 哈哈!! 老實講啦, RM17.90一包確實唔係平囉, 大家是否同意?? 我曾經同某位友人傾偈得到一個結論, 我哋冇KiKat口味選擇嘅原因, 係因為國人消費能力低.. 再諗深一層, 我就覺得未必係因為嘢賣得貴, 更有說服力嘅反而係因為我哋好高嘅入口稅同埋好低嘅個人收入.. 做一條簡單數學題啦, 假設一個日本人每月平均賺¥200,000, 以¥500購買都只不過係收入嘅0.25%.. 而一個馬來西亞人每月平均賺RM2000(我哋唔好否定呢個事實), 就需要嘔出RM18, 即係收入嘅0.9%購買.. 以上只不過係本人一個小小的想法, 並非可能反映真實情況.. :) |
| i have to say i'm utterly impressed by the many flavors of KitKat i've seen in Japan.. the other day, i finally saw a more creative KitKat flavor in a local supermarket, the "Baked KitKat", imported of course.. no doubt i was very excited, but then i did not buy that because i rather buy the ochazuke which is way cheaper yet can feed me six meals, haha!! frankly, RM17.90 for this packet is not cheap at all, agree?? i once was talking with a friend and we concluded that the reason we do not have choices for KitKat flavors is the generally low purchasing power of the people.. second thought, i guess it may not be due to the selling price but more convincingly, the high import tax and low personal income we are earning.. just a simple math, let's say a Japanese with an average ¥200,000 income can get this at ¥500 which is just 0.25% of his salary, but a Malaysian with an average RM2000 income (let's not deny this fact) has to fork out RM18 which is 0.9% of his pay to buy this.. just my humble opinion and this may not reflect the true case.. :) |
2014.10.28 | 低消費力
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Actually hor, I did ask my friends who travel in Japan to check all the flavors of KitKat you've shown, but non of them able to find it (so sad~~)
ReplyDelete2k income, this one relates me of the petrol news yesterday!! Actually doesn't matter high price or low price, some people with high income also buy low price stuffs!! Then some low income one don't why want to 充大头鬼 buy high price stuffs to brag!! It really depends on the person perspective, for certain people 2k is not enough, but for other certain people 2k enough for a family to survive!! High price and low price just depend of the person "sei de" to spend or not...I guess they're two different "fong an"
Deletethose KitKat flavors are seasonal one and for a limited time only, of course your friend may not be able to find them all, unless she's staying in Japan and keep monitoring and hunting them, haha.. ask her to go to the KitKat specialty shop in Tokyo, probably can find more flavors..
Deleteand you are right, in many cases, those earning 2k is spending more than those earning 20k~~ :D
Good morning SK.
ReplyDeleteAhem ahem...mana aku punya share :p
haiz...money not enough leh....what to do...like our politician likes to say "change your lifestyle" lor
Uncle tarak beli lah, so expensive.. i just bought the ochazuke which is RM10 cheaper.. :D
DeleteMorning and salam to all bloggers.. Oohh so today is about Kit Kat.. This reminded me of one Kit Kat post that SK posted previously, about the very many flavours of Kit Kat.. For a second, I was worried this post would be something like that post, coz I’m worried I won’t know what to comment but naming the flavours and commenting whether I like or don’t like..
ReplyDeleteI remembered there was this “Energy Drink” Kit Kat, looks like Revive or 100 Plus kinda Kit Kat.. That caught my attention the most, coz I drink 100 Plus all the time..
So today’s about Kit Kat in a local supermarket.. Baked Kit Kat.. Sounds very interesting, I like the name already.. I’m imagining baked cheesecake with Kit Kat, those sort of thing.. Is it ok to reveal the supermarket, so that I can go grab one too?
DeleteNot only this is pricey, but certain chocolates are also pricey.. I’ll name a few, my favourite ones:
Delete1) M&M’s (the bigger packet)
2) Tim Tam
3) Nutella spread (is this considered chocolate? Coz it’s a spread)
4) Bovril / Marmite
The 3 above are my favourite, but I “mm seh tak” buy becoz of the price.. M&M’s (no, I’m not talking about the small packet which cost RM2.50 per packet), I’m talking about the bigger packet.. It takes like 3-4 packets to fill up a small jar of cookie jar (I stock up a lot of snacks to put in my office drawer for munching & snacking), so I have a lot of cookie jars.. Medium and small sized ones.. Medium sized ones I use it to put my soda peang.. Small sized ones to put my sweets, chocolates and groundnuts.. Yes, groundnuts.. Those “Pagoda” or “Ngan Yin” groundnuts, so that I could munch in the office *shhhhh*
DeleteSo the other day, I bought 3 packets of M&M’s (with nuts) to fill up my cookie jar, and it’s not even half full, and the price for that few packets is close to RM20 already..
Next would be the Tim Tam.. For 8 pieces, it is selling at RM12+ per pack.. Each time I see it on the shelves, I take it, look at it, feel it, then put it back.. I’m dying to buy all the flavours available, but that would cost a bomb, and the amount of money can be used to buy so many more (useful) stuffs, like G’s diapers or laundry detergents..
DeleteThe biggest bottle of Nutella cost RM22+.. Sour grapes mode, I tell myself not to buy it coz when there’s more, we eat more.. So when there’s none, we don’t have to eat it.. Moreoever, chocolate (spread) is not good and very heaty, and we tend to dig and eat it with a spoon, and not spread on bread, so it’s kinda “wasteful” to be eaten this way.. Heart pain too.. So, in the end, nope, didn't buy that bottle of Nutella..
DeleteLastly, I find Bovril and Marmite very expensive too.. They usually store and lock these in the shelves, together with baby formula milk powder.. The smallest jar of Bovril/Marmite is RM10+ already.. Of course a little goes a long way and we only need to scoop a little to get a very flavourful bowl of porridge, but still, I find them pretty pricey.. Or is it in my mind.. My mindset is: They lock it inside the shelves, so it must be expensive stuffs lor..
DeleteTil today, I’m still wondering why they need to lock those Bovrils..
DeleteSo did I run out of topic? This post is about baked Kit Kat and I'm talking about M&M's, Tim Tam, Nutella and Bovril..
Deleteyeah, i like all kinds of chocolates leh.. KitKat, M&M, TimTam, Nutella.. but then hor, i find those we get in Malaysia super sweet lor.. those i bought from Japan or UK, taste actually nicer because not that sweet leh..
DeleteYour example of the disparity between income and cost of goods hit the nail right in the head! Imported goods are very expensive also due to our weak exchange rate.When I went overseas, it was an eye opener for me.
ReplyDeleteIn the US, one block of Philadelphia Cream cheese is USD2.99. One chicken is USD6.00. Let's not talk about exchange rate, but compare dollar to dollar. If one is living in US and earning say USD2,000.00, goods are very affordable. And don't mention the price of chocolates! And at the restaurant (not those high end ones lah) the prices of entrees are below USD20. Here if you earn RM2,000.00, eating at say, Chillis is expensive.
If I lived and work in US I would be 3X the size that I am now hah..hah...
To simplify, if you take USD50 to the supermarket there, you can buy a lot of things. Here RM50.00 you can't buy much.
DeleteYou got me thinking now! Those days in US, I could get a huge box of corn flakes at US$0.99 cents only when they have lelong sale!
DeleteYes, TM. If you don't do the conversions, their foodstuff is considered cheap.
DeleteThose stupid $5.99 whole chickens in Target/Walmart. I bought a few of them, thinking of having them over 3 or 4 meals, end up I always finish an entire chicken over a 2 hours movie. I hate those chickens >.<
DeleteI mean I bought them a few times, thinking of having one chicken over 3 or 4 meals every time*
Deletebetul what you say, PH. No need compare till US la. Even compare Singapore $ already can see liao.
DeleteNot only food stuffs...the one can see clearly is the car price. If see foreign car being imported here....the price double or triple the original price . import tax
errr....chicken ah...here also have rm5.99 chicken in hypermarket leh.
DeleteHmm...but what about their Income tax system ya? hear from cousin in Australia that the income tax rate over there is very high.Not sure about US. Also kira as money not enough. If middle income family at least both husband and wife have to work.
very true lah.. if we just compare dollar to dollar and ignore the exchange rate, our things are really more expensive while our salary are so low.. what a disparity..
DeleteBTW, saw this at AEON MV, the Japanese snacks section..
Haiz.... Money not enough, now Singapore has been listed as one of the most expensive place to live in...
ReplyDeleteI didn't realised got baked Kit Kat... If got go Isetan supermarket, will go look see look see if they have it anot...
Deletemoney is always not enough leh what to do. like the politician say ":change your lifestyle" lo.
DeleteFunny enough when i go malaysian air port and look at kitkat price...not muchg difference leh. only that the flavour have more than in the supermarket.
yalah, money is always not enough lah.. i think eating in SG still relatively cheaper, but no comment on other things that contributed to SG being the most expensive city to live in, hahahaha~~
DeleteI also didn't know got baked kit kat. Anyway I saw there are stalls now selling kit kat of various flavours. And yes it's not cheap like what you have mentioned. Most of time my wifey and I just pass the kiosk while my kids staring at it. Lol
ReplyDeletei think this baked KitKat is one of the more special ones.. oh, so you can find KitKat specialty stores in SG??
DeleteYes its definitely cheaper in Japan and my colleagues always got the green tea kit kat whenever they visited japan. I still have one in my desk. Hahaha.. anyway , I'm not really a fan of kit kat. I would prefer dark chocolate over it. Kit kat is too sweet.
ReplyDeletegreen tea KitKat is actually quite common already, i think the green tea one is not seasonal and we also can get it over here too..
DeleteIt seems like you are a kit kat lover. Well , it can be a De stressing moment to pop one in during working stress period. Sometimes I do that but once started , I cannot stop. Hahha. .. so , I believe you bought a lot from Japan !
ReplyDeleteerrr, not a lover but okay lah.. but when i saw all the very interesting flavors, so creative that i am impressed and wanted to try.. :)
DeleteI think it's due to RM. It's cheaper if you use other currencies to buy it. Rm has depreciated for while.
ReplyDeleteyeah, could be RM and also could be because of our cheap labour cost~~ :p
DeleteGood morning bloggers! Wah! Anay is always impressed with Sherman Khan's good maths calculation like a well versed Chettiar. Always counting money!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea that we have very much lesser of spending power here. So why the importers still wanna risk and sell them here? They will be at the shelves until near expiry when Anay & Lina will come sapu them!!
Sherman Khan geleng geleng kepala like chettiar can calculate till the last sens leh 0.0001 sen .
DeleteYea that's what kaldip says too. spending power here not enough. or rather not enough money to spend la. Inflation rate rise higher and faster that salary rate ...how? inflation yearly naik 10% ...salary naik rm30 for clerk...how la....
hahaha now i follow you all already...now go shopping will look at the Clearance stock place and see got what goody to sapu. last weekend managed to sapu ramen and biscuits made from japan.
DeleteDiscovered Cold storage at jaya One also have place for clearance stock. Saw got kitkatt there and oreo. Did not sapu the kitkat but sapu the oreo
yes very true.. because not enough money to spend, that's why we have very weak spending power.. no money, how to spend?? and the price increase is always beyond our salary increase leh..
DeleteThat's why low cost goodies in those countries can become premium goodies when they come in here, even though the actual selling price is the same. You know Uniqlo in Japan is like FOS over here, right?
ReplyDeleteBut then again, Uniqlo coming in from Japan to Malaysia - they're aren't really a premium item, aren't they?
DeleteUnlike H&M or Topshop or even Zara.
I thought most of Uniqlo's items are about the same price range as Topshop? Well yeah I have to admit, not that premium, just higher than the local brands.
DeleteI went into Malaysian H&M once and never went back in. Back in my UK days, H&M and Primark were my best friends, £2 or £3 clothes and £10 winter jacket OMG!
UniQlo is still my favourite for their quality and comfort. The price is cheap in Japan by their standard but is popular for their quality and cuttings with the folks. I heard H&M and Marks & Spencer are family stores there but not here!!! They open M&S at MV Gardens!
Deletei think everything masuk into Malaysia sure become premium ones already lah, hahaha.. but sad to say, there are actually some local brands which are even more expensive leh..
Deletewahhh... a serious talk about income disparity amidst shopping for kit-kat? ;)
ReplyDeletehaiz...saja lepas tension lo. what to do...later kitkat price increase too much till it become premium goods already...can only afford those pasar malam wafer biscuit as replacement aje lo.
Deletethat's back to my style lah.. one photo, one story and then bring up another serious topic, haha~~
DeleteKitKat very expensive yo! In JAMY's house, chocolates and candies that can be found in the fridge - are all free gifts from friends and relatives. Yannie and Jin Jin seldom fork out money to buy candies and chocolate for April and May. When people gave us chocolates and candies, we appreciate them very much, cheapo Yannie won't spend money on chocolates and candies. lol!
ReplyDeleteOnly when JAMY visited Langkawi or any airport, would chocolates and candies, because they are duty free.
The mathematics that SK did here is precisely correct. I can't help to agree with you, SK. It is indeed expensive as the price has marked up so high for most of the imported stuffs.
Smart parents are like JY who spend wisely and save lots of $$ in the Arab Banks!!
Deleteonce in a while i would buy some chocolates.. if i want to stop myself from buying, i will tell myself to look at the price, and how i can spend the same amount of money on other things.. eg: one packet of KitKat (local, not import) is about RM10, i can use that to have two bowls of wantan mee, and that's two meals~~
DeleteI'm a huge fan of chocolate, but luckily Kit Kat is not my weakness. Hahaha! Why? Because Kit Kat is not "pure" chocolate, it has wafer inside one :(
ReplyDeleteThose chocolate with fancy wafer or filling don't capture my eyes (and mouth). I prefer chocolate bar, hehehe....
DeleteM&M is my favourite chocolate - melt in your mouth, not in your hand
M&M and Kit Kat are still my favourite! *Hint *Hint
DeleteI also love their MEIJI's Dark Chocolates ~ so heavenly!
next time we will not send the Japan mari punya KitKat to Ah Hua okay?? muahahahaha~~ :D
DeleteI think it is very expensive too but most Japanese imported food sold here are very expensive mainly due to the exchange rate. Which supermarket is this? Just curious. Have a good week ahead, Sk and everyone!
ReplyDeletebut Japanese yen has dropped so much yet the Japanese stuffs are not decreasing in price, haha!! you see, those RM5 shops are even making more profit.. oh, i saw that KitKat in AEON MV..
DeleteThe Yen currency has been dropping, so many Malaysians can now afford to travel often to Japan like SK. Hotels there are cheaper with their govt's promotions to lure tourists. So their goods and foods are exported overseas to flood our local markets. I think they have become quite affordable now.
ReplyDeleteyeah, and that could also be a reason why we do not need visa to go to Japan now.. and yes, since the Yen is lower now, it's a good time to go to Japan.. :)
Deletethere's a lot of variety of KitKat in Japan...seems like Japanese enjoys Kit Kat so much?
ReplyDeletewhether they enjoy KitKat or not, i have no idea.. what i know is, they are really creative for all those very interesting and unique flavors.. :)
Deletebut its someting new... should try ...
ReplyDeleteif it's RM7.90 i may try, but it's RM17.90.. furthermore, the packing looks nice, if i'm to do that, sure looks horrible :D
DeleteI wouldn't buy too as it's too expensive. Anyway, it's no harm trying if we really yearn for it.
ReplyDeleteyeah, only if I'm really yearning for it and when I "feel rich" then I may buy.. haha!! anyway, this is something special I may consider actually.. :)
Delete换着是以前的我，我肯定会买！xD
ReplyDeleteBut now, I realize chocolate isn't really that tempting anymore, I mean chocolate snacks like this, Kit Kat, M&M, Snickers and so on, don't know, may be grown older already don't like sweet stuff? Haha!
But the flavor and packaging is quite nice la honestly, chocolate lover/kids sure like. And for those people who keen on buying imported stuff, sure won't miss this. You know there're people who especially 'appreciate' imported stuff, like food? When they go grocery shopping, they will directly go to those imported goods section, or those organic section and shop. So I am sure this kinda Kit Kat sure attracts people's attention.
Yaya I remember the Kit Kat post you shared before, really an eye opener! For us Malaysian sure macam 'suaku', but for Japanese, nothing special already... Hehe.
But as far as I concern, Kit Kat memang not cheap one, and one pack got 2 pieces only, really don't know can fill up my stomach or not, haha! So buy and eat once a while ok la, cannot buy too often. And this new flavor, try try enough la. It's true that I know how expensive and how much we Malaysian spend on grocery compared to oversea, but I never thought of doing such calculations like you do. 0.25% and 0.9% is really very much different lo... :o
But anyway, we cannot really do such comparison since our currency is different, macam not fair la.. and we always know that things in Malaysia is expensive one...
yalor, same here, i think last time if i see something i like, i will sure give reasons to myself to buy.. but now will be the opposite, i will find reasons for myself not to buy.. get myself looking at the price and then make myself think that i can have how many bowls of noodles with the same amount of money, haha!!
Deletememang not cheap lah chocolates, i mean if you are looking at decent quality lah.. anyway, this Baked Kit Kat looks interesting, though i know the one on the packing looks nice and if i am the one doing it, it sure turns horrible, haha!! so, nowadays, if i buy those expensive chocolates, it would probably be the time when i can get one free one, near expiry also okay for me one.. hehe!!
假如大馬能夠做到收入與開支平均，我就唔係度啦！
ReplyDelete至少你好過我啦, 我仲係踎喺度揸(住個飯)兜呀~~
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