SA's best office chairs

[nicroets]

Why is there a photo of MZ ? I thought he doesn't need a chair now that he's in the metaverse.

 

[Shayd]

I got the Net One after back issues last year and loving it. On another note 20k+ for a chair seems real excessive.

 

[Swa]

Also came here to ask why is there a picture of yuckerberg?

 

[Affieplaas]

I have both the Merryfair Spinelly (my son's gaming chair) and the Wau (my work from home chair that I spend at least 8 hours every day in).

Very well made chairs.

 

[Cranjus McBasketball]

Also came here to ask why is there a picture of yuckerberg?

If only the reading the article would solve that mystery. If only.

 

[friedpiggy]

The one thing that peeves me about office chairs is that there is more padding in the backrest than the seat. Where is most of the weight going? not into the backrest for sure. Its almost like the people designing these things have never sat in a chair before.

On that note though, I am busy doing one of those car seat jobbies. Go to a scrapyard and get an old front seat of a car, remove the hardware underneath and fabricate a mounting system that lets you put it onto a standard desk chair gas/castor system and boom, super comfy chair.

 

[Solitude]

The Ergotherapy chairs mentioned first and second are amazing. I've got one in my home office and one at work.

 

[Superjakes]

Any chairs for fat guys on a budget? No ugly remarks, please.

 

[SlinkyMike]

Any chairs for fat guys on a budget? No ugly remarks, please.

This is actually a very good point. Most office chairs are rated for 150kg. "Heavy Duty" chairs up to 220kg AFAIK.

I know because we got chairs for everyone to WFH and I, uh, needed this information for that purpose.

 

[Kabb]

R28k for an Aeron? Nuts.
I'll sell mine that I still have there for R15k. Relative bargain.

Hi Messugga,
Glad you are still using the best performance chair in the world... Unfortunately Mybroadband published the incorrect pricing for these chairs.
The Aeron currently sells for R18895 Plus Vat ( R21844) Have a look here together with other Herman Miller Chairs.

Herman Miller Products – Business Furniture Solutions

shop.businessfurniture.co.za

 

[Kabb]

The Herman Miller chairs in this article are all showing the incorrect prices. some of them are 30% less on https://shop.businessfurniture.co.za/herman-miller

 

[The_MAC]

You could save all that money and go for this sturdy, lumbar-support, deluxe plastic chair..

 

[superskully]

I am probably the exception, but mesh chairs mess up my back.
People at the office were surprised when i said that i don't want the (back then 17k) mesh chair.
It does not work everyone

 

[Stochos]

The Herman Miller chairs in this article are all showing the incorrect prices. some of them are 30% less on https://shop.businessfurniture.co.za/herman-miller

Still ridiculously expensive for the South African market. They not going to find many buyers at even their "discounted" price. Their prices seem very inflated.

Any dealer gets at least a 61% of the list price; which for the Aeron is $1,695.

At 61% their cost excluding duty is $661 or at R17.82/$ is R11,779.

 

[Kabb]

Still ridiculously expensive for the South African market. They not going to find many buyers at even their "discounted" price. Their prices seem very inflated.

Any dealer gets at least a 61% of the list price; which for the Aeron is $1,695.

At 61% their cost excluding duty is $661 or at R17.82/$ is R11,779.


View attachment 1419005

If you put on the 20% duties and 10% for international shipping. The landed cost is about R15,548 excl Vat.
The dealer is left with 18% GP for having to fund the imports and warehousing, marketing and distribution.... and oh yes they still have to make money to be in business....

I don't think 18% GP is excessive at all!

 

[Stochos]

If you put on the 20% duties and 10% for international shipping. The landed cost is about R15,548 excl Vat.
The dealer is left with 18% GP for having to fund the imports and warehousing, marketing and distribution.... and oh yes they still have to make money to be in business....

I don't think 18% GP is excessive at all!

For a single chair it will be a hard sell in SA at current pricing. This is targeting an ultra ultra niche market. Unless your market is only corporate and even they will be skeptical.

R21,884 is steep vs what's available; A random search for an ergonomic chair from a highly rated supplier produces this one for R7,995 which comes with an 8 year warranty. Not far from the Aeron.
For R24k a business can get three of these!



Does international shipping really cost 10% of value of goods shipped? It is based on weight. Margins are likely to be much, much higher than 18%.

Maybe they need to revisit their margins and move some chairs.
Black Friday specials?

 

[Kabb]

There are many chairs out there but there must be good reason why the Herman Miller Aeron is the worlds best selling high performance ergonomic chair of all time....

 

[Stochos]

There are many chairs out there but there must be good reason why the Herman Miller Aeron is the worlds best selling high performance ergonomic chair of all time....

This is true. But not in price gouging rent-seeking Mzansi, where the benefit relative to its cost is very low. An obvious case for parallel imports.
The issue is not the product but distributors with predatory margins.

Same racket is run by iStore with Apple products, also best selling etc.

 

[Stochos]

If you put on the 20% duties and 10% for international shipping. The landed cost is about R15,548 excl Vat.
The dealer is left with 18% GP for having to fund the imports and warehousing, marketing and distribution.... and oh yes they still have to make money to be in business....

I don't think 18% GP is excessive at all!

As per the calculation below the Gross Profit margin is between 37% to 54%

An estimate of the Gross Profit (GP) can be determined using the discounted cost of the chair and shipping calculators found on the internet.

The weight of items shipped by containers is largely irrelevant as a 20-foot container can carry at least 25 metric tonnes (=25000kg). The key determining factor is the volume: how many boxed chairs can be packed into a container? The more the units that can be packed; the lower the cost of shipping each unit.

Dimensions of the box and weight of an Aeron chair which is fully assembled: https://gostanding.org/chairs-stools/herman-miller-aeron-review/

The shipped package dimensions are approximately 17” x 27” x 42” (43.2cm x 68.5cm x 106.7cm). The shipping weight is 64 lbs (29 kg).

Using the above dimensions it is possible to determine how many packed fully assembled Aeron chairs can fit into a 20 foot container, the following calculators can be used:
https://www.cbmcalculator.com/
https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculators/container-loading-calculator.php

Both gave similar results for the dimension and weight entered.
A single 20’ container carries 81 units. More units could be packed if they were in knock down units requiring assembly.

Freight cost calculator: https://www.freightos.com/freight-resources/freight-rate-free-calculator/

International Container Shipping Rates & Costs April 2023

The maps and tables below show 2023 international container shipping rates & costs for moves originating in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can jump to the relevant section using the following links: US, UK, Canada, Australia, 20ft vs 40ft Containers, LCL vs FCL, Land Freight, Sea Freight...

moverdb.com

Cost for a single 20-foot container to Durban $2,156 from London port. The UK manufactures Aerons for MEA.

The other big variable is the exchange rate. Using the average exchange rates per month of this year the following matrix of Gross Profit is obtained. Given this reseller has stock it must’ve been purchased earlier in the year when the R/$ was favourable. The GP ranges from a minimum of 37% to a maximum of 54%.
Even at current rate of R/$ 17.28 yields a very healthy 33.5%.
At least a third to more than half of the advertised price goes to this reseller's profit. Way more than the 18% claimed.