Not many companies nowadays that’s for sure, rumours are even the Indian brand bats are going to be rising by 30-40%.
Your comparing 2 bat-makers who are very good in their own rights but A) work from their home workshops and B) Don’t do it as a full time job so their price models can be different to those brands that rely on the margins to pay their overheads/staff/business rates with.
Add on the fact that the vast majority of brands will be VAT Reg too so have to pay the VAT man 20% of profits too!
I don't hide the fact all the Neon bats are imported, but what Tom is saying it right - I've had a ~25% increase across all grades in the past year. I've been able to soak up the majority of the increase just through the volume of sales I'm doing now, but it's inevitable that prices are going to keep increasing. At the end of the day inflation has been sat at 10% for a while now, that affects everything so cricket is just as vulnerable to price increases (whether we like it or not!!).
And yes, comparing brands that are VAT registered vs non-VAT registered is impossible. Every bat I sell, even after reclaiming every penny of VAT I can, still sees probably ~10% of the sale price go to the tax man.
Side note, I'd be intrigued to know what people expect to pay for the following grades nowadays?
- G1+
- G1
- G2
- G3
- G4
Answers below (don't bite my head off about G1+ please
)