According to a consumer study, the ideal price point for a durable high performance blender is from $250 to $300. And when consumers are finally offered a $200 blender they are not fully aware what a true high performance blender is. As a result they buy just about anything that appears to fit into their budget.
The ideal and durable high performance blender however is either a 2 hp or 3 hp blender. Recognized blender brand names like the Vita Mix, Waring, and Blendtec blenders cost between $350 and $600. Another true high performance blender brand has emerged however for $250. This one is uniquely equipped with a 3 hp motor yet yields in the blending torque of a 2 hp blender. Waring has a 3.5 hp blender that yields in a 3 hp blending torque. The Blendtec and Vita Mix blenders, each 3 hp, yield in 3 hp torque and the Vita Mix 2 hp yields in 2 hp blending torque.
The blenders considered in this price study are following:
– Vita Mix Vita Pre 2 / 1003
– Vita Mix Vita Prep 3 / 1005
– Vita Mix TurboBlend 4500 Blender
– Vita Mix 5200 Blender
– Waring MX1050XT
– Waring MX1200XT
– Blendtec HP3A Blender
– Blendtec Total Blender
Vita Mix blenders have been made for over 80 years, Waring for over 60 years, and Blendtec (aka K-Tec) for over 35. The Vita Mix blenders have probably the greater authority and experience in reliable blender building. Its 2 hp Vita Mix 4500 Turboblend Blender has been chosen the 2 hp blending torque standard; the measure of all.
In comparison to the Vita Mix 4500 2 hp Turbo Blender (nothing really turbo about this blender), the 3 hp Vita Mix Vita Prep 1005/3 commercial blender is a much stronger blender. It blends everything that the Vita Mix 4500 Turbo Blender blends only in about half the time. The result is finer and much more emulsified than with the 4500 Blender.
The Waring and Blendtec 3+ hp blenders are just about the same as the Vita Mix Vita Prep 3 hp blender, when it comes to emulsifying flax seed, strawberry nuts, making peanut butter or grinding wheat into flour dust. A 2 hp blender to the other hand takes more time, the content gets warmer, and at the end there are slightly rougher pieces left than in a 3 hp blender. We are not talking big of course. The emulsified seed and nut piece-size difference is in the 0 millimeters. You still however can see little dots of seeds.
Price differences between a 2 hp blender to a 3 hp blender from Vita Mix is over $150 in respect to the Vita Mix 4500 Turbo Blender and the 3 hp commercial Vita Prep 1005. The Vita Mix 5200 blender, also a 2 hp blender is of course just as expensive as the Vita Mix 3 hp blender. It would not make sense to acquire the 5200 model when one can get a 3 hp for the same price.
A 3 hp motor in China or Taiwan, if bought by 1000 to 5000 units in one shipment, costs between $15 and $25 dollars. Based on a production cost study, it has been found that high performance blenders such as the Vita Mix, Waring, and Blendtec Blenders (including the OMNI and the Health Master Blender) cost between $40 and $100 dollars. Then of course it becomes a question why these powerful blenders cost retail between $350 and $600?
Vita Mix Corporation, for example, has an interest to protect its market. A price battle between dealers could threaten this market. The company sells its blenders, just like Blendtec and Waring, to consumers through dealers. Dealers most of the time purchase their inventory from distributor wholesalers. Distributors have a contact factory rep to go to for inventory placement. Everybody wants his cut of the pie, increasing the cost to the consumer. Of course, for blenders such as the Vita Mix 5200 at about $450 sold consumer direct and the affiliate marketers getting paid about $70 to $80 in commission, leaves for Vita Mix about $370 in gross profit.
The Vita Mix 4500 Turbo Blender, as simple as it is and equipped with a 2 hp motor costs about $70 in production. Suggested retail price is $ 400. Wholesale price is $ 275.00 and the Distributor purchases the blender for around $ 230.00. But if you compared this blender with the Vita Mix 2 hp Commercial Vita Prep 2 blender which costs retail $ 400 as well, and cost wholesale $ 440, it does not really justify why a Vita Mix 4500 without the variable-speed turning knob should cost the same.
While the ideal price of the Vita Mix 4500 Turbo Blender is $330, based on consumer demand and availability, it is overpriced advertised. Dealers are allowed to receive phone calls to sell the blenders for whatever price they agree on. But if found in MAP advertising violation, dealers will be cut off from its wholesaler and manufacturer. All, Waring, Blendtec, and Vita Mix follow this rule. However, a blender margin too big, and too many competing blenders, better, more sophisticated with more power sold to consumers for less makes an advertising price demand difficult to follow.