"Why does this Finnish product cost so much? A foreign product is much cheaper."
Buying a Finnish product is a choice. A Finnish product is often more expensive than a product of the same style, for example, made in China. So why choose a more expensive product when you can get it cheaper?
Before I dive deeper into the topic of the blog, I would like to remind you that it is not always financially possible for everyone to buy only Finnish products. However, sometimes it is also about our spending habits. We may spend the same amount of money on several cheap alternatives as we would have spent on one high-quality Finnish product. When it is possible to choose, you should choose the best option.
This blog focuses on three main questions:
1. What is the meaning of a Finnish product?
2. Why does a Finnish product cost more?
3. Is an expensive product automatically high-quality?
What is the meaning of a Finnish product?
I mainly prefer Finnish products because this kind of consumption choice is most in line with my values. My goal is to make a responsible consumption choice that I know as much as possible about the production process.
I want to support local production. When I get a product made nearby, my purchases do not cause as much harm to the environment because the products do not have to be transported from far away to me. When I choose a Finnish product, I usually make a more responsible choice than when I order a product from a large supplier abroad. The journey of a Finnish product to a consumer living in Finland is usually very short - either the entrepreneur sells his product directly to the consumer or through a retailer.
A short journey for the consumer also makes it easier to find out the production conditions. At least I want to know as precisely as possible where my products come from. A short route to the consumer also reduces any middlemen who share the price of the product. In this case, the creator of the product has a better chance of getting adequate compensation for his work, without the profit of the product being divided between several different parties. I also want to support Finnish entrepreneurship.
There are also many regulations and laws related to the manufacture of products in Finland. In Finland, an entrepreneur must take these things into account. Knowing this, I feel better when buying Finnish products than those whose manufacturing process regulations I don't know.
Why does a Finnish product cost more?
There is always a story behind goods and services, which is rarely thought of. The price level of a Finnish product or service reflects many factors – from design and production wage costs to materials and taxation. An entrepreneur has to price his product so that he can make a living from it, which often leads to higher prices than a product produced in countries with cheap labor.
Two-euro wool socks don't even cover material costs. Why do we easily pay 100€/hour for expert work, but are shocked when a handmade product costs hundreds of euros?
For example, a handmade product that costs 20 euros in the online store and in brick-and-mortar stores of retailers. The price of the product includes design, material costs, the entrepreneur's "salary" (from which personal income taxes and other costs such as accounting, insurance, sales and marketing, workspace costs, online store costs and other running costs are deducted), the retailer's share, packaging materials and VAT.
Let's calculate what the seller really gets for a product that costs 20 euros. First, the 24% value added tax is deducted, which is 3.87 euros. Then off the share of material and packaging costs, which are about 2.50 euros (0% VAT). After these, 13.63 euros remain, from which the other previously mentioned business costs and finally taxes must be covered. The final tangible income for me would be around 8 euros from the product.
It is often forgotten that when buying a product you also pay 24% value added tax (soon 25.5%). In addition to that, I pay for the materials used, so basically I pay the company that sold the materials to the entrepreneur. I pay the rest to the entrepreneur, from which he covers other expenses and pays even more tax. So I don't directly pay my money to the entrepreneur, but it is distributed to many different parties.
At this point, I hope that the next time you go to an interior design store and see a really nice and high-quality hand-patterned plate for five euros, you will think about what the manufacturer will get from this? Probably nothing at all.
Is an expensive product automatically high-quality?
It is very important to remember that even if the product has a high price, it does not always guarantee high quality.
However, many Finnish entrepreneurs invest in high-quality materials, in which case they are usually also chosen more responsibly. In this case, the products are also often of higher quality. Of course, this is not a given, so it is always good for the consumer to check what kind of materials have been used in the products.
The higher quality materials are used, the more likely the price tag will increase. For handmade products, the price goes up even more, but at the same time it guarantees that someone has checked the quality of the product during the manufacturing process. However, a high price does not necessarily automatically mean top quality, as many other factors affect quality.
Although Finnish design may be produced abroad, it does not necessarily correspond to Finnish production quality. The background may be an effort to lower production costs, which can also lead to a weakening of quality control processes or even ethical problems, such as potentially poor working conditions in production countries outside the EU. For this reason, it is important to be aware that even if the product is designed in Finland, its manufacturing country and methods can have a significant impact on both the product's quality and ethics.
So it's a different thing to talk about Finnish design than about Finnish products.
With us, you can trust Finnishness
Most of the products are handmade, they are carefully selected and their quality control is closely followed. You can always return or complain about a product whose quality you are not satisfied with.
In addition to being Finnish, we also value other principles, such as closeness to nature and high quality. This can be seen in many of our products, which not only represent Finnish design but also our ethical and ecological values.
These things are really important to us. And for you?
- With love Päivi / Drop and Wave entrepreneur.