Figure · Water pumped at home
The same customs tariff line holds a $31 pump and a $4,186 one
Two markets coexist within a single tariff line. One brings in 503,195 Chinese pumps at $31 each. The other brings in 10,291 Colombian units at $4,186.
The first has fifty times more units. An average of the two describes neither.
The cheap pump is the one installed in a home. The expensive unit goes to a well, a water system or a plant. The two share a customs label and nothing else.
For a C-suite executive who imports or distributes, the lesson is practical. Do not blend the two into a single market figure. Average price, margin and channel change from one to the other.
Before reading an import statistic, first ask which market each unit belongs to.
- 503,195 pumps
- from China come in under the tariff line, at $31 each
- Source: C4Accel study, series Water pumped at home · high confidence
- 10,291 units
- from Colombia come in under the same tariff line, at $4,186 each
- Source: C4Accel study, series Water pumped at home · high confidence
- Fifty times
- more units are in the cheap-pump market than in the expensive-equipment market
- Source: C4Accel study, series Water pumped at home · high confidence
Read the article: Household pumps are 96% of the units and 25% of the money