Gray Marketing
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Gray marketing
Gray marketing is the sale of good that are legal and legit that are sold outside of the area where they are allowed to be sold at for a cheaper price. There are a few causes of gray marketing that can be described. One big cause is that a product has different release dates for certain products in different countries. Selling the product at the other country before its release date for less than what the countrys retail stores are selling it for is a cause. A big example that comes up is when Apple released their iPhone 4. The United States was one of the countries that was able to get their hands on the phone. The earlier release date compared to other countries led to the buying and selling of the iPhone in the United States and sold to countries without access to the phone yet.
Other counties have higher retail prices due to things like higher sales taxes and import taxes as well. Many people would buy the iPhone in the United States to sell in overseas country for less than what the retail price was of the place that they were selling the phone at. This is called the gray market because it is not illegal to do so but can affect the products price indirectly. The only way that I can see this problem going down would be to an international release date for the product. This would lower the resale value because everyone would have the opportunity of getting the phone at the same time. I dont think that there is an answer for the grey market, but lots can be done in improving the situation. There is nothing that can really be done about the import taxes that are put on the products in other countries. This is something that can lead many people to turn to the gray market just to avoid paying that tax price.