Why are board games so much more expensive in Norway compared to Central Europe?
I know things tend to be more expensive in Norway in general, but I’m honestly confused about board games and card games. Simple card games for 400 NOK? Even when there’s a 40% discount, they’re still almost twice the price of the same games in many EU countries.
Is this just due to import costs, taxes, or something specific about the Norwegian market?
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Posted by specialFabi96
15 Comments
They are allways 40% off, so I guess that is the real price.
It’s Norway fun is not allowed here /s
That’s due to fun tax
It’s because Norwegians HATE board games. Have you ever been to a party and everybody is having a great time, then the host comes out with a damn boardgame. Half the people start smashing their champagne flutes and the other half starts weeping. It is a horror show.
A lot of board games are made in Norwegian and thus makes the market really small. Ordering 100.000 Norwegian games are more expensive pr. game than 1 million in English.
Little demand leading to little competition and no fighting for customers. So, high prices.
Norwegian is one of the smallest language markets in Europe, so making board games in Norwegian needs a high price to be profitable.
I just came from a boardshop in Romania and the prices were surprisingly close to the prices at Outland in Oslo. Maybe a little bit higher, but with sales tax that’s expected. Norwegian games are in general more expensive, as others have explained.
Limited market, long lifespan of the products.
Most order oline those days inguess
Because they are generally cash-grabs, not well-crafted and engaging games.
This also means that margins get pushed toward “expensive, low sales” rather than “cheap, many sales”, as this is less risky.
Just a headsup, usually boardgames can be found cheaper or the same price (When a sale) on other sites than the traditional bookstores
Based on your title I almost would have thought you were Norwegian. Prize and price are often mixed up among my Norwegian-speaking friends, both in written and verbal communication.
Prize = something you win 🏆
Price = something you pay 💸
It’s partially because the Norwegian book store chains are run like cartels, they’ve just decided on a steep ‘normal’ price so that they will still make a profit when they have 40% sales. It wasn’t like this 10-15 years ago. Most of the board games that they offer are cheap no-brand knock-offs as well. When I grew up, the book stores had games by MB, Ravensburger, Hans Im Gluck, you know, proper International quality publishers. There are exceptions to this, but most high street and shopping mall book stores don’t have quality board games.
Also those boardgames they sell pay for rent and electricity and salary etc.. So because the cost of doing business is higher in norway that translates to higher end prices regardless of what the product is