Founded in 2015, Grover is the European leader in consumer electronics rental commerce, offering access to the latest technology in a flexible, monthly subscription model. The company's platform allows both consumers and businesses to choose from more than 3,000 products - from smartphones and laptops to gaming, VR, and smart home gadgets.

Grover's service allows its users to keep, change, buy, or return products according to their individual needs. Grover currently rents products in Germany, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, and the US via its own platform (grover.com) and - in Germany - via a broad online and offline partner network, which includes Europe's leading electronics retail group MediaMarktSaturn (Germany's version of BestBuy with heavier discounts).

Grover's vision is based on promoting the circular economy, expanding access to technology to multiple users throughout the product lifecycle, enabling them to extract maximum value from each product, and reducing e-waste (something that manufacturers increasingly are being expected to incorporate in their cost structure, and consequently could become a great incentive for re-usability and recycling).

Grover has already circulated a total of around 500,000 devices, is a well-funded operation and is hiring fast to expand globally. I believe that, for many technology companies, Grover can quickly become a welcome business expansion. But more important, its business model serves to show how consumers perceive the real value of products overtime - a valuable perspective for brands and product managers, who can gain an accurate index of how products are perceived by users/consumers.

This perspective is already visible in the “Electronics Price Index 2021” study (prices in USD, compiled for Grover by Sweet Spot), starting with the choice of products that were selected for the comparative research. The company's Global Price Index compares the cost of the most in-demand consumer electronics items, in light of unprecedented retail industry supply chain shortages, as well as currency fluctuations, leaving many customers either unable to find seasonal items, such as gaming consoles, or paying far more for their items.

Out of the 50 countries in the study, the United States has the #49 most expensive electronics. The study found that, on average, Argentina is the most expensive country to purchase electronics in the index, with a total deviation of 67.34% above the average cost of common electronic goods (>160% for Apple products). But the currency devaluation and political instability problems in Argentina help to explain it. More interesting is the fact that Brazil, a larger and theoretically more stable economy, is the second most expensive country in that perspective - with the price of an entry-level iPhone 12 in Brazil reaching an average of $1,624, compared to $811 in the US.

Finding that Hong Kong offers the cheapest electronic items, with costs averaging at 16.46% below the median, followed by the US and Indonesia is neither a surprise or very relevant. Probably one of the most interesting finds in the study is seeing how most in-demand products, such as game consoles or iPhone 13s, are sold-out and not even yet available in most countries. How much price deviations exist globally for a certain recently launched product is an interesting reason to look at the study in detail.

Mainly due to the rise of the cryptocurrency industry, graphics cards record the highest deviation above the median price of any item, at 166.84% above average. Of all the electronic goods in the study, the Playstation 5 is the worst impacted by global supply shortages, with availability in only 12 out of 50 countries in brick-and-mortar stores and 18 out of 50 on e-commerce platforms.

"At Grover, we’ve witnessed the impact supply chain disruptions have had on the availability and affordability of electronic goods. Though we took proactive measures to maintain our own stock, the severity of supply chain disruption had market-wide ramifications," says Giacomo Dalle Vedove, Grover’s VP International and Growth. "Technology is ubiquitous within the modern world and will only increase in importance as further advances are made. We decided to conduct this study to draw attention to the fragility of current supply chains and in the hope that these issues do not become commonplace."

This research also serves to show that most "global" tech companies are not truly multinational and most have relied too much on fragile partnerships with online marketplaces, and global "mercenary" box movers. While consumers are increasingly Internet-savvy and aware of the latest devices and technologies, Amazon is not yet doing business in many European countries, Apple doesn't have stores everywhere, and many giant retailers in the consumer electronics space are still betting on heavily discounted "third-choice" and house brands. The result of these disparities creates an interesting set of conditions under the currently uncertain economic circumstances, particularly with currency fluctuations and inflation pressures.

audioXpress | Voice Coil | LIS 

audioXpress features great articles, projects, tips, and techniques for the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic, and electronics.

Voice Coil, the periodical for the loudspeaker industry, delivers product reviews, company profiles, industry news, and design tips straight to professional audio engineers and manufacturers who have the authority to make powerful purchasing decisions.

The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.