Why Are Tiles So Cheap?

[Marvo]

I was wandering around one of my local tile shops today, I wasn't looking for tiles (looking for a drain seal kit) and because I wasn't under pressure to buy tiles it was quite a relaxing experience to stroll around just checking out the tiles on display. It occured to me how cheap the tiles actually are, more than half the tiles on display were in the price bracket between ZAR 50 and ZAR 100 per sq meter (£2.50 and £5.00 per square) and they're all 'A' grade tiles. To put it in perspective, I bought a sheet of shutterply a couple of days ago which is the cheapest nastiest plywood around and it was R350.00 for a 2.4 x 1.2 sheet which is more expensive per square meter than many of the tiles.

There were some more expensive tiles such as large format and some of the plank shaped tiles but even most of those were under ZAR200 per square. Some of the porcelain mosaic sheets were R20 for a small sheet which is maybe R200/ square meter but less than 5% of the tiles in the shop were over R200 / SQ M.

Obviously I realise that you've still got to but adhesive and grout, also being in Africa I'm guessing that the tiles here aren't as cutting edge fashionable as those in the UK tile retailers but I still got the feeling that tiles are an incredibly cheap item considering what must go into their manufacture. Also the shop I was in was one with the largest national footprint of stores and well known to be not particularly the cheapest, I'd expect to find most of the tiles they sell at least 10-15% cheaper at other shops.

 

[GoneGuy]

It could be that shipping and import taxes are lower in your country compared to others? A lot of tiles are mass produced in places such as India and China and Vietnam which will lower the cost of tiles

 

[Time's Ran Out]

CHEAP - good value!
However :
If a tile range is £200 per sq mt you will get £80-100 per metre to fix it.
If it’s £10 per sq mt you won’t get £25 per metre to fix it.
You have to set your stall out to suit your market - cheap and cheerful = mass sales.

 

[Marvo]

I also suspected that they might be mass produced Asian imports but the majority of the tiles I could see that were boxed were locally produced in South Africa which surprised me.

 

[J Sid]

aren't they just priced for what the customers in any country can afford.

 

[widler]

Must admit, I’ve never seen a m2 of tiles for sale for £2.50 anywhere in England , I doubt you can buy a tile for £2.50 in England , so to answer your question, tiles ain’t cheap in England, just Africa 😉

 

[Brian_West]

If you think tiles ain’t cheap in England you should try buying in Ireland.

I was quoted over €1100 for less than 3sqm of floor tile. They told me they were expensive because they were hand made. LOL
I found the exact same tile on a spanish website for 350. I ended up getting the tiles shipped from spain together with all the wall tile for less than what my local shop wanted for just the floor tile.

That’s a nice margin if you can get it.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Cheaper in £££’s