Stock decors

The production of decorative porcelain is almost as expensive a process as the production of the white porcelain itself. As is the case everywhere, the larger the quantity, the lower the production costs. When large quantities of decorative porcelain are produced, the basic costs of decor production, such as design, lithography, decor equipment and the production of decor images, are of course better utilised than in the case of piece-by-piece production to order.

Just imagine that at the time - until its bankruptcy in 1999 - a global porcelain brand such as Hutschenreuther produced a single lid for a soup tureen, as ordered by the end customer in the shop, individually and to order. As a result, the German porcelain industry suffocated under its own "repurchases guarantee".

To counteract this cost madness, almost all well-known porcelain brands are launching so-called stock designs. All items in such a stock series are stored in the factory itself and, in addition to a more favourable price, also offer fast availability and delivery times. Until the market power of the internet, the dealers and partners for such stock crockery were usually hand-picked and regionally differentiated from one another, but today, thanks to Google & Co, there is a fierce battle for customers for these stock ranges too.