I think many commenters on bike-related topics, not just here, focus too much on the cost of raw materials when calculating a "fair" retail price. A year ago, the head of Factor sat down with a tech editor from Escape Collective to discuss costs. The raw materials estimate was approximately $365 USD, but the total cost to deliver a bike to regional distribution hubs was closer to $2,000 USD. Once you strip away the expenses that most Chinese brands and ODMs don't incur, such as aero development, marketing budgets, and the cost of freight shipping. You get down to about $1,500 USD. Let's say rounding up was involved; for the sake of being critical, let's deduct another 10-20%. $ 1,200-$1,350 USD is probably closer to the loaded cost that a brand would pay for a WT-level bike made at one of the higher-end factories (including the factory's profit).
A ~3x markup is standard for manufactured goods with complicated supply chains and retail involvement, so it's not surprising that brands like Factor and Specialized are not swimming in profits. I don't know if others would consider the Tavelo Arow or Quick Pro to be up to that standard, but looking at costs does make the prices these brands are asking seems fair to me once you add in a few hundred bucks for marketing, distribution, paying the people that work at the brands to provide customer service, b2c sales, customer engagement for product development etc.
Whether or not the incremental cost of the higher-end bikes makes a difference to you is a different question. Regardless, I am very grateful that after 20 years, some of these companies still choose to work directly with consumers.
