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Hi everyone,
I'm a new user here but have been lurking since 2007 before I bought my 600 series speakers. This has always seemed like a very civil group and I thank you all for that! With that in mind, please understand that I am not looking to get into any arguments on this topic.
Ok, this post is way too long so if the title doesn't interest you, please go no further...
Also, I searched the forum and did not see any similar topics, so I apologize if this has been discussed before.
When I realized yesterday that the only Magnepan dealer in the Atlanta area had closed, it really struck me as obvious that the manufacturers are going to have to re-think their business strategies in order to survive.
When I was looking for speakers in early 2008 I really wanted to check out the Monitor Audio RS series, but not one dealer in Atlanta had any RS series speakers on the floor, and only one had an actual store front (they have since closed as well). The others were all custom installers with no inventory. From both the manufacturers and consumers point of view, this is a fundamentally bad situation. Here you have a metropolitan area of over 5 million people with whoknowshowmany potential customers that cannot even see your product. Even worse, the custom installers with no inventory also have no return policy. Basically, you are screwed if you want Monitor Audio speakers and you live in Atlanta.
This is a B&W forum and I have B&W speakers, so I'm obviously going to use B&W as the basis for my suggestion. However this would apply to other manufacurers in similar situations.
It's simple - allow the sale of 600 series speakers, and only the 600 series, online or by phone.
As the manufacturer...
- You greatly increase your potential customer base. Consider folks in smaller towns and rural areas that are over 100 miles from the closest dealer, and add to that the demise of so many local shops in the larger cities. From the manufacturers point of view, if you don't have a problem now you certainly will soon.
- You retain your brand exclusivity by limiting online/phone sales to the introductory series. I think Paradigm has done this already. I know Paradigm has a larger number of speaker series, but I really don't think that matters. As someone who would like to move to the higher end B&W speakers in the future - personally I can't see that selling the 600 series online would diminish the perceived value of the bigger stuff or make me want it any less. Maybe that's just me...
- You further protect the brand by setting a UMRP similar to what Era/Peachtree Audio has done. Again, this would only apply to the 600 series. The dealers would have the same freedom to "deal" on the higher end speakers.
- You protect the dealer network by limiting sales to the existng dealers and keeping the same basic rules that exist now in order to become a new dealer - in particular make sure that they all still have store fronts and are not online-only outfits. Add to that the fact that there is no price competition and the dealers should be fairly well protected.
- You make sure the dealers will all accept returns on the 600 series. All the customer has to do is pay the return shipping. Maybe even offer flat-rate return shipping subsidized by the manufacturer? Turn this into marketing material. "We believe in our product, we know you will too!" etc..
That's the basic argument, but there's one more item that I'd like to throw in there specific to the "next" 600 series...
Get rid of the vinyl covering while keeping everything else basically the same. Maybe make a few small internal improvements here or there so you can talk about it, but keep the manufacturing proces as close to what it is today as possible. So, you re-use as much of the existing manufacturing line as you can, keeping costs down, then you replace the vinyl with a proper veneer. Many other companies have proven that the finishing process can be done properly, beautifully, with real wood, and all while keeping costs reasonable.
I would not profess to understand commercial manufacturing, but I'd be willing to bet that by doing this B&W could get away with a very small percentage increase in the dealer cost. And, because they are now selling all 600 series speakers at list price - not the current typcal 10-15% discount - the list price might not even need to increase beyond current levels. More marketing material -> better speakers, no price increase!!!
Ok, so now you have a new 600 series with nice looking veneers, marketed and sold to a larger audience than before, and with a minimal, if any, price hike.
Ok, so where's the downside? The only thing I can think of is a small chance of a hit to the perception of brand exclusivity and therefore diminished sales in the higer end series. But with all the safeguards in place I really wouldn't expect that to be an issue. Forget the stuff about the real veneers and apply it to the current 600 series if necessary. It still seems like a winner to me. I can't see how this would not help sales.
What do you think? Where does my theory not hold water? What is it that I do not understand? Maybe I'm just plain nuts
- and as I said in the beginning of this gigantic post, please don't think that I'm fishing for an argument here. I just think it's an interesting topic and would like to hear your opinions.
Thanks for reading!
I'm a new user here but have been lurking since 2007 before I bought my 600 series speakers. This has always seemed like a very civil group and I thank you all for that! With that in mind, please understand that I am not looking to get into any arguments on this topic.
Ok, this post is way too long so if the title doesn't interest you, please go no further...
Also, I searched the forum and did not see any similar topics, so I apologize if this has been discussed before.
When I realized yesterday that the only Magnepan dealer in the Atlanta area had closed, it really struck me as obvious that the manufacturers are going to have to re-think their business strategies in order to survive.
When I was looking for speakers in early 2008 I really wanted to check out the Monitor Audio RS series, but not one dealer in Atlanta had any RS series speakers on the floor, and only one had an actual store front (they have since closed as well). The others were all custom installers with no inventory. From both the manufacturers and consumers point of view, this is a fundamentally bad situation. Here you have a metropolitan area of over 5 million people with whoknowshowmany potential customers that cannot even see your product. Even worse, the custom installers with no inventory also have no return policy. Basically, you are screwed if you want Monitor Audio speakers and you live in Atlanta.
This is a B&W forum and I have B&W speakers, so I'm obviously going to use B&W as the basis for my suggestion. However this would apply to other manufacurers in similar situations.
It's simple - allow the sale of 600 series speakers, and only the 600 series, online or by phone.
As the manufacturer...
- You greatly increase your potential customer base. Consider folks in smaller towns and rural areas that are over 100 miles from the closest dealer, and add to that the demise of so many local shops in the larger cities. From the manufacturers point of view, if you don't have a problem now you certainly will soon.
- You retain your brand exclusivity by limiting online/phone sales to the introductory series. I think Paradigm has done this already. I know Paradigm has a larger number of speaker series, but I really don't think that matters. As someone who would like to move to the higher end B&W speakers in the future - personally I can't see that selling the 600 series online would diminish the perceived value of the bigger stuff or make me want it any less. Maybe that's just me...
- You further protect the brand by setting a UMRP similar to what Era/Peachtree Audio has done. Again, this would only apply to the 600 series. The dealers would have the same freedom to "deal" on the higher end speakers.
- You protect the dealer network by limiting sales to the existng dealers and keeping the same basic rules that exist now in order to become a new dealer - in particular make sure that they all still have store fronts and are not online-only outfits. Add to that the fact that there is no price competition and the dealers should be fairly well protected.
- You make sure the dealers will all accept returns on the 600 series. All the customer has to do is pay the return shipping. Maybe even offer flat-rate return shipping subsidized by the manufacturer? Turn this into marketing material. "We believe in our product, we know you will too!" etc..
That's the basic argument, but there's one more item that I'd like to throw in there specific to the "next" 600 series...
Get rid of the vinyl covering while keeping everything else basically the same. Maybe make a few small internal improvements here or there so you can talk about it, but keep the manufacturing proces as close to what it is today as possible. So, you re-use as much of the existing manufacturing line as you can, keeping costs down, then you replace the vinyl with a proper veneer. Many other companies have proven that the finishing process can be done properly, beautifully, with real wood, and all while keeping costs reasonable.
I would not profess to understand commercial manufacturing, but I'd be willing to bet that by doing this B&W could get away with a very small percentage increase in the dealer cost. And, because they are now selling all 600 series speakers at list price - not the current typcal 10-15% discount - the list price might not even need to increase beyond current levels. More marketing material -> better speakers, no price increase!!!
Ok, so now you have a new 600 series with nice looking veneers, marketed and sold to a larger audience than before, and with a minimal, if any, price hike.
Ok, so where's the downside? The only thing I can think of is a small chance of a hit to the perception of brand exclusivity and therefore diminished sales in the higer end series. But with all the safeguards in place I really wouldn't expect that to be an issue. Forget the stuff about the real veneers and apply it to the current 600 series if necessary. It still seems like a winner to me. I can't see how this would not help sales.
What do you think? Where does my theory not hold water? What is it that I do not understand? Maybe I'm just plain nuts
- and as I said in the beginning of this gigantic post, please don't think that I'm fishing for an argument here. I just think it's an interesting topic and would like to hear your opinions.
Thanks for reading!
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