'In Home Dealers' are the future?


Seems there is growing trend for various distributors to be doing business with 'in home dealers'. These appear to be audio hobbyist that are selling factory product from their homes, at 20 to 25 percent off list. Certainly not fair to the dealer network, but it seems to move additional product, especially at these soft purchasing times. Your opinion?
buconero117

Showing 2 responses by chadnliz

Bearotti, maybe take that $50k and multiply by 4 then find dealers you wish to carry that dont already have a market presence in your area then figure out what sort of inventory or product minimum representation they demand you carry, multiply that by several makers of gear your likely going to need then factor in not making money for atleast 1 yr........add marketing expense, subtract what it will do to your relationship if you have one then divide that by the rooms in your home you will give up to the business and finally subtract thr enjoyment you will loose by turning a hobby into a business. The answer is always 42 correct?
While I like and as many know champion dealers who have commercial stores I do also enjoy and see the benefit of home based dealers, its not about fair or unfair its about a shift in audio that many times cant justify the full blown commercial application. Being in stores is great but its also great to be in many home based dealers with real world rooms and accoustics that many times can offer a better idea of what it may or may not sound like (ofcourse nothing is like in your own room) but furniture, room size, ceiling heght and all that make in a closer representation if what you get in a home. For those reasons I sorta like the idea but what I dont like is any dueschbag with some extra cash can become a dealer now and some lack serious talent, technical and social skills so perhaps in a way it dumbs everything down, but in this day and age what isnt? I do assume the market will likely weed out the losers in time but its a pretty new trend so its gonna take time to play out.