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  3. 170550-1285

One big reason why brick and mortar high end audio dealers struggle.

I live in a major metropolitan area with several close by high end stores.  I never go in any of them.  A dealer just opened a new location 5 minutes from my house.  Major dealer with Magico, Constellation, McIntosh and many other serious brands.  I went by a couple weeks ago mid day on a Friday.  Door locked, nobody there.  I call today to make sure they are actually open for business.  Guy answers the phone and says that they were out on an install when I can by and that they are short staffed.  No problem, I understand.  But from that point on the guy takes a subtle but clearly defensive and pissy tone.  He states that they recommend setting up an appointment for customers to view their products.  Sure, and I recommend never going there.  Off my list.  Back to buying online.  Here's the issue.  So many of these high end dealers are only after the wealthy guy that comes in, spends less than an hour there and orders a complete home theater or 2 channel system and writes a check for $50k or more on the spot.  That's there customer base.  I get that it can be annoying to allow a bunch of lookers to come in and waste their time and not buy anything, but isn't it good for business to have more customer traffic?  If someone comes in, spends an hour there, listens to some amazing gear and then buys nothing, doesn't he tell his friends and family and coworkers about his great experience?  Isn't this word of mouth valuable?  These brick and mortar dealers almost universally are unwelcoming and unfriendly to people that want to come in and just look and listen and not buy.  Sorry, but the vast majority of potential customers are not going to spend 20 minutes by private appointment to order their new $100k system.  Why not encourage people to come and spend time with zero pressure to purchase.  I have purchased dozens of high end speakers and electronics over the many years I have enjoyed this hobby.  I might well buy from a dealer if they were actually nice, friendly, and encouraged hanging out and getting to know their gear.  But they don't.  I would never go to a high end store that required an appointment.  Because this creates a huge pressure situation for you to purchase that day.  I'm not ready to purchase on my first visit.  And neither are thousands of other potential customers.  If they can make a good living just catering to the wealthy one time buyers, then, ok, good for them.  Doesn't seem like they can though since so many have gone under.  Maybe it's time to try a different approach?  Step one, no commission sales people.  Step two, welcome people to listen and not buy anything.  Encourage it.  This will create positive word of mouth and significantly increase customer traffic and ultimately create more paying customers it would seem.  I don't get it.  Rant over. Please don't respond that you have an amazing dealer.  I'm sure they exist but they are the exception.  What I am describing is the typical customer experience.
jaxwired

Showing 6 responses by millercarbon

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

Nice try. But tubebuffer mangled prose still way better.

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

The Rose Hill Alehouse down the street went out of business because they didn’t pay their liquor license. A long time employee said no it was because they weren’t paying their unemployment insurance. Ran into one of the owners told me the landlord jacked the lease when it came due. They were doing so much business it was hard to find parking. Another one said the partnership wasn’t working out. This is a place I was in on a regular basis right down the street from where I live. Every single one of the stories I heard had a lot of validity. Take your pick.

All I know, the market has bifurcated. You can see it even just looking at the one example. Definitive Audio used to cater to guys like me looking around trying things out maybe find something worth buying every once in a while. They did some install and sold some big systems but they had "us" covered as well. Gradually they shifted higher and higher until one day I go in and see a system that was $1.3M. Yes, million. And they kicked me out of the room saying they had to get it set up for a customer. Because, to them I am no longer a customer. See how that works?

 

Magnolia the space was turned into a CityMD where I actually worked for about a year. (Now CityMD is gone.) All that whole time the SpeakerLab store sat vacant, the algae-streaked SpeakerLab awning still advertising what had been. Those two catered to what used to be the great mid-level high end market. So now we have Definitive selling million dollar turnkey systems to Microserfs and Goolagers, and Hawthorne selling used and affordable entry-level gear intended for your typical apartment or corner of a living room type setup. Huge gap between the two which is really sad.

But as to why? Might as well ask the Alehouse bartender, probably has as good a guess as any.

 

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

What a shame. Seattle used to have Magnolia, Speakerlab, Hawthorne and Definitive, all on the same street no more than a 3 minute walk apart. Now we have Definitive for those who want to drop six figures on whatever they're told to buy, and Hawthorne for budget/used. Magnolia, that served your middle class bread and butter high end, and Speakerlab for the more budget/technical oriented serious audiophile, are both long gone. This is beyond sad. Tragic, it is.

 

We know the reason, here in Seattle anyway, and it ain't audio. Over on the Eastside though we have our own. Chuxpona and Chuctoberfest were a success, and so we are looking at MCES some time early next year. Stay tuned.

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
No amount of reading. I see. Just curious. Which "decent knowledgeable, enthusiastic salesman" would recommend Tekton, Raven, Decware, all of which are sold direct? What salesman would recommend Origin Live, Herron, Soundsmith and other top brands with hardly any retail presence?

You're right, no amount of reading "will substitute for". Greatly exceed, is more like it.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Oh, the internet can be a whole lot better than "Buy and try." There is this thing called learning from others experience. Most only learn from their own experience. This is another level. It can take some time to get it down. Once you do though, wow.

I just got a Soundsmith Strain Gauge found used. This makes close to 20 years perfect record being really happy with gear bought without audition based entirely on reading, mostly studying other audiophiles impressions. To be honest, the stuff I am finding now doing it this way is much better than I was doing based entirely on auditions, and that was even with a seriously good dealer helping me.

Partly this is because I am a lot better at it now. But also a big part of it is I no longer have that crutch to rely on. Having a good dealer is a two-edged sword. They help you save time by knowing your taste and budget and matching you up. But they also limit. Because let's face it no dealer has everything. The internet however does.  

So now I am free to choose from everything available everywhere in the world. Huge advantage.

The one guy here who gets it is ghdprentice. No surprise. He happens to be just the sort of more money than time stroke a check customer dealers want. Good for him. These dealers by the way are not "struggling" they are rolling in it. Just look- dropped off amp and DAC, $37k and the guy strokes a check. $17k of which was pure impulse purchase- $17k, 30 seconds!

They aren't turning us normal paycheck guys away because they are struggling. We are the ones struggling. With reality, I would say.

So it is that in this topsy turvy world we accept reality by going virtual. Heh.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I don't get it. Rant over. Please don't respond that you have an amazing dealer. I'm sure they exist but they are the exception. What I am describing is the typical customer experience.

Right. Typical. We got em here in Seattle. Over the last 30 years it has gotten steadily worse. It is all due to powerful economic forces you can do nothing about. But to the extent you understand what is going on you can at least make the one decision that will help both yourself and the market which is to opt out.

The powerful economic force is that to sell high end Magico etc takes expensive and well-appointed retail space, and a skilled and knowledgeable sales force. None of this is cheap and so the dealer needs his fat 60% gross margin because with all those expenses he really only nets about 5%. And yes at those prices 5% of a big number is a totally livable number- but not if earning it takes too much time. So everything every step of the way is pressing the market to sell high ticket gear to people with money to burn. That ain't you.

So opt out. Consider it as Rocky says a mercy killing. They are gonna die anyway. Don't make things worse auditioning or haggling, make it a clean kill by never going there in the first place. Learn to read reviews. Learn to search out and sift through all the information you need to do the right thing. Believe me, it is out there.

Never come around here asking anyone about anything. Waste of time. All your questions have already been answered. Come around here to read what others think, and practice being a reviewer yourself. Because you are. Every single thing you ever bought you reviewed. Only you just didn't take time to write it up. Instead you bragged or belly-ached.

Taking the time to thoughtfully write it up helps everyone. First and foremost it helps you yourself, because it makes you seriously think about a lot of aspects you might never have seriously considered before. It makes you a better listener. It makes you much more aware of what features really are important to you. Because you write your impression. Not what anyone else thinks matters. What YOU think matters.

This also helps everyone else in that we rely on these impressions. I haven't set foot in a store or show in years. Heck, I have my own shows now! I'm not alone. Other audiophiles have friends over, these if you do them right are terrific opportunities to listen and learn.

So now you know why, and now you know what to do about it. Go forth and spread the Gospel!
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