Home General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

RE: I wouldn't share any product lines with him

With respects to the other posters on this subject, I thought I would share another retailer viewpoint. The whole question of distribution of high-end gear has no right answer, IMHO. We (Spearit Sound) have been successful at expanding our brick and mortar store into a solid Internet business. A sad reality is many of the high-end stores with which we all grew-up are gone. Sadly. many of the retailers still around are by appointment only and cannot afford to stock or display the variety of equipment that the audiophile wants to consider.

We will be the first ones to say to our mail order customers "Support your local dealer if you have one." As Mr. Walsh points out, a local dealer is a prize and a good local dealer can provide a level of personalization that cannot easily be achieved in a mail order setting. However, everyday I speak to audio enthusiasts who tell me their nearest "brand X" dealer is 8 hours away. The same person is also considering "brand y," and the nearest dealer for that brand involves air travel. What is that person supposed to do? Buy a Denon surround receiver at his local big-box store? (not picking on Denon, just making a point.)

There is a tendency to equate mail order with those ads that used to be in the back of the magazines saying "Best prices on Nakamichi." With quality Internet sellers, local dealers should have their territories respected. Since cj has been mentioned, let me use them as an example. We honor the territorial restrictions on all of their current "A" stock models. Checking our website will show price and description on something like the ET5 but no "buy" box. Instead, you will see a note "This conrad-johnson component is not available mail order. If you do not have a local dealer, please contact us, we can often get cj to allow us offer you their products." If someone calls looking for a limited distribution product we will actively try to find out if shopper has a local dealer and will literally contact the manufacturer if there is a question of "territory." On current "A" stock product, we will not offer it to the end user without the manufacturer's specific permission. I'm not kidding, we really do this. Our contract requires it and, I know it's old-fashioned, it's the ethical thing to do. You cannot build a long-term relationship with a customer or a manufacturer without ethics.

High-end mail order is not a matter of taking a phone call and selling a $20K preamp for $12K and that's it. We couldn't afford to do business that way either. We've got substantial costs, just like any other dealer. Our highly experienced and non-commissioned sales force is not cheap, but it is the most essential element in being able to present exotic gear and ensure that a system actually sounds good. Our demos costs are significant, in addition to the cj GAT/ART or the $100k digital stack from Esoteric on display, we may also need four or five demos on popular models as several people may want to try these things at home before committing to buy. We've had customer's who have had thousands of dollars of our stock in their home for auditioning. (Just like when we were strictly brick and mortar.) It doesn't matter if you're next door or across the country, you're going to want to listen to that $20K preamp before plunking down the money. A good dealer, Internet or local has to understand that.

I didn't mean to go on so, but the industry is in a transitional period and it is difficult for some while new paths from the manufacturer to the buyer are being sorted out. We need to find ways that encourage business growth but also ensure that dealers and manufacturers that will be around to provide support for all that expensive stuff we sell. I believe this is best served through dialog and I hope this note is taken as such.


Jack Tozzi
www.spearitsound.com


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Crux Audio  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.