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Best Buy and High End [message #2037] Wed, 27 July 2005 08:50 Go to next message
guitarplayer is currently offline  guitarplayer
Messages: 59
Registered: May 2009
Baron
Well, with BB swallowing up Magnolia HIFI a few years ago and the seeming imminent death of Ultimate Electronics and Tweeter (mid to upscale high end dealers...sort of), BB is rolling out it's new concept using Magnolia as a store within a store to sell high performance audio.

They will be sporting such gear as Vienna Acoustics, Primare, Audioquest, and other well known "high-performance" brands.

What are your thoughts? I will tell mine later as I have a somewhat different perspective having worked in a big box consumer electronics retailer in the past. Is this the "magic bullet" the high performance audio industry needs? Or, will it fail?

Discuss...this is coffee talk.

Regards,

Lee

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2038 is a reply to message #2037] Wed, 27 July 2005 09:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
Messages: 4973
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (13th Degree)
My question will be where are the stores located/what sales training will be offered/what kinds of pricing structure will be in effect/will there be warranty service/will there be a return policy. If there is a return policy then how will it be administrated?
These questions need to be answered before you can tell anything really.

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2039 is a reply to message #2038] Wed, 27 July 2005 09:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
guitarplayer is currently offline  guitarplayer
Messages: 59
Registered: May 2009
Baron
My understanding is that the salespeople are going through 2 weeks of training before hitting the floor. What type of training (sales, merchandise, or both) is unknown to me.

The Magnolia's are apparently only being put in BB stores with certain demographics conducive to selling the higher priced gear. I've also heard that they are going to put a few freestanding stores here and there.

I'm sure there will be warranty service, I don't know what the warranty policy will be.

Regards,

Lee

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2040 is a reply to message #2037] Wed, 27 July 2005 10:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
colinhester is currently offline  colinhester
Messages: 1349
Registered: May 2009
Location: NE Arkansas
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
I wonder how this will affect the relationship between Bose and BB. Bose has always been considered their top-o'-the-line system (please, no Bose bashing.) The store-within-a-store concept is a great idea; however, BB would not be responsible for warranty service.

I wonder what brought this move. Is there a consumer trend towards higher-end (i.e., better sound) or are they simply riding the way of up-scale home furnishings? I strongly suspect the later.

No, this is not the "magic bullet" that hi-fi needs. It might, however, be one more nail in the coffin.....Colin

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2041 is a reply to message #2039] Wed, 27 July 2005 13:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
Messages: 4973
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (13th Degree)
Then there is the issue of component choices and who will make them. Whether there will be a specific set-aside area with ambient noise control to demo this expensive equipment or if in fact the stores will merely be recieving points for buyers looking for a discount and grab and run on these speakers. If that becomes the reality then whats to stop internet retailers from price qougeing. If the point of high end is that you get the best combination of equipment for your needs through careful auditioning and matching of components then where does a place like BB come in to the picture?
So I think they will have to become a place where this equipment is discounted somewhat. Therefor the companies will need to ratchet up the savings on parts to make up the difference; or those companies that participate in these retail outlet type stores will gradually decline in quality until they are selling on the name only.

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2042 is a reply to message #2041] Wed, 27 July 2005 14:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
guitarplayer is currently offline  guitarplayer
Messages: 59
Registered: May 2009
Baron
I haven't seen any of the demo areas as they are not open here in DFW yet, it looks as if they are going to have a seperate area in the back for showcasing Magnolia. I can't tell (remodeling is hidden behind plywood) if it's totally shut off from the din of BB, but I doubt it as a divider of some type would "impede traffic flow" into this area.

All big box retailers are run with the concept of a "fast floor", how this environment translates into selling of high performance audio is yet to be seen.

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2043 is a reply to message #2040] Wed, 27 July 2005 14:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
guitarplayer is currently offline  guitarplayer
Messages: 59
Registered: May 2009
Baron
Hi Colin!

Bose prefers to service their own gear if it's under warranty. I would imagine that Primare, Vienna, and Martin Logan would be the same...

The consumer trend towards purchasing so called "luxury items" is still going strong, so I would bet that played strongly into the decision. Also, Wal Mart is now the second largest retailer of CE goods (in very short time), so BB is wise to position themselves as a higher price/better performance alternative as Wal Mart will surely soon be number one.

My question really is, does BB carrying higher performance goods help the high performance audio industry by exposing it to more people, or hurt it by not allowing these goods to be displayed in the best manner?

BTW--All of this is not new, Ultimate Electronics, Tweeter, Sound Advice, and many other smaller chains have for years carried some well recognized and respected high performance brands. Some manufacturers worked well, some did not.

I just found all of this interesting, is all. I knew once BB purchased Magnolia a few yers back, they had something up their sleeves.

Regards,

Lee

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2044 is a reply to message #2037] Wed, 27 July 2005 16:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18783
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I think its the road less traveled thing. There will always be more traffic on the cheap and easy road, but the discerning customer will go the extra mile. Some people don't care about the view and just want to get there fast and easy. Others want to do it in style, but they have to go through more to do it.

I also think that big volume low margin types probably make more cash. If that's the goal, that's the place to go. But the coolest stuff is always more rare than that. An example is the one-off race car. It's not going to make much in the way of profits, in fact, it will probably lose money. Twenty or thirty economy cars may have the same value, but will probably generate much more profit through direct sales.

It's just cooler to say you have a race car than a bunch of Yugos I guess. Cooler to drive too.


Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2045 is a reply to message #2044] Wed, 27 July 2005 16:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
guitarplayer is currently offline  guitarplayer
Messages: 59
Registered: May 2009
Baron
I'm with you. I agree that high performance audio will never be a huge business due to a variety of factors; price, exclusivity, market positioning, size of the companies, passion of the owners of companies and not growing very large due to having to compromise their vision, etc., but is it a good thing, in your opinion, that retailers such as BB are starting to carry high performance products?

My belief is that the needs of high performance audio can never be satisfied by the big box retailer, but, the added exposure of certain products in an environment such as this can only help the industry in general. S'phile and others are always be-moaning the fact that the word never gets out about all of our cool toys and the industry has been stagnant for some time. I read an article the other day asking where all of the yhoung audiophiles are. Well...they are buying computers and car audio at BB, perhaps, with the sun and moon in alignment, these future audiophiles will make their way back to the Magnolia room!

There will be a certain number of people that will buy there and never look for alternatives that perhaps BB doesn't carry. But...there will also be a certain group, once they are exposed to high performance audio will have a paradigm shift (and their interest piqued) and actively seek out the smaller comapnies who really produce the innovative, great sounding products. I, for one, am hoping that this is the case with this situation.

Only time will tell. It will be interesting to watch.

Regards,

Lee

Re: Best Buy and High End [message #2046 is a reply to message #2037] Wed, 27 July 2005 18:45 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Bob Brines is currently offline  Bob Brines
Messages: 186
Registered: May 2009
Location: Hot Springs Village, AR
Master
Let's make an analogy to the auto market. There's the low end -- econoboxes, small trucks small SUV's. Then there is the high end stuff -- Stupidly extravagantly equipped pick-ups, big SUV's and the Mercedes/ Lexus/pick your mark cars with payments bigger than my mortgage. The stuff in the middle -- good quality/price -- is disappearing. Oldsmobile last year, Buick next? The deal is that you can make money on volume or mark-up, but you need one or the other.

In the speaker market, the middle is disappearing. You can by $100 speakers, you can buy $10,000 speakers. What is in the middle is going away. I can't see Best Buy making a go of the middle ground. At best, it will be a loss-leader, and the share holders won't stand for that.

I think that this bodes well for guys like me. I can produce a few items of good quality at a good price because I don't need a large mark-up or large cash flow to keep going. Just because the market niche is too small for billion-dollar corporations to justify servicing does not mean that the niche does not exist. Small entrepreneurs will fill the gap. And, brick and mortar retailers in the middle are history. It's all going to be done on-line. If you want to hear my speakers, you are going to have to locate someone who owns a pair or go to a one of the very few shows I participate in. It is going to be a very different worked for the serious HiFi hobbyist.

Bob




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