Zd542, recently had the same experience when trying to buy speakers. One out of state dealer told me he was restricted to his area under the manufacturer's dealer agreement. Failure to comply could cost him a valuable dealer relationship.
So, I worked with a local dealer near my house. Yes, he discounted the price by about 19% off MSRP. I thought there might have been more margin with the product with which he could deal. He said not so. His margin was not what I might have guessed, say 40% to 50%. He said it was much less.
And bty, I priced the speakers elsewhere. The deals were no better.
You mentioned that you used to be on the retail side of the business. Is it true that profit margins have been squeezed, at least with respect to higher end speakers??
As an aside, being in the business world, I realize that one must be realistic. The dealer has to make a reasonable profit on the deal. Otherwise, there will be no dealer. OTOH, in my case, the speakers are stored in the manufacturer's warehouse and shipped on special order. That means the dealer does not bear the risk of inventory carrying costs and market fluctuations. So, he clips a fast $n on a riskless transaction. This is also called a "flash title" transaction.
Thanks
So, I worked with a local dealer near my house. Yes, he discounted the price by about 19% off MSRP. I thought there might have been more margin with the product with which he could deal. He said not so. His margin was not what I might have guessed, say 40% to 50%. He said it was much less.
And bty, I priced the speakers elsewhere. The deals were no better.
You mentioned that you used to be on the retail side of the business. Is it true that profit margins have been squeezed, at least with respect to higher end speakers??
As an aside, being in the business world, I realize that one must be realistic. The dealer has to make a reasonable profit on the deal. Otherwise, there will be no dealer. OTOH, in my case, the speakers are stored in the manufacturer's warehouse and shipped on special order. That means the dealer does not bear the risk of inventory carrying costs and market fluctuations. So, he clips a fast $n on a riskless transaction. This is also called a "flash title" transaction.
Thanks