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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
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.
ricmci
219 posts
 
My experience has been mixed.  I have probably visited 8 different brick and mortar stores over my years.  I think I have purchased 2 components from them.  The rest being through web sites.  My best experience was in Boca Raton where the owner tried hard to get me to buy Wilsons.  He loved Roxy Music and qued the music up with the  intent of selling his products in an amazing listening room with chairs that one could just melt into.  I listened intently.  He was all in on the Wilsons and Roxy Music.  It was intense.  Great music, great setting, great vibe.  Everything about it was great.   Except, I just wasn't there on the Wilsons.  Had just come from another showroom where had listened to some Vandersteen Quatro CTs and the comparison made my mind up.  However, it could have gone the opposite direction if my brain had perceived the sound differently.  Also been to places where they perform perfunctory auditions because they sense you are not the right costumer for their product.  In the end as a seller, I think you need to lay the groundwork for future purchases.  I can say that if I go back to Boca Raton, I would definitely stop at that B&M store and maybe I would buy something.  Multiply that by a thousand future customers, and that is a lot of folks who might buy something. At an average cost of a couple of thousand per component, 1 buyer every 50 customers is not trivial. 
deadhead1000's avatar
deadhead1000
714 posts
 
When I said “all a store can offer is service” it means demo’ing audio equipment, and offering easy trade-ins and easier returns. 
And I’ve run audio stores myself. Yes, they can run them anyway they like, they just won’t be successful or profitable by insulting or ignoring customers. Which a lot of people on this thread have clearly said have happened to them. 
As an example, walk into a high end watch/Rolex store or other high end jewelry store, if they treated you like dirt or refused to show you a watch or diamond ring, what would you do? You’d walk out, you know you would. Why give audio stores a bye? 

Also,  Being helpful and useful is not knuckle dragging. I find firemen, doctors and garbage men helpful and useful and I expect those groups and others to be so. So yet again somebody tries to turn an interesting discussion into a stupid and very useless political insult. Stay on topic. The topic is audio stores and how they are run, nothing to do with liberals or conservatives. 
northman
251 posts
 
@deadhead1000, your brain has been fried by too many hippie drugs and lazy jams. Go back to Haight/Ashbury! (Hey now, my friend, I am SO kidding! I can't count the shows I saw between 1978 and 1995. I *still* miss Jerry ....)

There's a strong undercurrent of nostalgia in this thread, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm of that age that used to haunt stereo stores in the late 70s and 80s. Even mid-sized cities had three or four stores back then and even a grubby teenager like me could walk in and listen. And dream. And lust.

It seems to me that overall the equipment has gotten better and the high-end is brilliant. It's vastly easier to buy and sell used equipment. There's more access to information, and forums like this are a remarkable way to share the hobby and learn a lot. But buying online is a lousy substitute for the live, sensuous experience of a good store and a well-informed, honest owner.
whart's avatar
whart
3,038 posts
 
Even before these trying times (Covid, staffing, etc.) I always called ahead of any dealer (hi-fi, car, whatever) and even if I wasn't planning on making a purchase that day, it helped paved the way for me to be taken seriously. Yeah, sure, I did my share of drop into the store things when I was young, but the market has changed dramatically. These are not chain drug stores or supermarkets with promised hours. 
There may be other reasons why I find a dealer less than ideal, but this isn't one of them. At this point, having moved to what I consider to be a pretty bare audio retail market, I can't even tell you the last time I was in an audio store. 
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