Business models are constantly changing with the times, entrepeneurs change with it or become extinct. A good example, I live in the UK, where there is a big shift from out of town superstore groceries, to buying online and small shopping trips on the high street. Tesco, the UK Walmart, much beloved by Warren Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, is in freefall and even under investigation for possible fraud, trying to hide declining sales.
The HiFi market has changed irrevocably, live with it.
1) We are no longer a mass market, as in the 80's but a niche market, which can not easily support a B and M store.
2) The customers left are by and large pretty canny. They won't pay retail, but buy second hand, look for a good deal, a discount.
3) HiFi is not an impulse buy, if it ever was. Nowone walks past a store and says "that reminds me, I need a new $20000 amplifier", so why have an expensive store, to attract the passing trade. We all research a purchase, go to shows, read reviews, chat on line and then look for a cheap option.
4) I am not the first to say, the explosion in shows, large and small, has partly removed the need for stores, though shows are'nt the best environment to audition new kit. I look at it this way, if a system sounds good to you in a show, it must be very good indeed.
5) the rise of small manufacturers selling direct, reduces the cost and puts you in touch with the man who should know about the product. I am looking at a Music First Audio Baby reference pre. I phoned the manufacturer who said, when do you want me to come to you and bring one to audition in your system. That is easier in the UK, with smaller distances to travel.
All that being said, there is a role for B and M stores, or rather the new model that has arisen in the UK. The knowledgeable dealer working alone, from home, not a store, to reduce costs. There are many of those in the UK and I have had great service from a number of them. They rend to deliver and set up, advise on tweaks etc. In fact, give some value to the extra cost entailed in using a B and M store.
There are real advantages as well as losses to us customers, in cutting out the dealer. A small manufacturer in the US, who is a friend, but I won't name, talked to me about cost breakdowns in the High end. He said an $80000 speaker, sold through distributors and retailers, would have a material, labour and factory fixed costs, of $20000 at most. A lot of that excess costs is in dealer and distributor margins, but a massive amount in advertising and marketing. The small guy has none of these costs, relying on word of mouth.
So we all lose in the demise of the Band M stores, but there are real gains too, particularly in price.
