Adrienne224
New Member
Ask the average person to name an audio manufacturer and the likely responses might be Sony, Pioneer or Panasonic. In a nutshell, that's the problem facing smaller vendors: How do they make themselves known in a world dominated by multibillion-dollar conglomerates.
Like independent retailers, small audio and video manufacturers have to develop special survival skills to compete in today's consumer electronics marketplace The headaches manufacturers face and the solutions they come up with trying to make their products outshine similar ones from the big guns are quite far ranging.
See Also: best car speakers, best car speakers in the world
Their obstacles range from not having the financial ability to advertise on a very high level to making certain retailers give their products their fair share of shelf space.
"It's the availability of technology. Sony and Toshiba are the creators and we have to wait for them to satiate their customers before we can get our hands on it." said Michael Bartlett, vice president and general manager of Rotel of America, which makes home audio products like CD players and tuners.
The challenge facing Mission Loudspeakers is public awareness It has a large research and development department and is able to come out with leading edge merchandise, but the firm is not that well known. Although Mission is one of the largest speaker manufacturers in the United Kingdom and Europe, it is just starting to make its presence felt in the U.S., said Howard Pleet, Mission's president. Big companies generally have big bucks to spend in placing their product's name in front of the public.
"The biggest problem is the domestic manufacturers have a lot more money to spend on marketing, both for advertising and in-store displays," said Pleet.
Joe Fusco, director of sales for Sansui U.S.A. Inc., said it is important for any manufacturer to obtain as much public exposure as possible, but the larger firms have the financial resources to accomplish this on a large scale.
Sansui's angle to compensate for this shortcoming is to take advantage of its the name recognition factor. It has found that older people are still familiar with its name. Twenty years ago Sansui was once one of the most recognized names in the industry 20 years ago, Sansui had fallen on rough times in the late 1970s and 1980s and is now in the process of rebuilding itself Currently, the company produces a wide range of car and home audio products.
"It's a very difficult situation. Not only do consumers not always know it [the Sansui name], but it's hard to get the retailer to push it," said Fuso.
Larry Lurie, vice president for AudioSouce Inc., a maker of audio systems and loudspeakers, agreed with Fusco in part saying it is sometimes hard to convince the sales staff to give a hard sales pitch for a less well-known product. This is because the "perceived credibility" of a Sony or Kenwood product is often higher than a second tier vendor's product.
For more information: What are The Speaker Sizes in My Car | Speaker Size for My Car
"This is not at the buying office level, but at the sales floor level," Lurie said. "Many people feel if it has a well known name it is a better value." Lurie believes these vendors have to put more, into their products, yet maintain competitive price levels, so the consumer is getting more for his dollar.
One of these "little extras" AudioSource offers is the offset front baffle in the company's Project One speakers that ensure proper time/phase alignment for correct sound imaging.
Sansui also uses this approach. Instead of having a CD player that is similar to one made by Sony or Pioneer and comes in at the same price, Sansui will still hit the price point, but its CD player will have several extra features, such as a full-featured remote control, said Fusco. "We add value at a price point," he said.
Then there is the story of the manufactures well established in other fields trying to break into the audio business. Canon of instance, is well known for its copiers and camcorders, but it has to fight hard to gain shelf space for its rookie loudspeaker line.
Richard Booth, Canon's ad manager said the sheer number of speaker brands on the market, which Canon believes numbers about 600, make it tough, but the company's familiar name does help.
"We are a latecomer. However, we have some strengths, like the Canon name and the unique design of our speaker," said Booth. "Consumers already perceive Canon products as high quality." Canon came out with its first speakers in March 1994 and recently introduced several new products.
As with most businesses, the big players have the clout and get the shelf space.
To get in the door, Lurie has his sales people try to help dealers find space m stores. For example, if the audio section is packed, there may be room in the video section for a speaker.
Like the small retailer, the small vendor also must sell upclose and personal service.
For Rotel this means not having layer upon layer of corporate bureaucracy that the retailer needs to get through in order to speak to someone in authority.
"If you have a problem, call me," said Bartlett. "I'm the boss here, and I'll look after it."
This is particularly true for small retailers, with whom there is an almost special kinship.
"We want to be like them," Bartlett said. "Be more responsive. I have the time to spend with the customer and want to build a relationship.
We don't go in and beat them up saying you have to take our program. Instead we do the opposite. We bring in the retailer and show them what we have."
Bartlett believes the retailer will be impressed enough to convey the enthusiasm to the store's customers. This is all Rotel wants. The company's belief is that the consumer will buy the better product, regardless of the name stamped on its front panel. The most important task and most difficult task is getting that initial exposure
.
Sansui turn its small market share into a virtue. Because its products are not carried by every dealer, Fusco said, the company tries to position its merchandise as something the dealer can point to as special.
"Our dealers don't have to compete with every other retailer selling Sansui because we are not offered in every store," he said.
And this is what retailers want. Michael Blumberg, senior vice president for 21-store chain Sound Advice, said while it is very difficult to choose which of the smaller companies to carry, it is important to have these products. "You need to have a good mix and it helps to differentiate us from the others," he said.
Pleet said Mission offers training intended to turn the dealer's staff not only into better sellers of Mission's products, but into better salespeople overall.
Selling to the retailer is only the first hurdle the next challenge is getting the average consumer interested in the products.
Most smaller companies lack the funding necessary for extensive consumer ad programs, so many vendors concentrate on having products reviewed in hobbyist books or Consumer Reports magazine. Since consumers trust what the product reviewers say, a positive analysis can do wonders for a product.
"The most important thing, we can do is get as many reviews as possible. This reinforces to American consumers the brand name," said Pleet.
This also makes the salesperson's job easier because the customer can come in pre-sold on a product, said Fusco.
Canon believes having its speakers demonstrated in a home theater environment is the key to making a sale. Booth said it is very difficult to convince its dealers to do this, again mainly due to space problems.
Related article: Best 6.5 speakers, best 6.5 car speakers in the world
For AudioSource it's the little things that, make the difference. "We have to pay attention to the details, the product's finish, the packaging. We don't have the luxury to not do this," Lurie concluded.
Like independent retailers, small audio and video manufacturers have to develop special survival skills to compete in today's consumer electronics marketplace The headaches manufacturers face and the solutions they come up with trying to make their products outshine similar ones from the big guns are quite far ranging.
See Also: best car speakers, best car speakers in the world
Their obstacles range from not having the financial ability to advertise on a very high level to making certain retailers give their products their fair share of shelf space.
"It's the availability of technology. Sony and Toshiba are the creators and we have to wait for them to satiate their customers before we can get our hands on it." said Michael Bartlett, vice president and general manager of Rotel of America, which makes home audio products like CD players and tuners.
The challenge facing Mission Loudspeakers is public awareness It has a large research and development department and is able to come out with leading edge merchandise, but the firm is not that well known. Although Mission is one of the largest speaker manufacturers in the United Kingdom and Europe, it is just starting to make its presence felt in the U.S., said Howard Pleet, Mission's president. Big companies generally have big bucks to spend in placing their product's name in front of the public.
"The biggest problem is the domestic manufacturers have a lot more money to spend on marketing, both for advertising and in-store displays," said Pleet.
Joe Fusco, director of sales for Sansui U.S.A. Inc., said it is important for any manufacturer to obtain as much public exposure as possible, but the larger firms have the financial resources to accomplish this on a large scale.
Sansui's angle to compensate for this shortcoming is to take advantage of its the name recognition factor. It has found that older people are still familiar with its name. Twenty years ago Sansui was once one of the most recognized names in the industry 20 years ago, Sansui had fallen on rough times in the late 1970s and 1980s and is now in the process of rebuilding itself Currently, the company produces a wide range of car and home audio products.
"It's a very difficult situation. Not only do consumers not always know it [the Sansui name], but it's hard to get the retailer to push it," said Fuso.
Larry Lurie, vice president for AudioSouce Inc., a maker of audio systems and loudspeakers, agreed with Fusco in part saying it is sometimes hard to convince the sales staff to give a hard sales pitch for a less well-known product. This is because the "perceived credibility" of a Sony or Kenwood product is often higher than a second tier vendor's product.
For more information: What are The Speaker Sizes in My Car | Speaker Size for My Car
"This is not at the buying office level, but at the sales floor level," Lurie said. "Many people feel if it has a well known name it is a better value." Lurie believes these vendors have to put more, into their products, yet maintain competitive price levels, so the consumer is getting more for his dollar.
One of these "little extras" AudioSource offers is the offset front baffle in the company's Project One speakers that ensure proper time/phase alignment for correct sound imaging.
Sansui also uses this approach. Instead of having a CD player that is similar to one made by Sony or Pioneer and comes in at the same price, Sansui will still hit the price point, but its CD player will have several extra features, such as a full-featured remote control, said Fusco. "We add value at a price point," he said.
Then there is the story of the manufactures well established in other fields trying to break into the audio business. Canon of instance, is well known for its copiers and camcorders, but it has to fight hard to gain shelf space for its rookie loudspeaker line.
Richard Booth, Canon's ad manager said the sheer number of speaker brands on the market, which Canon believes numbers about 600, make it tough, but the company's familiar name does help.
"We are a latecomer. However, we have some strengths, like the Canon name and the unique design of our speaker," said Booth. "Consumers already perceive Canon products as high quality." Canon came out with its first speakers in March 1994 and recently introduced several new products.
As with most businesses, the big players have the clout and get the shelf space.
To get in the door, Lurie has his sales people try to help dealers find space m stores. For example, if the audio section is packed, there may be room in the video section for a speaker.
Like the small retailer, the small vendor also must sell upclose and personal service.
For Rotel this means not having layer upon layer of corporate bureaucracy that the retailer needs to get through in order to speak to someone in authority.
"If you have a problem, call me," said Bartlett. "I'm the boss here, and I'll look after it."
This is particularly true for small retailers, with whom there is an almost special kinship.
"We want to be like them," Bartlett said. "Be more responsive. I have the time to spend with the customer and want to build a relationship.
We don't go in and beat them up saying you have to take our program. Instead we do the opposite. We bring in the retailer and show them what we have."
Bartlett believes the retailer will be impressed enough to convey the enthusiasm to the store's customers. This is all Rotel wants. The company's belief is that the consumer will buy the better product, regardless of the name stamped on its front panel. The most important task and most difficult task is getting that initial exposure
.
Sansui turn its small market share into a virtue. Because its products are not carried by every dealer, Fusco said, the company tries to position its merchandise as something the dealer can point to as special.
"Our dealers don't have to compete with every other retailer selling Sansui because we are not offered in every store," he said.
And this is what retailers want. Michael Blumberg, senior vice president for 21-store chain Sound Advice, said while it is very difficult to choose which of the smaller companies to carry, it is important to have these products. "You need to have a good mix and it helps to differentiate us from the others," he said.
Pleet said Mission offers training intended to turn the dealer's staff not only into better sellers of Mission's products, but into better salespeople overall.
Selling to the retailer is only the first hurdle the next challenge is getting the average consumer interested in the products.
Most smaller companies lack the funding necessary for extensive consumer ad programs, so many vendors concentrate on having products reviewed in hobbyist books or Consumer Reports magazine. Since consumers trust what the product reviewers say, a positive analysis can do wonders for a product.
"The most important thing, we can do is get as many reviews as possible. This reinforces to American consumers the brand name," said Pleet.
This also makes the salesperson's job easier because the customer can come in pre-sold on a product, said Fusco.
Canon believes having its speakers demonstrated in a home theater environment is the key to making a sale. Booth said it is very difficult to convince its dealers to do this, again mainly due to space problems.
Related article: Best 6.5 speakers, best 6.5 car speakers in the world
For AudioSource it's the little things that, make the difference. "We have to pay attention to the details, the product's finish, the packaging. We don't have the luxury to not do this," Lurie concluded.
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