Online Electronics sellers - the future of retail or the end as we know it?

[erin]

Online selling is becoming more common place these days. Once upon a time you had to go to a shop to buy your Hi Fi. Those who wanted to save money went to the second-hand shops or local classifieds. Ebay started a trend, and now more and more Hi-Fi distributors and manufacturers are selling online.

Obviously, cutting out the middle man (the retailer/dealer) the end user is getting a better price.

But for those who work in the retail shops - they must be worried about their jobs.

If you want to demo a piece of gear, it is becoming more difficult as less retailers are stocking the brands that are sold online.

The world is a changing place, is this a change for the better, or are jobs at risk? Presumeably as online sales become more common place people who once worked in front-line retail may find they work in a customer service/ warehousing/ packing role instead. Warehouses may start to have demo rooms?

I for one embrace the change. In the short term, there will be some pain.

Who knows, perhaps many of us will be working from home in front of the computer sooner than we thought. Peak hour wont be so bad at least?

Comments?

[erin]

I would have liked to put more options on the poll, but 10 is the maximum.
Sorry if there are glaring omissions on the options.
The results should be interestng.......

[abraxalito]

Originally Posted by erin

If you want to demo a piece of gear, it is becoming more difficult as less retailers are stocking the brands that are sold online.

I'd certainly feel like a scumbag if I went to a retailer and asked for a demo of some kit with the sole intention of buying it cheaper online. So I don't see it making sense at all for retailers to stock stuff which is sold online - they'll quickly go out of business. Either there will be two tiers of stuff - direct sold and retail sold with no overlap, or retailers will go to the wall.

The world is a changing place, is this a change for the better, or are jobs at risk? Presumeably as online sales become more common place people who once worked in front-line retail may find they work in a customer service/ warehousing/ packing role instead. Warehouses may start to have demo rooms?

I don't see overall that jobs need to reduce, just change. The job of the demo guy in a retailer is slowly being taken over by others who write about what they hear online. They mostly are doing this for free on blogs, forums and various audio websites. Those sources of info are ad-supported in the main.

When I bought my first hifi system, I don't recall paying much attention to the demo at the retailer. What impressed me was that the kit I was buying got a good review in my favourite magazine (which at that time was HiFi Answers). I trusted the reviewer's ears, not my own when making the purchase. If the demo guy had disagreed with the reviewer, I'd probably have followed the demo guy's recommendations. I was green, looking up to 'the experts'.

Fast-forward to now - if the net existed when I was first getting into hifi, I'd be trusting the online information about what to buy. So hardly any need to demo, I'd research online then I'd buy online.

[erin]

Originally Posted by abraxalito

So I don't see it making sense at all for retailers to stock stuff which is sold online - they'll quickly go out of business. Either there will be two tiers of stuff - direct sold and retail sold with no overlap, or retailers will go to the wall.

But this is the problem at the moment. Products that retailers are selling is sold online - often at cheper prices.

[erin]

Going into the future, if a Manufacturer/distributor decides that they will only supply dealers who will only sell in-store - that sounds like a very bold move, when competing simiar products are sold online much cheaper.

[wakibaki]

Originally Posted by erin

The world is a changing place, is this a change for the better, ...?

The world is a changing place. In the economic sense it changes for the better. After all, it is we who are changing it, and not inadvertently in this case. We wouldn't change it for the worse, would we?

w

Think of it as evolution in action.

[nigelwright7557]

Originally Posted by erin

Obviously, cutting out the middle man (the retailer/dealer) the end user is getting a better price.

Comments?

This tends to make manufacturers cut corners to save money and compete with others.

My experience of ebay was buying amplifiers which were miles out from the spec given. i.e. I bought a 400 watt amplifier which had less than 50 watts output power. Looking insoide it was obvious why, small transfomer, small heatsink and tiny output transistors.

I prefer to go somewhere to listen to what I am buying first.

Sadly, locally the number of hi fi and music stores has dwindled away.
Even cash converters is no longer trading locally.

[abraxalito]

Originally Posted by erin

But this is the problem at the moment. Products that retailers are selling is sold online - often at cheper prices.

Sure, I don't see it as 'a problem' - its just evolution. So the retailers do need to add value or they'll go out of business. If they fail to innovate, they'll die. Has always been thus.

[kevinahcc20]

As to components not living up to their ratings due to undersized supplies, etc...this is often obvious on its face. How many times have you seen a 7 channel surround amplifier rated at, for example, 200 watts per channel and the maximum AC input rated as 8 amps @ 115V. Makes it pretty clear that extreme specsmanship is at play.

[abraxalito]

Originally Posted by nigelwright7557

This tends to make manufacturers cut corners to save money and compete with others.

The irony here is that such a reaction to the market's evolution brings the manufacturer even closer to extinction than it was before. In evolution, competition is an illusion. Each species creates its own environment, businesses in that sense are no different - each has its own created market. As Peter Drucker remarked - 'the purpose of business is to create a customer'.