• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

Before you decide to buy audio gear online......

DS

SM 2008
SM 2007
SM 2006
SM 2005
SM 2004
SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2002
Messages
2,073
Location
Montgomery, AL
The car audio market is dominated by so-called "big boxes" like Circuit City, Best Buy, Tweeter and so on these days. On the flip-side of the coin we have online retailers. Some are legit and sell the same product that the big-boxes sell, others sell B-product, grey market product, trans shipped items, refurbed gear without you realizing it sometimes.

Before you head to a Box or website to make a purchase, consider the privately owned shops in your area! Think of the pros and cons of each option based on the three available factors for consideration: price, product and service.

Big Box:
--Price--
BB and CC have good prices, this is their main selling point. They have the funds to run weekly ads often with gimmick ads to do a "bait and switch" since the Sony CD player they offered for $99.99 was the only unit in stock and is sold out. They will however have its big brother for $159.99 and do their best to convince you to buy it. They may not be as cheap as an e-retailer, but do offer more security, meaning it's more likely to get the "Error 404-page not found" message than it is for Best Buy to shut down tommorrow. The boxes will usually always undercut the local shops prices as well, even if they have to kill the audio market in the process.

--Product--
Big Boxes are now selling just about any brand these days. Many of which the audio faithful will tell you have "sold out" to corporate ways. These once exclusive and high end brands like Alpine and Eclipse are on the local BB and Tweeter demo boards instead of better-grade retailers shelves. You will not find the upper crust of audio at these places however.

--Service--
Here's the Boxes' biggest failure. The salespeople usually know far less about the product than a hobbyist consumer, which is a turnoff usually. The installers are often new and inexperienced, as the BigBoxes are most commonly the starting point in an installers career. However, the service here is obviously better than with a site. Warranty issues can be handled quite well or be a total headache depending on the person behind the counter and the brand involved. Need an alarm installed? Be afraid....very afraid! The kid installing it may have just started yesterday and is totally depending on the printout that the computer spat out for him showing the wiring colors and locations. Sometimes these printouts aren't quite right......

E-commerce website
--Price--
Website's prices are impossible for the local shops or the BigBoxes to beat in many cases. The reason is simple; they have far less overhead. There is no huge building to rent and upkeep, the utilities are far less, no insurance hassles with peoples cars, no installs to perform thus no liability issues, far less payroll and so on. Often, sites will receive and sell grey market items, trans shipped items and the like to avoid the costs of being a legit dealer of merchandise. That killer deal on the Rockford amp may be due to the fact that it's not a US market product or has been smoked and refurbed. Dealing with someone over the internet via a machine, whether it's a phone or 'puter, isn't like talking to a salesman and holding the product in your hands prior to purchase.
--Product--
Web dealers sell almost everything these days. Very few companies attempt to prevent this from occurring sadly. The main one that comes to mind is JL Audio, they have e-bulldogs that gnaw the legs off of e-dealers peddling their product without permission, thus killing the market for the traditional store-based retailers. Want high end? Just search for Focal or Dynaudio one day and you get 50+ "dealers". Are all of these products legit and as-advertised? Flip a coin, that's your chances sometimes.
--Service--
This is the stumbling block of Ecommerce. You just killed that nice Focal Utopia component set and email the website you bought them from. You get a reply stating, "We aren't an authorized dealer, consult Focal directly, have a good day." Congrats! You saved $150 on that $800 set and now that its blown and you have no warranty, you just lost your investment. Having an issue with an amp that seems to not be working properly and need a little advice? They can't see your install over the web, a BigBox or local retailer could help you. Don't forget the classic aforementioned, "Error 404....site not found" to make your day happier after you just fried those JBL GTi's you bought from an unauthorized dealer. From the install service point of view, there is none, which can cost you more in the long run. When you take these e-commerce bought pieces to a local, they'll often automatically charge you more for installing components that aren't theirs or charge you a bench testing fee to assure that it all works prior to installing the pieces.

Local Retailer
Before I get into the pros and cons here, let me say a few things about locals. Most of the time these folks are depending on this business to pay their power bill to heat their home in the winter and buy food to put on the table. Often, these people are like myself, and absolutely love car audio, and home and pro audio as well. Some of these folks compete in competitions and work on their vehicle because they love what they are doing and they are the reason that high end products exist. Now, you may not care about the high end of things, but don't forget that technology trickles down. When I bought a Sony Mobile ES system in 1992, it was simply the most advanced system you could put in a car. Now, some head units contain many of these same functions built in like time alignment, parametric EQ's, adjustable slope and frequency crossovers and so on. Were it not for these folks and their customers, this progression of technology wouldn't happen as fast, if at all in car audio, since web site and Big Boxes don't touch these items usually.
--Price--
Locals are usually not as cheap as BigBoxes, and certainly can't compete with websites. This is simply due to volume pricing at Boxes and low overhead at sites. Locals will have to cut their throats to even attempt to compete in many instances.
--Product--
Locals will, as mentioned above, offer some products you simply can't get at a BigBox or site, like JL. Some local shops will attempt to sell refurbs and other shady products, so I am by no means saying they are perfect in this respect. Sometimes inventory may be an issues with locals that you wouldn't face at a Box who has 20 of the unit you want in the back on the shelves.
--Service--
Local shops will often go above and beyond their call of duty to satisfy a customer not only because they have to do so to survive, buy because they love what they are doing and know that a positive experience will lead to positive word of mouth. WOM advertising is what most locals depend on since they usually don't have the cash to dump on advertising that BB and CC do weekly. Service is the one thing that a local dealer can provide that a site or BigBox can not touch.

You can see from these comparisons that you can only have two of the three factors at any given time. If you want the lowest price, you have to sacrifice either service or product choice. If you want the best service, you'll pay more for it. Want the newest product on the street? You have to pick either product and service from a local or product and price from a Box or a web retailer.

Also, not every installer at a BigBox retailer is a newbie or moron and not every website is shady in their business practices. If you can establish a good relationship with a highly reputable local retailer, you will not be sorry. You'll end up possibly paying more than at Circuit or dirtcheapaudio.com, but you'll receive professional service and a warranty that often consists of, "no problem, we'll swap it out. No, you won't be without a cd player, we'll give you a new one over the counter and just send this one back." Often, you will end up receiving discounts on merchandise when you return or send others in to the shop to have work done. The reason being that these people appreciate you as a customer and depend on you to help support their business that their blood, sweat and tears has built.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this loooooooong post. This topic is important to me, since I have friends that either own shops, work for shops or rep brands to shops. There are good and bad locals, just try to help out the good ones when you need A/V gear for your AV.
 
good info. the only thing i will add is that when buying from a privately owned shop i have found that a few have a "no cash refund" policy. meaning your only option is to swicht out your product with something else. this is good for people who want this option.
in my case i was totally disgusted with product. i just wanted my money back so i could get another brand. i was forced to get a headunit. all in all, it turned out cool 'cause this made my XM be controlled from the HU rather than that little crappy FM modulated thing.
whenever i buy from Best Buy or Ciruit City i just take the product back. my money is in my pocket. and i can start from scratch. i think between the diferent options we have to purchase equipment we should use all of them to our advantage.
 
02-Z66,
You're absolutely correct about the no cash refund thing. Some shops have gotten desperate to keep $$$$ in the door. Sadly, some may not have the cash flow to handle a large refund at times as well. These situations can get nasty too, I worked for a shop that had this policy for a while.

Dude,
That is true, that is why the internet offers good price and possibly products, but lacks in service. A DIY won't need any install service. The trouble here comes in when the DIY suddenly runs into a snag with the install and needs help or has a warranty issue arise.
 
I have been having trouble with selecting a new receiver for my home. Looking to upgrade an existing system and am concerned with compatibility with my old components. I even went to the manufactures website twice for info and they never replied. All I got was their automated reply to contact a local dealer. Only local dealers I could find were CC & BB. As you have noted, they had no clue.

But, I found a savior. KodiakZ on these Forums sells the brand that I have and is working on answering the question for me. For that I will buy the product from him.

Good service is hard to find and once found needs to be supported to keep it going.


Reidan

 
Another pro to using a local retailer is once you build a relationship with the shop, you can sometimes get a good deal on equipment. Local people love repeat business. The BigBoxes and Websites deal strictly on a volume basis, you're just a number to them. You either return to them for more purchases or not, they could care less. However, the local guy is most likely going to remember you and can often assist you in the direction you want to go with your set up.

I have found that repeat business often leads to better prices with local retailers. If they know you will be back, they may be more inclined to come off the price a little. It is important to ask around when looking for a local shop to do business with though. Find one with a good reputation that is willing to stand behind their products and installs.

I have been fortunate to develop a great relationship with my local shop, and that has paid great dividends. Had to have HU swapped out because of a bad tuner, no problem, new one came in next day. Then had issue with monitors, got them upgraded to TFT at no cost. Been wanting to replace factory speakers and add a DSP. Got previous years models at about 1/2 price, needed to make room for the new inventory coming in. :love: Like I said, if they know you'll be back, they may cut you some deals.

Now, I have bought stuff from all three type retailers. Which do I prefer? Something simple that I don't forsee having any problems with and am confident installing, probably hit up the BigBoxes or online. Something I'm not going to have the time to install myself, or I'm going to spend a lot of money on, head straight to the local guy.

Plus owning a local business myself, I know what it's like to be at the bottom of the food chain competing with national chains and having to fight twice as hard for the business, and twice that to keep them comming back. Customer Service, it's all about taking care of your customer.

Just thought I'd throw in my $1.50
 
Many great points. Owning a small business I have come into contact with these issues on almost a daily basis. I decided long ago that I was not going to beat out BB or CC, but I could do many things that they could not/would not do for customers. I decided that I would give my customers unbeatable and unrelentling service with a smile--no matter what they expect, want, deserve, have paid for etc. I also decided that I would absolutely not price match and I continually tell my customers (or potential ones) that I am not the cheapest in town by any stretch. Now, DS, I must agree that while "not all salespeople or installers at big box stores are morons" most know much less than they profess to, care only a little bit about the absolute satifaction of their customers, and--most importantly--TAKE PRIDE IN THEIR WORK!!! We fix botched or failed big box installs on a weekly basis for the dealers that we serve; to my knowledge, no one has ever fixed one of our mistakes and we have never sent vehicle out with it's oem options not working as they were when they came in.

Now as for home and/or pro audio, the big box guys simply can't hold a candle to the independents. While BB may have a nice selection of big screens, they are not up on how to install or operate a whole house network or an advanced lighting system. Most of them couldn't begin how to explain to a customer about whole house networking and integrated solutions. They also have little or no high end products (video processors, front projectors, etc).

People often ask us why we don't yet have a website. The answer is simple; to many people, products sold anywhere on the web should be inherently the cheapest possible. I understand how this has come to be, but again, you cannot be the absoulute cheapest (someone will always come along and be cheaper anyway) and give your customers the level of support I feel they deserve.

In the end, it's all about relationships and attitude--if you foster the best possible attiude and repor between yourself and your customer, long term relationships will naturally foster and that is a good thing for all. ;)

Quite simply, I go to great lenghts to make 100% sure that my customers are totally happy and would gladly refer me to their friends.
 
Back
Top