What may be the first car audio distributor buying group has launched as a means of creating better inventory control and pricing.
The new Mobile Electronics Distributor (MED) merchandising group has been launched by Ray Windsor of Leadership Systems.
It hopes to create better practices in distribution that will result in less transshipping, better product supply to retailers and better pricing.
For example, currently, a supplier may be left with inventory at the end of the quarter, because one of his distributors elected not to buy. So he sells at a discount which hurts the other distributors. Under MED, suppliers would receive a group commitment from distributors, so the supplier could predict his sales, and prevent fire sales and discounting, said Windsor.
Another problem is that distributors wait to place large orders so they can get volume discounts, but this practice of waiting leaves them out of inventory at various times, creating a supply problem for retailers. MED says it would fix the issue.
Windsor said MED is a closely knit community of like-minded distributors and suppliers. Car audio is one of the only segments of consumer electronics that does not have a distributor buying group, he said. A counterpart to MED in home theater is the The PowerHouse Alliance, a 4 year old organization with 13 members, representing over $800 million in annual sales.
Some of the distributors who have announced support of MED include P and E Distributors in the Southeast and Eagle Distributors of Texas.
Windsor said he is inviting distributors to individual meetings at the CES Show in Las Vegas next month. For information [email protected] or phone; 949-228-2153.
The MED merchandising group is not affiliated with Windsor’s role in the controversial Amazon car stereo service network.
Source: MED
Ian,
Astute observation on your part.
I am quite positive that 99.5% of living people in the mobile electronics business have participated in the “transshipping” as you and I would describe it… “Sale, transfer trade or otherwise transfer of products from an authorized re-seller to an UN-authorized re-seller for the purposes of re-sale”. That said I am afraid that you and I might be among a very few who use that description. Most of the folks who have the responsibility to restrict such transactions simply describe it differently to make it OK or maybe they just ignore it…
Nick,
Your thought regarding Amazon is and remains correct.
Gary,
Very capable retailers have gathered together to form very capable buying groups. They are indeed worth talking to and perhaps participating in.
Its funny that two of the supporting distributors send catalogs to retail stores in the northeast. But i bet they never transhipped .. never ever ever
I thought Ray was working with Amazon to build out the installer network….
how about touching all the bases and doing a retailer
buying group?
g
Greg, there are a few buying groups for retailers.