MMATS Pro Audio has been advertising 70 point margins on its web site, allowing dealers to offer lower prices in the shop and look like heroes.
MMATS can get away with this style of pricing as it authorizes zero Internet sellers. It’s also a smaller company with high end positioning and a claim to fame of amplifiers and subwoofers that are made in the USA.
David Thompson MMATS President said, “With that in mind, we are not shying away from the higher price, rather, we are driving the consumer into the retail store where now the authorized dealer has to opportunity to be a hero. If he chooses to discount anything off of the 70 points margin we show on our web site, he pretty much slams the deal. One thing is for certain, the consumer cannot shop the product online to try and beat the dealers quote.”
Thompson said, “We are having such a tremendous success with this new marketing approach that I figured I’d share it with our friends in the industry. Hopefully, other brands will follow and ‘see the light.’”
MMATS started posting the 70 percent margins on its website in November. The company sells 4-channel amplifiers at $1,500 and 6-channel amplifiers at $1,700.
Source: MMATS
Let’s all copy MMATS style because they are the premier leader of how to run a successful car audio business, and one size fits all business models.
Really? All one has to do to be successful as a brand is to post a price on their website that’s 3X the competitors’ prices and suggest that the retailer can discount back to something competitive and be heroes? As if no consumer will question the preposterous pricing…
How exactly are you “driving” the consumer into the retail store?
It’s great that MMATS is doing this. However, I can’t help but question whether or not it is responsible to state such proprietary information, as gross margins, on a publicly accessible site. A quick search for MMATS products online can very easily take consumers to this article.
Does no one else have a problem with this information being posted publicly?
There has been brands in the past that promised very high GP. Not real hard to do. But offering that potential is not
the same as delivering the following components required
for delivering long-term success for specialty retailers:
Exclusive distribution model (maintain integrity)
Compelling value-proposition (at upscale prices)
Relevant, solutions-based products (not simply ‘me too’)
Superior reliability (to protect the Retailers ‘brand’)
Not available on the Internet (at discounted prices)
We refer to this concept as being a “refuge brand” and
am proud to say that this concept, engineered by design, works for our dealers and has for years.
‘Immatation is the highest form of flattery.’
Hopefully others will follow…………
Kuddos! Seems so simple yet so hard for manufacturers to understand. ^^^Your right on the money Barry.
Cheers to a company that realizes the vital importance of protecting healthy margins for specialty retailers. A process that seems to have gone away for many suppliers. Along with their loyal dealers.