CPS Distributors, based in Kansas City, MO will exit the car audio retail market May 1 in favor of selling only marine OEM and aftermarket products.
CPS sold Sony, Directed, Memphis Audio, Scosche, and SAVV product lines, among others in territories including Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Western Illinois.
Brandon Lang, CPS Distributors’ VP said the company was exiting the car audio side of the business due to the “ongoing deterioration” of the market. “Our marine business has grown so much, we just decided to focus on where things are growing.”
In response, Sony announced Tuesday it will expand its business with other distributors to replace CPS. It will work with the following:
- AM Distributors (Illinois, Wisconsin)
- DOW Electronics (Kansas, Missouri)
- Mid-State Distributing (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska)
“We sincerely appreciate the 35-plus years of dedicated Sony 12 Volt representation, service, and professionalism that CPS has provided our retailers while helping us spread the latest Sony specialty retailer focused message. We wish them continued success in their efforts” said Rick Kojan, Director of Sales for Sony Car Audio.
Sony also said it has scheduled training sessions in several cities across the region. Dealers may call 855-SONY-12V (855-766-9128) to participate or contact Rick Kojan at [email protected] for information on distribution changes.
I hear you. Sometimes on the fly I’ll look up a new kit, or one we haven’t carried on Crutchfield to get an idea of pricing. On several occasions it’s been under cost, and they are far from the worst offender. I wish the manufacturers would realize whats going to happen to their market when no one is around to install their stuff.
The manufacturers are putting a rope around they’re necks, sooner or later they’re going to be replaced by international internet sales and garaged manufacturers that drive the prices down to a 50% discount. A lot of the parts and tools we can be produced by a 3d printer and cnc machines that are available at very inexpensive prices. It’s just matter of time before the industry completely dies.
We dropped ALL of our distributors and dirty internet dealers. What happened? Not much. Dealers are afraid to walk any sales so they will carry ALL the brands (dirty or not) incase a customer asks for that brand. Many dealers don’t know what a “push line” is any longer. You can’t say MTX did not try to help fix the situation. Thank God we also own AtlasIED and have a large OEM division.
wow man… You need to tell your distributor to sharpen their pencil and give you better pricing or you’ll just buy your parts online. Why would you buy it from them instead on the web if you can save that much money?
Stop installing internet products and customers will start coming to you! We started that, no internet installed here from now on.
Another victim of the internet. What I don’t understand why some manufacturers products are selling on the internet to the public cheaper than what we get them from the distributors. For example Metra 99-3305 on the web is selling for $10.50 to the public and when I order it as a retailer my cost is $14.03. How can I trust those manufacturers? They say they are policing the web but I say that Bullshit. So my other choice is to deal directly from China and skip the middle man (The distributor) and save money. I hate doing that but that’s the fact.