Many retailers and suppliers alike are grouchy these days and so retailers weren’t shy about airing their gripes at a roundtable discussion on day one of KnowledgeFest.
And no, this wasn’t the usual whining griping about transshipping or the guy down the street breaking MAP.
A number of retailers want more help with co-op for promoting on the Internet; and they want help with social networking.
They also want suppliers to give them products that work. Don’t sell them from a lot of head units that has a high defect rate without any warning beforehand. This is all too common in the industry and the defective rate has been climbing in the past two years.
Also, suppliers: don’t advertise a MAP (minimum advertised price) on your website. Publish your suggested retail price on your site and then the retailers can be the heroes on their sites offering 30 percent off.
Some suppliers were singled out for great promotions. Retailer Mike Dixon said JL Audio’s Shopatron promotion has helped him bring in lots of plus business. Also one retailer praised Garmin/Kenwood $100-off sales for being well promoted on the Internet. And Rockford’s “What’s Your Volume” contest got a shout out.
Retailers also talked of Friday night barbeque sales and it was suggested (by RukPromotions which, in full disclosure, sells advertising for this Web site) that retailers collect the email addresses of anyone who attends their sales and promotional events. Then they can offer after-the-sale care via email campaigns. Even collecting 35 names a week can add up.
One retailer called for the return of crank ‘em contests on weekends, while another said the kids will enjoy the contest but they’ll still buy their products on the Internet instead of at the host retailer.
The retailer discussion was hosted by Dual Electronics and moderated by Daniel Abramson of StaffDynamics.
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I hope some one asked why all these manufactures are making cheap crap. Product reliability is so poor I don’t even want to sell anything anymore because I’m affraid it’s just going to come back not working. And it’s not the installers