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We have all helped to kill the local dealers...


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The only time I ever shop at my local audio shop is when they do their annual 50 percent off deal to make room for the new year models. If they ever dropped their prices I'd be all over that shit. But I'm not spending 5 bucks a foot on 1/0 wire. Ever.

Shit, 5 bucks a foot? My local shop cells cca for 8 dollars a foot its ridiculous, sad thing is I've actually paid 40 dollars for 5 feet of zero gauge just because I didn't want to wait an extra week for shipping, had to get the system playing lol.

'93 Firebird Formula V8

H/U- Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X395

Mids/Highs Amp- Hifonics ZXI80.4

Wiring-KNU RCA's, Speaker Wire, And Two Runs Of Trystar 1/0

G34 Red Top and a 180amp Ford Alternator

www.youtube.com/TRTC360

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This thread makes me sad, first off wire costs so much because we had to sit on it for months on months on years some times. 80% of daily business is dealing with people who want Steve Meade installs for 50 bucks. And I'm not kidding, almost every one who walks through the doors wants to start doing comps with a prefab box and mismatched subs. Second most vendors have requirements for sales to be an "Authorized Dealer" , as a dealer you have to purchase a set amount of product per quarter. So once you add that requirement plus the cost of insurance, lights, payroll ect. ect. ect.... is why shops have to charge retail. Also almost everyone on this forum does their own work then most will bag out a shop for charging $60 bucks an hour for labor. I can't tell you the last time a customer came into the shop and got a full system done at retail. Hell if you go on "Craigslist" there are 4 to 10 guys offering to do installs and build boxes.

All small retailers are doomed, people come in and check out equipment and get advise then go home and buy it all online.

Sorry for the disorganized rant, my brain goes into overdrive on this subject since I've been a victim of the internet and places like Best Buy killing the small shop.

Just remember nobody on the planet knows everything about every audio product ever made and if they did the shop couldn't afford to pay them

so your actually talking to the guy with a little knowledge and willing to work for a lot less pay.

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If a client sees value in what you do, then price doesnt matter.

Sell yourself..#1

I cant remember the last time i didnt do a job at retail.

People come to audio innovations because of who we are and what i do, not for how cheap i will do a job.

Period.

2008 California state record holder 157.2 Bassrace2009 California state record holder 157.0 BassraceRollin 50's 158.7db2009 King of Cali Bassrace2009 USACi score 160.5 @ 42hz
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well to me it all comes down to price. i tell you right now, if my local shop sold 1/0 wire for the price that i could get online, id be rolling in the stuff, spools at a time.

98 Isuzu Rodeo
Pioneer Deh-6300ub
SUBS
​*Upcoming* SSA Xcon 18 4th order
AMP
​Banda 3500
Mids/Highs
Pioneer
EQ
Clarion EQS746
ETC.
Two 1/0 run's
KnuKoncepts 1/0 big 3
Shuriken BT-100 under the hood
Shuriken BT-120 in the back

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So far, the shops I've been into here are mixed. 2 suck, and the one is alright I guess. Guy working there is kind of a dick. Prices at the better shop are a little high but not terrible. They carry Diamond, RF, Kicker, Alpine, and Memphis. All the wire I saw was stinger, with fuses, blocks, etc to match it. Condition of the building was pretty good, nice and clean, but the general attitude just pissed me off.

The other places I looked at though :rofl: asked them if they had 1/0 terminals, got told $10/pair. The other place, was just pathetic. They had a few Kenwood speakers and amps, and some Jenson. Guy looked at my car when I was asking him about window tint, saw the sonicelectronix.com sticker and told me he wanted to be a competitor. I didn't have the heart to tell the poor guy his prospects did not look too good lol.

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best shop in my town, sells'' JL audio , powerbass, planet audio, ...... not my pick for the best but it sell more car audio then the other 5 or 6 in my town!!!! ......... and if u go in and buy a planet audio bb2400.1 they want 600$ u can buy that amp online for 265$ thats why shops go out of bizz>>> buy a w6 12 from there 650$ online $300 if shops did not mark up so much they would not go out of biZZ.. to make $50 off somthing is ok but to make $300 of something is just over kill!!!

01 focus se

110 amp alt

Big 3 sky high and stinger hpm ofc 1/0

Super start platinum AGM (starting)

2 runs of 1/0 Execution audio front to back

Kenwood double DIN DDx271

A pillars- orion 4" super tweeter and 2-1" alpines.

Orion xtx 64 in the front doors

2:1 4th order bandpass

Sealed off trunk

Digital designs deadener on roof/ rear deck

Orion hcca 12s (black coils)

Orion xtr3700.1

Orion xtr250.2 mid/highs

All sky high 1/0 in trunk dual runs(power/ground)

Sky high dual 1/0 inputs

2 xs power D3100 in back

Sky high batt blocks

Rose audio batt blocks

Stinger volt meter

All sky high 1\0 fuse and holders

Db link remote/ rca

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ino of a few people who buy a item say $100 off a dealer, and are told to sell at say $200, but the person who sells only gets it cheaper...this is with a few companies aswell, not sure why they would sell to online dealers cheaper..

AUSTRALIA do i need say more?

HU: some crap pionee

AMP: dc 9k @ 18v

SUB: 4 elevation audio sqx 12"

Battery: 2 neuton power 8200d

burp setup for fun 152's

soon to come: rebuilt soundstream xxx (2 18" OR 3 15" wall) Bunch speakers, more batts and new HU

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As a business owner who started this company in August of 2009, It was the bottom of the recession for me. We understand that price is part of the equation, but also service must play and does play just as great of a part.

For us to have a prime retail location, we must pay for the space. We must pay for the electric. We must pay our over head. We are not in some industrial part of the cut but in a prime retail free standing business. This is 100% our choice.

We choose to be a service based provider. We do charge a fair price for this premium service.

I know a number of SMD forum members come to our store from time to time. We welcome them. Many are price based over service. And I understand this as finances are difficult for all.

Some will say get the industrial park and cut your over head. That business model works for many, but not all. The majority of our clients would never find us if we did. So then we would sell less and if our selling price is cut, and we are not selling less we can not employee the staff that we do.

In order to provide jobs to our local community, we must move volume. IMHO We must do so profitably.

When you own a small business like our we provide, insurance for our clients cars so that if some thing happens God forbid, our clients interests are covered. We provide workers comp for our staff so that, God forbid they lose a finger on the table saw, they are covered. We provide Medical, dental and vision for our staff so that God forbid they need medical attention they can get it with out putting a strain on the medicade system. We pay our guys a fair and livable wage so that they can feed their families and not put a strain on the food stamp system. This fair and livable wage allows our staff to purchase the best tools possible to service out clients with the best possible efficiency.

We provide continual training for our staff to ensure that the most knowledgeable interaction possible at our store with out clients. We work to help bring national trainers in to the region to help better all of the shops in the region who chose to participate. http://www.ceoutlook...-improve-sales/ This allows as many possible clients to get the best possible experience they can. Last year we brought in a Jason Ewing from Pimp My Ride fame and now a tech support agent for Idatalink. This was on our own dime with no funding from manufacturers. This was done to help raise the level of installation in relationship to the newer vehicles on the road.

We give back to our local community on a regular basis. Just recently we sponsored Mojo Grill's annual Bluesfest here in Ocala because we believe in supporting the local arts.

We have sponsored an number of local car shows this year alone with financial donations to help support the life style.

This coming weekend we are opening up our local store to a competing business out of Gainesville to host a SPL contest. We will make no money on this event, only so that we can support the life style and the sport. The last time we hosted this, we made no sales to the people attending and anticipate this again this weekend. But again this is to support the local life style and sport.

Local shops are the ones who built this sport and will continue to build it. When the local shop goes away in a town, there is less product sold in that town and less people exposed to the industry and the sport. It is slowly killing the thing we all love.

As a local business we work with the local schools to grow interest in the automotive industry. This past year we brought in a couple of different interns to allow them to get a feel for the business. The most recent intern was hired on as a sales trainee. We are spending a good amount of time to help teach him the industry. We have also recently hired an installation trainee that went to school at Fullsail for a year and came back home. We are educating him on the industry and industry best practices. Typically for a shop to bring in a trainee and actually TRAIN them, that employee causes us to loose money for a period of time, in some case we are losing money for over a year but do so in order to continue growing the sport and our industry.

As a local business when we go out to dinner we are supporting the local waitress that may be a single mother and we tip well in order to support our local economy. I actually was at dinner with a principal of a local school and through our dinner discussion he let me know that he is very happy his wife now purchases almost ever thing online and saves him money. But he is the principal of a private school. Who do you think pays his salary, local business owners who send their kids to school. I even paid for his dinner that night as we exchange this courtesy, with the money we get from the local business support we receive.

One good example i like to use is a client that works at a local drug/convenience store. I asked if they sell the "ped egg" that so many chicks seem to like right now. They do. They sell them for $10. But if you go to the website you can buy it 2 for $9.99 with free shipping many times with a free bottle of lotion. But buy buying it local, that kid was able to have his $8 an hour job. Not killing it but by me buying local, he had a job. He still choose to buy on line and did not see the connection.

We have security systems in place at our store so that we can try to reduce the threat of theft, as well as insurance to protect our interest and lively hood. Remember the local audio stores are often targets for theft.

Last year we spent a lot of money procuring new equipment in our store. By doing so it allows us to provide better service to our clients. It takes money to continue to grow and serve the local community.

When a business does run a success full business they may only make 10% Gross profit at the end of the year after all bills are paid. With that being said, if we lower our prices by as little as 10% We have now given away our entire GP for the year. Yes some say this will be made up in volume. But when you run a lean ship to begin with to fight and get that 10% you then have to hire more staff to keep the volume up. Then your over head is up.

An interesting read i just googled and found. http://hedgescompany...price-decrease/

Calculate gross margin, a price decrease and total unit sales

If you decrease your prices (a sale or discount coupons, for example), how many more units do you have to sell to keep gross profit dollars the same? Again we’ve calculated it for you in the chart below.

Find the gross margin of your product in the left column, then find the column that shows your price decrease. Where the two numbers intersect is a number that shows how many more units you have to sell as a result of a price decrease to maintain the same gross profit dollars.

For example, if you have a 35% margin, and you are considering a 10% price decrease, you must have a whopping 40% increase in unit sales to end up with the same total gross profit dollars. This is important to know if you are considering a sale in an attempt to increase unit sales of a product, especially if it has a low gross margin to begin with.

As you can see, the free market blesses those with high margin. If you have a thin 30% gross margin and you drop your prices 20%, you must double your unit sales (i.e., increase 200%) to have the same gross profit dollars.

With that being said, Discounting can only take you so far. When the market here only has X amount of potential clients, you must make a fair profit as a business owner to be able to stay here.

There have been LOTS of stores close in the last 3 year or so, and most of them did so when the discounting took too much of a front seat. Now don't get me wrong we do work with our clients as much as possible to try to make thing work. Many times it is based on attitude when they come in, relationship, what our supply and demand looks like. When we are over booked, we are less likely to discount but when we are slow we are more likely to do so. The more supply of time we have and the lower the demand the lower the price, the less supply of good and time we have and the higher the demand the higher the price.

Supply and demand drive people crazy some times. Is a shoe worth $160? I wont pay $160 for shoes but many do an pay well over that. Recently with the Jordan Retro that came out you had people mobbing stores http://www.msnbc.msn...pepper-sprayed/ all for a shoe that they had created a high demand for and kept the supply arguably artificially low. http://www.finishlin...LAID=1320646025

Does it really cost $160 to make that shoe? No other wise Nike would be out of business, they are not operating a charity. According to their financials they made a measly $9.42 billion last year. And that is at a 45.08% margin. This after all bills were paid. http://www.marketwat.../nke/financials

Why is it ok for them to make that but not the local guys that pump Millions/Billions of dollars annually back in to the local economy? They get to make 45% margin and we get beat for asking to make 10% GP at the end of the day?

Please keep in mind, that I fully understand trying to save money and take care of your family. Trust me I do. I have a wife and 3 kids. I take home less than Florida's Median income, I am trying to buy a home for less than Florida's Median home value. As a business owner, I drive a 7 year old truck with about 140k miles on it. My wife's car is a 7 year old vehicle as well with over 120k miles on it. I pay my key personnel more than I pay my self on a regular basis, this ensures we maintain the best staff possible. Even with that, it is not uncommon for key personel to decide to leave and open their own shop to make more money, when in reality they were making more working with us as a team. I am not saying this to get sympathy, I am telling you this in order that you may understand that the vast majority of Audio Shop owners do the same thing. Do I plan on always being here? I hope not, I hope to over time earn enough respect for my company and my staff that business grows to the point where I can buy brand new cars, build brand new homes and go on expensive vacations but that is not where we are. We are still EARNING our place and will always remain in a place where we MUST EARN the right to do business here.

I also understand that we are not your typical audio store and do not operate in a typical fashion. I understand there are a large number of hobby shops that open up and never transition to being real retailers. Some times you have these hobby shops that close up and leave clients holding the bag. This year one local hobby shop closed and took well over a (reported to me, not verified) $100,000 in clients money for products never ordered and work never done.

I must encourage each of you to honestly look at where does your income come from, where does your family income come from? Is it coming from local business owners? What happens if those local businesses close down? What happens to your own income? When you buy on line to avoid paying sales tax, what happens to your parents or grand parents SSI, Medicare and such. Are you stealing from your future to save a few bucks here and there? Who supported your little league teams when you were a kid, who supported your high school football team? Was it local business? Is it right to take from the kids in school today to save a few bucks? Does not the local sales and property tax pay for the fire, police, and school systems in your town? If you save money here and there, what happens to these services? Will they be there when you need them? More importantly what happens to the people providing these services and their families when you save a few bucks here and there and they find them self on un-employment? Isnt the max for un-employment benefits something like $275 a week? How can you feed and support your family on that? More so what happens when you have saved your money and they have now run out of un-employment payments and now are forced to live under bridge or in abandoned homes, all so you can save a few buck.

I am sorry this went ALOT longer than i had planned but, I honestly feel we as a community need to look after the good of our community, not just our house.

I will leave you with this. Please remember to take care of those around you and build your local physical community just as you take the time to build this SMD online community. When you support local business, you are supporting your local community.

Parish Tanner

Ocala Car Audio

www.facebook.com/ocalacaraudio

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