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

[ParishTanner]

Holy novel lol.

LOL, passionate about local business i guess! Its how my mom raised me!

[ParishTanner]

BTW just an indication of us supporting the life style and clients loving what we do.

How many shops have had clients go get tattooed with the shop logo? They did not get paid for these tattoos but got them because they believe in what we do.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150690781505510.705660.321865445509&type=3

[Chris Davis]

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.

Man 5 dollars try quoted on paper 18 a foot over here. I used to shop my local all the time back in highschool befor the new owners was even in competition with them as a sponsor but now hell no. The only other local is where I would shop but there like 4 towns over not bad about 30 min they dont carry everything but they build and can get just about everything if needed. I dont think the internet killed them off people have always shopped around for the best deal I think it comes down to product and customer service.

[GlasSman.]

as for ordering online it all boils down to convenience

Well actually....price then convenience.

And the lack of nasty attitudes and arrogant displays of immaturity seals the deal.

[miklgagne]

The reason I use online retailers now is because of price. From what I was told when I talked to my local shop buds ( I say buds because I know them and talked to them all the time and still do from time to time) they told me that they could not find a distributor to sell them an amp at the price it sold for online. This is when I new it was not looking good for local car audio shops. The companies that sell their products online for less than a dealer can buy them has cut off their legs. The only way I can see making money is through the installs, tint, alarms remote starters and selling companies products that refuse to let their products be sold at such obscenely low prices. I will continue to go to my local for tint, alarms, remote start, and wiring accessories and the like, but for most equipment I can't justify spending $100's more. That is all for my rant.

[HHR Ed]

More bs talk from me... It is pretty sad that these days we are pretty much forced to buy car audio parts on the internet since there just isn't the support of local shops anymore like there used to be.... my last experience...

I don't know about everyone else s areas, but the local shop is few and far between in my areas anymore. I hate to say it, but the internet has pretty much killed the industry. I'm as guilty as anyone else for wanting to look online for the items I want to purchase, and who has to good prices, etc. The convenience of being able to find exactly what you want, instead of deciding on something that the local stores have in stock is prob the main reason I purchase any item for that matter online.

With all the internet webstores, or people drop shipping for wholesalers, along with all of us who are looking for the lowest price on everything, has killed off just about all of the shops that used to be around back in the day. In my local area, I am pretty much limited to two main shops, and a couple of smaller ones. Anyone of them is at least 45min drive from my home in the Metro Detroit area. Most of what any of these shops have in stock is entry level common young kid stuff. For instance, when purchasing amplifiers for my truck which I recently installed, I specifically wanted a PDX-F6 and PDX-M12. There are several reasons why, and I wasn't going to change my mind. So trying to support the local businesses, I stopped by my local Alpine dealer (Car Tunes) to give them a chance to at least be someone close to pricing from an online Authorized Alpine dealer. I told them up front that I would rather buy local, if they can get me anywhere in the ball park of what I was looking at (remember, I wasn't looking for the lowest price online/ebay or whatever, I was at a dealer with a website linked from Alpine. Factory Authorized, to ensure my items are legit and warrantied) . And here is what I ran in to. "We normally don't carry the PDX line in the store. They cost to much, and people aren't spending that kind of money on amps these days" ummm.. Ok, fine. Can you order them for me? how much can you sell the two for? "Wellllllllll I could look into ordering them, but tell me why you want the PDX amps instead of something else"? and I basically said it doesn't matter why I want them, I came in here because I know what I want to buy. and then I'm told this... "You don't want those PDX amps. We sell this Arc audio amplifiers that are way better than the Alpine, and I have them in stock" At that point I told the guy, if you want to look into ordering the PDX, let me know what you can do. I am NOT interested in anything else, I want the PDX amps for the certain reasons in which I want it. Thats it. and from there the guy took my number, was going to find out what he can do as far as ordering them, and call me. Guess what? Never heard from him. It just seems like this stuff seems to be far too common these days. Why do I want to support this guy who can't even give me the respect to try to help me purchase what I want from him who is actually a Authorized Dealer??? I mean really? I can sit here on my couch and point and click on EXACTLY what I want to purchase, from an authorized dealer, without having to fight with a guy who doesn't want my business, and then just wait for it to show up at my door.

It just seems like no one cares anymore. I envy you if you are fortunate to have a good local dealer in your area. For me, I just haven't had good luck lately. Back in the day I was a regular at three different shops. All three sold different lines of products. Between the three, I could pretty much get about anything that I would have wanted. And everyone was always happy to to sell me what I wanted and take my money. I miss those days. If there are any good old shops like that in the Detroit area anymore, someone please let me know.

The internet did not kill the audio stores

It's been the inability of the audio stores to evolve and adapt to use the internet that has killed them. As well as the few manufacturers that have devalued their product by selling in the hundreds of thousands to large webstores that consider themselves distributors but only distribute to the customers on their site by offering dealer pricing . Cough XXXXXXXXXX cough cough>

[simplicityinsound]

I have been hearing both sides of this story for the past 4-5 years, on the consumer side mostly from DIYMA, and on the industry side from our own forum...I have always been trying to bridge the gap whenever possible...

but Like James mentioned in a previous post, the issue sometimes is that both sides blame each other for the problem and downfall of the industry...

to me, regardless of anything and everything, everything about this hobby comes down to one word: "TRUST"

What i mean is simple, i think money factors into it of course, but if you are guranteed a professional shop that does very good job, is honest, and treats you well, AND YOU KNOW THIS 100 PERCENT WITHOUT ANY DOUBT; most of us have no problem paying some cash to get the work done.This is the same reason why excellent restaurants that cooks delicious meals, have great service, will always attract customers even though they can cook themselves at home all day.

So to me, the biggest problem killing the retail industry is the lack of trustworthy shops...with each horror story, the distrust grows, eventually, you give up on it all together, and this is why people DIY, because they feel that themselves are the ONLY PEOPLE they would trust touching their car. What makes it even more confusing is that sometimes, a shop can provide two vastly different experiences on two separate occassions, when you are met with different sales people and have different installers work on your car.

So my suggestions are two fold:

I think on the retailers side, we need to do more to build trust with our local clientel. Unfortunately, the people doing this are few and far in between. Ray for example, is a great example of this, he is part of this great community, not here to push AI down everyones throats and boasting all the time how great he is, but he is honest, and tries to help as much as he can, and is just an all around good guy. and by showing examples of his work, and acutally LETTING HIS WORK AND RESPECT FOR CONSUMERS do the talking. So he has built up the trust with his peeps and as a result, he will continue to flourish. Yet guys like Ray are a minority becuase many retailers, including some top notch guys who does excellent work AND is fully trustworthy, still have a hard time seeing the internet forums as anything but a detraction against their line of work, a place where internet pricing and bitching against retailers run rampant...I think this needs to change.

Suggestions for the consumers and enthusiats, would be to not give up on all the retailers. Also try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. I mean as retailers, we feel that its our right to make some money off gear, so if you walk into a shop parading internet purchased gear infront of them, even a good and honest shop may be severely turned off and give you a rough time.

When shopping for a place to do your install, first don't go and try to find the shop that gives you the best pricing, second, if you walk in and the guy there is just boasting about his gear, putting down yours, and talking generally down on you, walk away...in my experience most good shops will be very professional when having an discussion with you, and very enthusiastic about the work they do and audio in general an take great pride in their work, instead of acting like a used car salesman and trying to covince you how much they know how cool they are...

But when you find a shop that greets you with a smile, talks to you and takes time to answer your questions, and shows proof in the form of pics of letting you check out a build they are doing, where everything both on the suface AND behind the panels (wiring, structural foundation, etc) looks superb, then give them a chance! and if that turns out great, then stick wtih them...and make you let all you forums and buddies know about it... Do this for them and i gurantee they will treat you even better, becuase if you think about it, there is nothing more dissapointing than spending along time talking with a potential customer, and showing your work, only to have the guy never come back becuase he wanted to save a few bucks buying on the net and/or having a low bidder do this job. Trust, here, goes both ways.

So basically, i think if this industry is to continue to move forward, the two sides (consumers and retailers) have to work together, espeically when it comes to the whole internet thing. I think we both need to do more to ensure that the trust is built between us and the good and TRUSTWORTHY shops survive...becuase i have seen a trend where good shops cant stay in business but cheap hack shops who push things at a super low price remains afloat.

Retailers need to be engaged more wtih the online community and show consumers why they can be trusted through actual proof instead of advertising jargon and small talk, and consumers need to do a better job of locating these kind of establishments and help support them by helping to spread the word.

b

[audiofanaticz]

The internet did not kill the audio stores

It's been the inability of the audio stores to evolve and adapt to use the internet that has killed them. As well as the few manufacturers that have devalued their product by selling in the hundreds of thousands to large webstores that consider themselves distributors but only distribute to the customers on their site by offering dealer pricing . Cough XXXXXXXXXX cough cough>

Sorry, but I must stop you right there now.. You are speaking on nothing you apparently know I guess and you very well should know this with your level of "expertise".

First of all, I edited the Online stores name out of your post. Your talking bad about their pricing, when you are in the wrong I would consider partner bashing, being a moderator on the site for so long you should know better.

Second, they have never really had cut throat pricing like you assume, most their prices are on par, or more than other Authorized online dealers. But if this company is in the wrong for selling online and having cheap prices, you should also be in the wrong with your new webstore..

Looks like your selling the Kenwood KDC -X896 for only$226 http://showtimecarau...nwood-kdc-x896/

while the site you bring up and slander is selling it for $259.99

Now if this site is so cheaply priced and whoring out product, Why is your site $34 cheaper????

You are guilty as it with your new store, just as much as the partner on this site is, if not more...

Now going on your theory of them selling at dealer cost... Thats not true, maybe old product such as last year models are sold very very cheap (as they are in most retail stores), but their prices are on par with MAP pricing (manufactures minimum advertised price for those who dont know), and often times some shops will sell to a local customer at this price too, but it depends on the shop and how the customer acts, or even if he is a returning customer, its not a always done thing, but it could be, without the shop hurting their authorized dealer contracts and what not while still turning a profit.

Anyways

Lets look at the new Pioneer AVIC-Z140BH headunit for 2012.

Crutchfields price is $1099.99 http://www.crutchfie...H.html?tp=20222

While this company you bring up that is again a vendor on this site is charging $1199.99 for it, and doesnt offer most of the free install parts that crutchfield offers.

Why is their price again higher than an authorized dealer when they whore out product like you claim.

Just proving your statements you said wrong again.

Actually I know a great deal and after the facts I just PMd you, you can PM me an apology or just post it here.

[audiofanaticz]

Damn, I killed this thread... ROFLMAO

[jbondox]

Well you didn't kill it,

My personal and professional opinion from many years doing this is the following

as quoted above (sorry Parrish, I didn't read your novel) "the dealers didn't change with the internet" Which i believe is 100% true. After all, you cant just build and say they will come. you have to market yourself and the company otherwise you are missing out, further the company needs professionalism for repeat business. Further, shop owners have to market to the correct clientele. if they market to the people looking for the cheapest equipment, then you are going to have a return of pennies on the dollar. Looking for customers on a forum is whacked and a waste of time... unless you have a bunch of time and resources to commit to it. I personally visit forums to support a few friends and also learn of new things out on the market, maybe even find things for the market. This forum... I like to support Steve, after the RF forum and the rash of crap he received on a forum that died off long ago, he can say "look at me now" which I love! The little guy that doesnt give up or slow down!

Now there is also other factors that are involved also, such as the industry in general, starting with the CEA all the way to the lowest guy in the industry which seriously might be the internet retailers in term of human value.

So in a nut shell... it is what it is, either change or fail, shops can't blame anyone except themselves. We get in a groove, and used to doing business one way for many of years, and never really look at adapting to newer trends. And shop owners, i know it takes time and resources, and after a full days of work their is usually little

I do not blame anyone shopping the internet for product, hell I do it all the time for stuff, I don't have to talk to anyone, I don't have to make the pilgrimage anywhere, I don't have to leave my computer, and hell, if I need something within 5 minutes at my desk I can find it, buy it, and have it sent for the next day...