ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
New store concept:
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/~/media/Files/PDF/Newsroom/Corporate/18042013Retail%20Concept.pdf
See some pictures: http://www.recordere.dk/indhold/templates/design.aspx?articleid=8908
Greetings MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Talking of new stores, anyone seen the fantastic new Bristol B&O store? Completely different from any other B&O store I've visited!
You can see a photo here: http://beostores.bang-olufsen.co.uk/avon-bristol/welcome
Seriously!
I though it was commonly accepted that the worst colour/material you could pair with silver/alu was gold!!!
Golden coffee tables, golden ashtrays, golden price label holders, golden skirting... and that sofa! It all looks like you're back in the 70's!!!
Plus the fact that gold has now a connotation of "bling"... maybe they could present their car stereos in that:
Beoworld app with direct photo upload and emoticons.
PhilLondon: Golden coffee tables, golden ashtrays, golden price label holders, golden skirting... and that sofa! It all looks like you're back in the 70's!!!
I agree. Strange thing is, the new Bristol store is far better than that. Looks like a real (modern) home. Clean lines, light colours etc.
Hi guys, please stop complaining - if you don't like it, stay away 🔫
The Bristol shop looks nice, but 'the new concept' is meant for all kind of stores - small and bigger ones.
You can't use the 'Bristol concept' for a 45m2 shop.
Grrr! MM🐯
I have to say, that store looks incredible.
With the correct marketing from B&O (hello, hello, HELLO) you could drastically reduce overheads by having stores in lovely areas away from town centres. Rent or buy a quirky property, convert it to look amazing - and people will happily travel to visit. If there's a premium product and a premium experience at the end of a journey, the journey becomes a pleasure - almost exciting! I travel 150 miles to the John Lobb factory store to buy shoes, I travel 45 miles to my local Porsche Centre, and used to travel 45 miles in the other direction to the Bentley dealership (when I had one). It was a pleasure to do, and I always spent money at the end of it.
Out of town means you get easy parking and a very relaxed experience. The people who turn up will only be serious buyers too, and the double-bonus of that is that the sales people will not be wasting any time with people walking in just to say "how much?" and walk out laughing...
Done properly, this concept could be amazing.
Lee
9 LEE: With the correct marketing from B&O (hello, hello, HELLO) you could drastically reduce overheads by having stores in lovely areas away from town centres.
With the correct marketing from B&O (hello, hello, HELLO) you could drastically reduce overheads by having stores in lovely areas away from town centres.
The Bath store has to move by the end of the year and I've suggested they look for something slightly out-of-town or on the edge of town. No need to be right in the centre. Away from centre gets you a bigger premises and more flexibility.
On a sidenote, no-one is complaining. A difference in opinion is not a complaint. Not everyone might like the new concept, but that doesn't mean they can't comment :) Just because someone does like it, it doesn't mean every has to :) Personally, I prefer the clean lines of the Bristol store. But the size of the store allows that kind of flexibility, due to the positioning of the store, like Lee suggests.
9 LEE:Out of town means you get easy parking and a very relaxed experience.
+1 !
When I am in France and I want to visit my Nimes dealer- I go on a bicycle (50km each way) as the driving/parking is just to much grief. But then I do cycle a lot ;-)
Agreed.
In 2006/7 I wanted to do something similar - you know why Lee - along the lines of this Linn based place http://www.houseoflinn.com/
The UK rent/rates on the high street mean that you can buy a house like the Linn House for the same price as maybe 5 - 7 years worth of commercial rent... and then you have a decent company asset too.
However, B&OUK at that time would not countenance a 'tertiary' location or a modified house layout. Shame.
wtlc2zpx:Seriously! I though it was commonly accepted that the worst colour/material you could pair with silver/alu was gold!!! Golden coffee tables, golden ashtrays, golden price label holders, golden skirting... and that sofa! It all looks like you're back in the 70's!!! Plus the fact that gold has now a connotation of "bling"... maybe they could present their car stereos in that:
i think that this is a new and nice touch for the B&O stores.
It is important to have a luxury atmosphere when you are selling luxury products. Well done B&O!! I hope this will drag more customers. But I still miss a good room for audio listening.
/K
moxxey:Talking of new stores, anyone seen the fantastic new Bristol B&O store? Completely different from any other B&O store I've visited! You can see a photo here: http://beostores.bang-olufsen.co.uk/avon-bristol/welcome
MartinW:Not sure if I have missed something here Phil, but i'm sure there is nothing gold in the new store concept? What makes you think there is? Also there would be no ashtrays of any colour in the UK of course!
Have you looked at the slide show at this page?
I'm sure this has been market researched to death and it's all very stylish etc. but the pictures don't shout "Come in, have a fiddle" to me! They look like the kind of place you need an appointment to enter - fine for repeat customers but it still looks somewhat intimidating for passing by "newbies".
Ban boring signatures!
PhilLondon: Seriously! I though it was commonly accepted that the worst colour/material you could pair with silver/alu was gold!!! Golden coffee tables, golden ashtrays, golden price label holders, golden skirting... and that sofa! It all looks like you're back in the 70's!!! Plus the fact that gold has now a connotation of "bling"... maybe they could present their car stereos in that:
I was in the store today. That room in particular looked quite nice. Nicely furnished and very well lit. The beolab 5s stood out without looking imposing. Even my girlfriend thought they looked cool.
Hereford:I was in the store today. That room in particular looked quite nice. Nicely furnished and very well lit. The beolab 5s stood out without looking imposing. Even my girlfriend thought they looked cool.
And still they look to have those crappy little price signs
Now all they've got to do s fill it with stylish affordable up to date tech...
w5bno123:As the opposing fans would chant at Chelsea ref Torres. What a waste of money...
Flappo:Now all they've got to do s fill it with stylish affordable up to date tech...
With the 6002 and 8002's on the way out, and the Beovision 7 range probably coming to an end late this year i expect next year to be quite eventful. To imagine there won't be any replacement for what has been core stock for years is fairly far fetched. Then add the H6 and H3 and it will be a fresher more modern menu.
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
I'm interested to see a store in the flesh so to speak, - from the pictures they seem to be equally, if not more, sterile and uninviting to those uninitiated or unfamiliar with the brand than the old ones.
They can always fill it full of headphones and apple accessories ....
oh how the mighty have fallen.
Flappo:They can always fill it full of headphones and apple accessories ....oh how the mighty have fallen.
Pity the dealer, good comment. I'm just speculating, but I imagine being a B&O dealer is a lot more problematic than being a conventional audio/video brand dealer. You're committed to only one brand, you can't diversify to spread risk out or hit at more market segments, and you are captive to a company that more than any other wants to get in your knickers and tell you exactly how to decorate and market. OTOH, you aren't going to be facing competition from another dealer the next block over with the same product, or worse with mail order or Best Buy (worst service) or the like. And I suspect you have to shove a lot of your own money at whatever update or design changes B&O wants. At the same time they have to deal with trying to educate people about the brand, and with constant kibitzing from online forum types about the stores.
But, think of it from B&O's perspective as well. When I bought my main gear, they were distributed in Florida by a large chain Sound Advice. I wrote to B&O several times and complained about how their gear was displayed there. The B&O display wasn't in either of the high end rooms, or even in one of the listening rooms at all. It was along one wall, shoved in next to the boom boxes and TVs blaring, so you couldn't tell squat about how anything sounded. Plus all of the gear was dirty and fingerprint laden, and about half of it had some part that didn't function due to abuse, mainly doors and such. It was dreadful, and a prime example of why B&O needs a special environment.
That's why I originally bought only the BS9000. B&O got pretty upset with how Sound Advice was marketing the stuff and treating me, told them in no uncertain terms to loan me a pair of BL8000s and 4000s. I took them home, and gained a new found respect for the speakers, and bought the BL8000s. I was floored at how good they sounded in a real room. The B&O rep kept giving me things to try and placate me I suspect, a tape measure, bottle opener, even a set of 6 colorful CDs they used to demo the BS9000 with. Since I mainly use the BS9000 as a switcher to connect the music PC to the speakers, I tend to keep those beautiful CDs in the thing full time.
So, I think we can all agree that being a dealer, and selling B&O in general, is a tough job, especially in this economy and with the constant changes that are going on in consumer electronics. Personally I don't think I'd want to be either a dealer or B&O and face these kind of challenges, especially as little room for error as exists for both the dealers and the brand. I root for them both, as I love the brand, one of the few I actually care about one way or another. But these are going to be tough times.
Feel free to return to armchair quarterbacking now!
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Bv7Mk3:@ Jeff. I used to pop in to sound advice when on holiday in Florida and remember the tiny out of the way display of b and o was shocking.
It was terrible wasn't it? On a related note about SA, I wandered in to chat with my friend who worked there, I've been buying stereo stuff from him since I was 14 years old, he's gone thru a lot of different stores, even owning one once. There was a large "Drug Free Workplace" sign up, we looked wryly at each other, and he said "ironic, ain't it?' Ironic because the original Sound Advice down in Ft. Lauderdale was started to launder drug money from marijuana smuggling thru South Florida.
Severian:Pity the dealer, good comment. I'm just speculating, but I imagine being a B&O dealer is a lot more problematic than being a conventional audio/video brand dealer. You're committed to only one brand, you can't diversify to spread risk out or hit at more market segments, and you are captive to a company that more than any other wants to get in your knickers and tell you exactly how to decorate and market. OTOH, you aren't going to be facing competition from another dealer the next block over with the same product, or worse with mail order or Best Buy (worst service) or the like. And I suspect you have to shove a lot of your own money at whatever update or design changes B&O wants. At the same time they have to deal with trying to educate people about the brand, and with constant kibitzing from online forum types about the stores. But, think of it from B&O's perspective as well. When I bought my main gear, they were distributed in Florida by a large chain Sound Advice. I wrote to B&O several times and complained about how their gear was displayed there. The B&O display wasn't in either of the high end rooms, or even in one of the listening rooms at all. It was along one wall, shoved in next to the boom boxes and TVs blaring, so you couldn't tell squat about how anything sounded. Plus all of the gear was dirty and fingerprint laden, and about half of it had some part that didn't function due to abuse, mainly doors and such. It was dreadful, and a prime example of why B&O needs a special environment.That's why I originally bought only the BS9000. B&O got pretty upset with how Sound Advice was marketing the stuff and treating me, told them in no uncertain terms to loan me a pair of BL8000s and 4000s. I took them home, and gained a new found respect for the speakers, and bought the BL8000s. I was floored at how good they sounded in a real room. The B&O rep kept giving me things to try and placate me I suspect, a tape measure, bottle opener, even a set of 6 colorful CDs they used to demo the BS9000 with. Since I mainly use the BS9000 as a switcher to connect the music PC to the speakers, I tend to keep those beautiful CDs in the thing full time. So, I think we can all agree that being a dealer, and selling B&O in general, is a tough job, especially in this economy and with the constant changes that are going on in consumer electronics. Personally I don't think I'd want to be either a dealer or B&O and face these kind of challenges, especially as little room for error as exists for both the dealers and the brand. I root for them both, as I love the brand, one of the few I actually care about one way or another. But these are going to be tough times. Feel free to return to armchair quarterbacking now! Jeff Beosound 9000, Beolab 8000s, Beogram 3000 w/MMC2, CX50s, P30s, Beovox 3000s, Beocord 3300, AV7000, Beolab 2000's,Beolink Passive & IR Eye, Beo5 and Beo4
Jeff:OTOH, you aren't going to be facing competition from another dealer the next block over with the same product,
Nitpicking, but this isn't strictly true: up until a couple of years ago, the two "proper" B&O dealerships in downtown Helsinki were about 100m apart, and there were one or two other stores selling some products within a walking distance. One of the dealers moved ~15 km away, though...
--mika
tournedos:Nitpicking, but this isn't strictly true: up until a couple of years ago, the two "proper" B&O dealerships in downtown Helsinki were about 100m apart, and there were one or two other stores selling some products within a walking distance. One of the dealers moved ~15 km away, though... --mika
StUrrock:In uk price wars between dealers, no matter how far apart are very common.
That's the interwebs age (applies to all retail): you go and bother the dealer with the best service and widest hands-on display, then buy from the cheapest place (or online).
tournedos: That's the interwebs age (applies to all retail): you go and bother the dealer with the best service and widest hands-on display, then buy from the cheapest place (or online).
Exactly Amazon's role in the UK. People come to us for their tech advice, look on Amazon for the current price and often buy from there (as they are prepared to make a loss or as little as 1% from each sale). It's got to the point where Amazon now represents 90% of all sales for certain SKUs. I won't name the tech brands, but I've had two conference calls in the last two days with two well-known brands who asked what can they do differently to increase their sales, particularly away from Amazon. It's a dilemma. We don't have the answers. They can't put Amazon's prices up as Amazon sell so much product and buy in bulk. They've cornered the market, which is never beneficial for consumers, long term....
It's the same with B&O. I like to buy new, but half of my kit is pre-loved from LifeStyle or MoreThan and I don't have a bad word to say about any of the kit - everything has been mint and flawless.
I refuse to use Amazon any more - their tax dodging practices are disgraceful , also they deleted all my reviews of products as they were too negative - ie; I actually told the truth and didn't hype the stuff up. I found out a lot of so called 'reviews' are actually made up by the sellers ... a bit like ebay