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
The first store to sell the complete Bang & Olufsen (and the B&O Play) collection online:
http://bang-olufsen-frederikshavn.dk/
Seems that more are coming soon.
Is that a good idea?
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.
Mark:with a decreasing physical retail arm yes it makes sense
How true. 'Just found out that the NY metropolitan area recently lost another store - the one in Greenwich, CT. No wonder we haven't heard from TripEnglish in a while - that was his store. That marks the 3rd store to vanish in the past year - we're down to 4. Sure, increasing retail venues (e.g. Best Buy's Magnolia stores, Design within Reach) opens up new distribution channels but it certainly doesn't help the existing B&O stores. Literally right next door to one of the B&O stores here in NYC is a Design within Reach store. Both of them stock/sell BeoPlay!
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
Chris Townsend:If true, that's a dreadful shame.
If I'm not mistaken he was also involved in the operation of the Boston store. Not sure if that's still the case.
He always struck me as rather rude and arrogant , I doubt bno will mourn his passing.
Welcome to the brave new world of helpful customer service
MediaBobNY: Mark:with a decreasing physical retail arm yes it makes sense How true. 'Just found out that the NY metropolitan area recently lost another store - the one in Greenwich, CT. No wonder we haven't heard from TripEnglish in a while - that was his store. That marks the 3rd store to vanish in the past year - we're down to 4. Sure, increasing retail venues (e.g. Best Buy's Magnolia stores, Design within Reach) opens up new distribution channels but it certainly doesn't help the existing B&O stores. Literally right next door to one of the B&O stores here in NYC is a Design within Reach store. Both of them stock/sell BeoPlay!
While TRIP and I never really saw eye to eye, I'm sad to hear he has lost his store.
He was pretty confident over the years though that "we" the normal guys had nothing to do with B&O's success. Perhaps we had with his?
Too long to list....
Flappo:He always struck me as rather rude and arrogant , I doubt bno will mourn his passing. Welcome to the brave new world of helpful customer service
Tonker:Well we all have our faults, and most probably have families to feed, so I wish him well.
bayerische: He was pretty confident over the years though that "we" the normal guys had nothing to do with B&O's success. Perhaps we had with his?
Sorry, LOL. Greenwich, Connecticut is one of the most 'Blue Blood' towns in America, if not on planet Earth. Example. If a B&O shop can't make it there, where CAN they succeed?
MediaBobNY: bayerische: He was pretty confident over the years though that "we" the normal guys had nothing to do with B&O's success. Perhaps we had with his? Sorry, LOL. Greenwich, Connecticut is one of the most 'Blue Blood' towns in America, if not on planet Earth. Example. If a B&O shop can't make it there, where CAN they succeed?
Don't worry, I know the place.
MediaBobNY: If a B&O shop can't make it there, where CAN they succeed?
If a B&O shop can't make it there, where CAN they succeed?
One of the B&O shops in Helsinki had a "best 20 seller" plaque this autumn. Apparently Tue was there himself to hand it out. So obviously they can make it here.
There are two parts to the story, first getting people into the store, and then the second part is closing the deal. The New York stores suffer from arrogance on one part, and just hiring people with absolutely no knowledge of the product. I compare it with buying experience at Hastens in New York where a mattress is $10K and above. Same target market, but you walk in and people know the product and are there to help you. I suspect this may be the problem in Greenwich, CT.
BV11-55, BS9000, BL1, BL19, Transmitter 1, Beo4, Beocom 6000, BeoTalk1 200, Sennheiser HD600, McIntosh MHA100
Sorry guys,
that some shops have closed is for real real - but it has nothing to do with the question, I asked in my initial post.
Hard to say what the main reasons for closing down of certain shops are!
Question is - do you think it is a good idea to start selling the Bang & Olufsen products online?
Don't we - and future costumers - need the personal contact with the dealers?
The danish shop (my link above) is run by a wellknown dealer with long expertice and skilled personal - and offers full installation of the products.
Is this offer - to buy online - just another way to reach more people. People who probably after all end up visting the shop, if they really intent to buy e.g. a BV11?
Could 'online selling' be a thread to the existing shops, or is it just another way of advertising (for the already existing shops)?
To answer this question we would also need to know, if only authorized B&O sellers are allowed to make the online shops?
I doubt that B&O would open up to 'everyone' who wants to sell online - or allow whoever is interested to pick just some of the products e.g. loudspeaker for their online shop.
I doubt that we will ever see the Bang & Olufsen product range at Amazon and co.
Greetings Millemissen
Chris Townsend:People even in the industry just expect it to not just be expensive, but prohibitively so and only for rich show offs.
Unfortunately the company chasing newly rich customers (and high margins) in Russia and China fully supports this hypothesis!
Ban boring signatures!
Millemissen:I doubt that we will ever see the Bang & Olufsen product range at Amazon and co.
No offense, but that is an incredibly ill-informed statement.
Not sure of the start date, but B&o has had an Amazon US storefront for years.
Regarding Greenwich, CT ... absolutely no good reason why that store would have (should have) ever closed.
P.S. On topic: Abt out of Chicago sold B&o online for years -though they seem to have retreated from that within the last year or so. They still maintain a showroom, however.
ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: P.S. On topic: Abt out of Chicago sold B&o online for years -though they seem to have retreated from that within the last year or so. They still maintain a showroom, however.
I believe that stores running unofficial websites are liable to be giraffed by head office.
Graham
vikinger: ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: P.S. On topic: Abt out of Chicago sold B&o online for years -though they seem to have retreated from that within the last year or so. They still maintain a showroom, however. I believe that stores running unofficial websites are liable to be giraffed by head office. Graham
Don't get me started on Marius!
Well, the Abt store deal was official with B&o and dates back to about ~2000ish or so.
As mentioned, Abt still maintains a showroom as far as I know. Oh, and they are located ~15 minutes from B&o's US headquarters.
Without starting rumors or speculation, just hold on a little bit in the NE US market. Some real cool things shop-wise are about to transpire. Weather Trip is apart of it, I don't know.
Ah, you know... A little B&O here, a little there
Confirmed. The Greenwich store is apparently a women's clothing shop now.
Getting back to the original question, i would love to at least be able to see pricing on the internet for new products, and demo products from the dealers. A strong complimentary internet sales strategy is need. I can do this today for a car, high end watches, furniture and even jewellery. So why not B&O?
Quite odd how bno don't advertise their prices .
I have to look on this site to find the price of things ! it's CRAZY
Dailmer startet selling cars online...just 4 models to start with, same prices as at a dealer.I will never do this, because I like to buy where I got the pre-sales Services from (learning about the product).For B&O products, for me it depends on the value and of the complexity of the producs (plus maybe necessary Installation Services).But still, if you live 200 km away from a B&O store, buying online might be an Option.
Ralf
PS: Amazon sells ALL Beoplay products.
Living Room: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-2 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 8000 (Rears), no Subwoofer. Screen: Sony KD-85XH9096Dining Room: Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 4000 on stands, fed by Amazon Echo Show 8Home Cinema: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-4 (Center), Beolab 1 (Fronts), Beolab 4000 (Rears). Projector: Sony VPL-HW55Home Office: Beosystem 3, Beolab 7-4, Beolab 5000, Screen: Sony KD-55XH9005 on Beovision 7-40 stand, ML to Beosound 9000 MK3 and Beosound 5/Beomaster 5 (1 TB SSD version)Bedroom: Sony KD-65XH9077, Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 6002 and Beolab 11 (all white, wall-mounted)
In storage: Beolab 5000/Beomaster 5000 (1960s).
ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: Millemissen:I doubt that we will ever see the Bang & Olufsen product range at Amazon and co. No offense, but that is an incredibly ill-informed statement. Not sure of the start date, but B&o has had an Amazon US storefront for years.
No offense in that at all.
What you can buy in that store is certainly not what I meant.
Please do re-read my initial post.
I was talking the whole Bang & Olufsen product range - as in the danish shop I had linked to.
BeoMegaMan: Without starting rumors or speculation, just hold on a little bit in the NE US market. Some real cool things shop-wise are about to transpire. Weather Trip is apart of it, I don't know.
Sounds interesting!
Millemissen: ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: Millemissen:I doubt that we will ever see the Bang & Olufsen product range at Amazon and co. No offense, but that is an incredibly ill-informed statement. Not sure of the start date, but B&o has had an Amazon US storefront for years. No offense in that at all. What you can buy in that store is certainly not what I meant. Please do re-read my initial post. I was talking the whole Bang & Olufsen product range - as in the danish shop I had linked to. MM
If you want to be pedantic, reread my post about Abt and then retitle your thread deleting "first" and "ever."
++++
to support this move on-line we need to see a better and more interactive website from B&O; including videos showing interaction, walk through and technology used.
this could then be mixed with boutique style brand cafe offering a softer more welcoming customer feeling. (this is no disrespect to the dealer network or the hard work they do, but a number of my friends are just too scared to walk into a B&O store as they feel they would be out of place or looked down upon, it's the same with most high end clothing shops)
it would be really good to see B&O reinvent the retail hifi experience.
kallasr: PS: Amazon sells ALL Beoplay products.
Yes they do, though not ALL PLAY products. They still offer more non PLAY items.
As I said, I do not know the history (as in when they started) but it has been a long time -certainly predating the existence of PLAY by several years.
In that time, the product offered on the Amazon store has changed. Of course, this was because of PLAY rebranding as much as it was new product launch.
The store is still branded as Bang & Olufsen, not B&o PLAY.
Mark:to support this move on-line we need to see a better and more interactive website from B&O; including videos showing interaction, walk through and technology used.
Didn't we (or at least the few fortunate enough to own a supercomputer) see something like that a few years back - the disaster that was called the Beolounge or something like that?
--mika
tournedos: Mark:to support this move on-line we need to see a better and more interactive website from B&O; including videos showing interaction, walk through and technology used. Didn't we (or at least the few fortunate enough to own a supercomputer) see something like that a few years back - the disaster that was called the Beolounge or something like that?
Ah, the watershed moment when their site went from being horrible to being horrific.
ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: tournedos: Mark:to support this move on-line we need to see a better and more interactive website from B&O; including videos showing interaction, walk through and technology used. Didn't we (or at least the few fortunate enough to own a supercomputer) see something like that a few years back - the disaster that was called the Beolounge or something like that? Ah, the watershed moment when their site went from being horrible to being horrific.
Up early Jeff!
Must have been dreaming about giraffes or the B&O website.
what ever happened to the lounge ?
Mark: what ever happened to the lounge ?
Found the thread on the launch in the archives.
I suspect it was silently put out of its misery once a few months had passed since any visitor had bothered to actually do something beyond clicking on "Back"...
tournedos: Mark: what ever happened to the lounge ? Found the thread on the launch in the archives. I suspect it was silently put out of its misery once a few months had passed since any visitor had bothered to actually do something beyond clicking on "Back"...
[][][][]
Thanks for the link and the laughs! Lots of good folks in that thread.
ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: If you want to be pedantic, reread my post about Abt and then retitle your thread deleting "first" and "ever."
WOW - what a temper!
Would you be so kind to post the adress of the website of this 'Abt'.
If they actually are/were selling the entire Bang & Olufsen collection, I would gladly change the title of the threadt.
ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: Confirmed. The Greenwich store is apparently a women's clothing shop now.
Good job it's not men's clothing. We'd have had Trip's first review by now.
Millemissen: ɓʋɾɑɳɫɘɮ: If you want to be pedantic, reread my post about Abt and then retitle your thread deleting "first" and "ever." WOW - what a temper! Would you be so kind to post the adress of the website of this 'Abt'. If they actually are/were selling the entire Bang & Olufsen collection, I would gladly change the title of the threadt. MM
What does temper have to do with anything?
Diligence, maybe! I have dedicated myself to correcting the internet one post at a time.
Please give the LINKS below time to fully load...
1.) Here is the ABT/B&o PAGE today
2.) Here is what it looked like nearly 5 years ago (remember the deal went back further) -note the "Browse Categories" that used to exist
3.) Here is the LIST view (52 items including BeoVisions)
4.) Here is a BV4 specific search
Now, short of accusing me of photoshopping these, they are courtesy of the "Wayback Machine" that anyone can use to search and find the same.
So, yep, pretty much as I already said. B&o was available for online ordering for years prior to your post.
If you want to change your title -that is your call...