Get your Naim & Focal now - huge discounts...

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, blybo said:

Chosen whether to be a retailer or distributor, not both. If both, make pricing so that other retailers were also able to make feasible margins so everybody wins. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the wholesale prices of Naim and Focal in Oz made it increasingly unattractive for independent retailers to compete with A2A's retail prices.

Sadly, this is nothing new. It's happening in every industry. 99 bikes, owned by one of the largest distributors of bike products. My LBS can no longer compete and often gets met with "no stock available", yet 99 bikes is fully stocked. I have another friend that works in the Adult Toy business, same again. The biggest importer now owns the largest chain of retail stores. Bye bye small independent stores. It's not right, and I don't like it, but it's not illegal.

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, metal beat said:

  I wish Wilson speakers were 40% off  LOL.   But Wilson would not allow that to happen with any global distributor.

 

They're also decent human beings with realistic expectations, and are big on relationships and loyalty (in my experience)- not answering to large conglomorates and corporations, shareholders, dividends and all that. That is the major difference here.

[blybo]

8 minutes ago, Marc said:

 

Interestingly, that's not entirely true. We have seen more recently that some brands will absolutely dictate what you must buy, and how many of each, and how often. They might even just ship that to you and then expect payment. Some might think this process may have even had something to do with the end of a distribution relationship. Purely speculation on my part, of course.

Wow, I can understand requiring certain volumes being met, but that seems a bit rich, as distributors will know their own market better than the parent does. Usually there would be negotiation about such things.

 

It seems both parties may have been partially at fault, as I said initially. My personal experience with A2A leads me to believe they were more than happy to undercut their own retail network, and probably why you can't buy Focal at up to 8 Melbourne retailers I know used to stock the brand. This naturally must effect total volumes sold nationally and frustration by brand headquarters that the distributor is no longer really distributing the brand, just retailing it almost exclusively.

Edited September 5, 2023 by blybo

[Guest]

1 minute ago, blybo said:

Wow, I can understand requiring certain volumes being met, but that seems a bit rich, as distributors will know their own market better than the parent does.

 

 

The times are changing as many of these brands get swallowed up by the big corporations I mention above. Once upon a time as a manufacturer you were honoured that someone would want to represent your brand in their region. Now, it's dog-eat-dog, and in some cases I've even heard of "bidding" in order to get the rights to a brand. None of this happens with your small boutique brands of course. But when you see these mergers and growing corporations within our industry, and at least in my time, nothing good comes from it.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, blybo said:

It seems both parties may have been partially at fault, as I said initially, however my personal experience with A2A leads me to believe they were more than happy to undercut their own retail distribution network, and probably why you can't buy Focal at up to 8 Melbourne retailers I know used to stock the brand.

 

At the end of the day none of us know the truth, and what discussions took place behind closed doors. Some of us have heard more and have a better understanding of a lot of it, but it's not for a public, consumer facing forum.

 

While Busisoft may have some form here, we don't know if stock was first offered to dealers, and what options were available, and are all just making assumptions. Best for consumers just to snap it up while they can, as they are the only winners here. And we just move on.

[blybo]

Just now, Marc said:

 

At the end of the day none of us know the truth, and what discussions took place behind closed doors. Some of us have heard more and have a better understanding of a lot of it, but it's not for a public, consumer facing forum.

 

While Busisoft may have some form here, we don't know if stock was first offered to dealers, and what options were available, and are all just making assumptions. Best for consumers just to snap it up while they can, as they are the only winners here. And we just move on.

Sad but true.

[Rockford]

I wonder what will happen with all the gear they don't sell? I can't imagine the market for Focal Grand Utopia's is very large. So they will be sitting at basically half price until someone buys them? Meanwhile the new distributor will just have to wait until x + 1 customer comes along once A2A have sold all their x number of stock, but would quite rightly(?) expect the same price. So until the new model is released in every product line, they won't be shifting too much I dare say. 

 

So 3 years down the track those Grand Utopias are still gathering dust somewhere, they start just doing a reverse auction on them or something?

[metal beat]

21 minutes ago, Rockford said:

I wonder what will happen with all the gear they don't sell? I can't imagine the market for Focal Grand Utopia's is very large. So they will be sitting at basically half price until someone buys them? Meanwhile the new distributor will just have to wait until x + 1 customer comes along once A2A have sold all their x number of stock, but would quite rightly(?) expect the same price. So until the new model is released in every product line, they won't be shifting too much I dare say. 

 

So 3 years down the track those Grand Utopias are still gathering dust somewhere, they start just doing a reverse auction on them or something?

 

Good to see someone getting it.

 

The Grande Utopia EVO EM line was released in 2017.   It will be no surprise if Focal come out with an updated Utopia range sooner than later.

 

   Perhaps more can understand why A2A are trying their best to now sell at seemingly excellent prices and rid themselves of inventory of a brand they no longer distribute.   It may be the difference of whether they stay in business or not.

[metal beat]

2 hours ago, Marc said:

 

@metal beat if the distributor also owns the retail stores, isn't that selling direct? Some manage this better than others, but no matter how you play with the accounting, a distributor also selling their brand at retail level simply has more margin to play with, period. So you might claim they weren't selling direct, but is that entirely accurate?

 

Your example of another "distributor" is one that is more considered a "wholetailer" in this industry. They have a tiny almost non-existent dealer network and openly sell direct. Usually, the price they sell at (retail, if you like) is what dealers would have bought it for had it been distributed and represented by another "distributor" in Australia. This also makes it near impossible for other distributors to represent the same brand when a change comes, and as you suggest, is what stops retailers even wanting to access and stock those brands.

 

A wholetailer, not a distributor. 

 

 First I have heard of that term  

[PKay]

I just hope that some of the retailers aren't carrying too much stock.  Len Wallis and Audio Genesis are two that come to mind.

 

It is great for the consumers but no other winners here.

[betty boop]

1 hour ago, PKay said:

just hope that some of the retailers aren't carrying too much stock.  Len Wallis and Audio Genesis are two that come to mind.

Like most other retailers Len Wallis no longer sell the focal brand …

[Neo]

And looks like Naim a well as there is no more stock and what’s left is being cleared at ridiculous prices by the distributor. 

11 minutes ago, betty boop said:

Like most other retailers Len Wallis no longer sell the focal brand …

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Neo

[Neo]

12 minutes ago, betty boop said:

Like most other retailers Len Wallis no longer sell the focal brand …

They used to big with focal as a brand in their store, with grand utopia in their reference room with various components to drive them from the likes of Krell, Naim to Naim the few. 
Neo

[PKay]

34 minutes ago, betty boop said:

Like most other retailers Len Wallis no longer sell the focal brand …

They have Naim on their website 

[Neo]

Yes that is true but not all item can be bought as they have only so much stock and to order more I suspect it will cost them more to buy from the distributor and then be obliged to match the A2A prices. 
Neo

[metal beat]

2 hours ago, PKay said:

I just hope that some of the retailers aren't carrying too much stock.  Len Wallis and Audio Genesis are two that come to mind.

 

It is great for the consumers but no other winners here.

 

Len Wallis seem to be selling their NAC 282 and XPS DR display stk and very similar prices to A2A.  seems they don't have any other stk I guess

[PKay]

16 minutes ago, metal beat said:

 

Len Wallis seem to be selling their NAC 282 and XPS DR display stk and very similar prices to A2A.  seems they don't have any other stk I guess

Hopefully they aren’t carrying all the stock

 

https://lenwallisaudio.com/brand/naim/

 

[klm]

36 minutes ago, Neo said:

They used to big with focal as a brand in their store, with grand utopia in their reference room with various components to drive them from the likes of Krell, Naim to Naim the few. 
Neo

Len’s importing and distributor business, Audio Marketing, used to be the Focal distribution agent and when they lost the agency to Busisoft, they didn’t trash the brand. They have a very different mindset hence why they were able to pick up Triangle speakers and Revival Audio, both French brands. What Busisoft is doing now is every manufacturers worst nightmare and will take a long time to play out for all parties involved.

[Neo]

8 minutes ago, PKay said:

Hopefully they aren’t carrying all the stock

Wouldn’t surprise me if what they have on their website advertised, which is not the whole portfolio of Naim, is all that they have. 

[Hydrology]

6 hours ago, blybo said:

 

I'm not sure why you would say this. We have no idea what has brought this relationship to a bitter end, but I do know 1 simple thing. If I was a large multinational brand (or suite of brands in this case) I wouldn't want my distributor to be selling direct. This would make any other retailers hesitant to stock the brands and hence effecting overall sales volumes.

 

I have noticed over the years that Busisoft have had distribution rights to certain brands which increasingly were only available through their own retail channels. Going back 5 or 6 years ago most independent hifi retailers in Melbourne would have stocked both Naim and Focal with pride... now they don't. Is that the fault of the parent company or the local distributor?

 

It was already mentioned by @Marc earlier in the thread I believe, but not enough manufacturers do their diligence when seeking out a distributor or change of distributor in this market. They make assumptions that the market works the same here as everywhere else. A2A have a reputation and that reputation makes other retailers reluctant to offer product that they distribute. Plenty of distributors in Australia, despite being each other's competition, actually do get along. If I was a manufacturer I would have to seriously sit down and cram the numbers to see if a distribution change to a singular wholetailer nets a greater return than all of the other specialty dealers throughout the land.
And what about relationships, remember them!?

[rantan]

17 minutes ago, klm said:

Len’s importing and distributor business, Audio Marketing, used to be the Focal distribution agent and when they lost the agency to Busisoft, they didn’t trash the brand. They have a very different mindset hence why they were able to pick up Triangle speakers and Revival Audio, both French brands. What Busisoft is doing now is every manufacturers worst nightmare and will take a long time to play out for all parties involved.

 

That is because Len Wallis is actually a professional with great business ethics and a great model for a distributor ,unlike Busisoft who are not even in the same league.

[Neo]

Busisoft about to do it all over again with Cambridge Audio it would seem. 
Neo

[PKay]

24 minutes ago, Neo said:

Wouldn’t surprise me if what they have on their website advertised, which is not the whole portfolio of Naim, is all that they have. 

There is more. 

[Hydrology]

3 minutes ago, Neo said:

Busisoft about to do it all over again with Cambridge Audio it would seem. 
Neo

 

Most likely a lot of current Cambridge dealers will be stepping away from the brand because of this decision.

[Neo]

3 minutes ago, Hydrology said:

 

Most likely a lot of current Cambridge dealers will be stepping away from the brand because of this decision.

Hope the ink hasn’t dried yet 

oh wait it’s still too late. 
Neo

Edited September 5, 2023 by Neo