Dear manufacturers: “Please contact your dealer for pricing”

[miner]

If it can be posted in audio mags why not post it for all eyes to see on a website?

[80B]

JWJW, hard to believe they're in business with a customer interaction like that. Sad to see with a product line that itself has a great reputation.

[FreddieFerric]

Amen OP.

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by JWJW

Your ad worked. I’m interested....
Every once and a while I’ll come across a new audio product that peaks my interest. One thing that is a complete turn off is when I reach out to a manufacturer about pricing on a new product and they respond “please contact your local dealer.”
SO frustrating to have to chase down simple information. I make it a point now not to even bother with that product/manufacturer. If a manufacturer can’t even share the MSRP of a new product, that’s a huge red flag. Information is power (it’s called the internet). The irony, IF they simply shared the MSRP up front, and the product fits my budget, I would THEN reach out to an authorized dealer to have a listen and eventually purchase. Oh, so you want me to waste my time calling around town to eventually find out I couldn’t afford your product anyways? Not to name names, but the two most recent experiences were PMC and Eggleston. No thanks...I’ll pass. As a manufacturer, if you think you are “driving business” to your brick and mortar dealers, you are wrong....you are just frustrating your potential customer.

Is it just me??? Or is this super frustrating?!? Sorry for the rant....

As a manufacturer, we have a US MSRP. Since distributors and international dealers around the world have differing local expenses - duties, taxes, freight etc. - the MSRP in each country will vary by those unique costs.

As a manufacturer, we're happy to tell you the US MSRP when you ask. But to get an accurate MSRP outside the US, we will refer you to the distributor or international dealer in your country.

[SCAudiophile]

All audio manufacturers should post updated and current prices for each country/region for all their products on their website,...single source of truth as it were.

This would elimate stale or misleading price issues all at once.

Keep the price list updated, with participation from country distributors as necessary.

[joel_hifi]

I’m not in the trade so this would be my outsider’s 2 cts view on how manufacturers are approaching marketing/sales channels.

On the one hand the traditional way whereby they have a network of distributors and retailers who can demo units at their showroom (when they are stocked) and sell them at MSRP with zero to some discount.

On the other hand the direct marketing channel which has been adopted by some established but rather niche manufacturers and now more aggressively by the younger generation also reaching out to YouTubers reviewers/influencers (often resulting in hyped products).

The traditional way being a longer chain you pay more for the gear BUT you get many advantages in return: pro advice, ability to audition, (sometimes even at home), possibility to trade in, sometimes assistance with setting up at home. The trade off is that you don’t necessarily get full transparency on pricing.

The direct marketing by definition allows for more aggressive pricing and dictates full transparency which is great for the consumer BUT you don’t get most if any of the benefits of going through the distributor/retailer traditional channel.

In the end the 2 channels should co-exist, with direct marketing probably taking the bigger share of the business for the lower/mid priced tier of the market (also allowing younger audiophiles more budget conscious and social network sensitive to immerse into our the hobby) and the traditional marketing retaining the upper mid/high end tier of the market (can hardly think of someone buying 100k$ speakers without wanting to audition them first).

[SAM992]

100% Agree.... put the MSRP on the website and let the dealer discount (or mark up) as he sees fit...

[bart]

Most import companies here post lists of retail prices of their lines on their website.
And that is totally okay for me.

I can imagine that a manufacturer has other fish to fry than always be looking at retail prices in sometimes more than 100 countries.
I prefer that they invest in product quality rather than in a website with price lists of their products in all those countries.

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by SCAudiophile

All audio manufacturers should post updated and current prices for each country/region for all their products on their website,...single source of truth as it were.

This would eliminate stale or misleading price issues all at once.

Keep the price list updated, with participation from country distributors as necessary.

While an interesting idea, I'm not sure what listing prices in 50+ countries does for a person who will be buying a speaker in only one of those 50+ countries.

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by bart

Most import companies here post lists of retail prices of their lines on their website.
And that is totally okay for me.

I can imagine that a manufacturer has other fish to fry than always be looking at retail prices in sometimes more than 100 countries.
I prefer that they invest in product quality rather than in a website with price lists of their products in all those countries.