IDEAS !

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Crystal ball gazing, who is into it. If you look at our hobby in 10 years will it be the same, how will it be managed and supplied. Lots of changes (and lots of same old, just less of it) in the last 10 years, does it just carry on changing in the same ways.

"The hobby" will be amoungst us - the forums, as the slurpers can't make money from people with knowledge. As "The Industry" they need ignorance and over valued property, which is what the current daft prices for the remains of the traditional industry are feeding on. I presume this will run out in time as too many companies chase an ever decreasing number of victims.

Direct sales as the norm - maybe
loan schemes as the norm - maybe
Professional selling forums - maybe
Second hand as the major source of product - for certain

[Neilwootton]

Agreed on the second hand market being a primary source. I think retailers only have themselves to blame, I simply will not visit them any more, I always come away thinking I'd have had more luck asking them for 5 litres of crown emulsion.

[jammy395]

Neil the emulsions probably fine.....its the.......
Thiners
Rollrers
Paint brushes
Scrapers
Masking tape
etc etc etc......
The bastards insist you will need to purchase, before it comes on song, I dont like......Bunch of cnuts.

[jammy395]

Doc, I have a cracking Idea.....

Unfortunately its such a brilliant idea, I couldnt possibly share it, unless you make me an equal partner in your business.

PM me if you are intrested.....It will make you a Billionaire within a fortnight.

Stonewall Jammy guarantee

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Are you a Nigerian Prince in disguise Jammy

[Lindsayt]

A proportion of the regular posters on various hi-fi forums will have passed away.

And a proportion of the designers that have been around for a long time will have retired or passed away.

[SteveTheShadow]

One word.

Artisans.

[terrybooth]

Stonewall Jammy guarantee

I take it not in the spirit of Stonewall http://www.stonewall.org.uk/

As in the Stonewall riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

Perhaps a sailing metaphor, like 'Copper Bottomed' would be better suited?

Slippery things, words, eh?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

This is what I suggested to Peter Sowerby (BTW it seems I referred to him as working for the owners, he corrected me, it seems he is one of the partners in the forum).

The industry in its traditional sense is dying, it is reverting to its origins as enthusiasts and hobbyists and is no longer a main stream industry. Retailers are closing, there are half of those we had 10 years ago. The remaining ones and the remaining companies that supply that are hiking up their margins to ridiculous levels to compensate, which is accelerating the demise.

So what replaces it, well the answer is on-line and direct selling, so far eBay has functioned as the main vehicle for this but it has its problems and it doesn't do the job well. So what is the alternative, for me it is the forums, which are the obvious home for both the enthusiast and those that wish to supply them. Problem most of them are amateur chat boxes where conflict has driven a lot of possible members away. So we need a professionally run forum with the motivation to see the opportunities, which is why I was so interested in what you are doing as it seems to be going in this direction, or potentially could do the job. At the moment your trade members are largely the retailers who are dying, or those working from home trying to keep overheads at a minimum, so you are promoting to the senile and dying. IMO you need to promote yourself as an alternative to the dealers by offering manufacturers a package that gives an incentive to direct sell. How this is set up whether on commission or on annual fee is obviously open as are details of managing and organising, it is concept I am talking about. The manufacture can pocket the retailer margin or use it to promote sales, he suddenly has price wiggle room.

Direct selling has one large draw back compared with retail and that is no demonstrations. OK you can give a sale or return and by law with distant selling you have to, but the customer still has to cough up to try. The system I came up with was a controlled system of equipment loans within a forums membership. I have trialed it on two smaller forums and it works, but it really winds up the retailers, obviously, who are scared stiff of it. It needs to be rolled out not by one small manufacturer on a small forum but as a business offer on a large forum to many manufacturers where momentum and acceptance can happen.

Part of reply

Unfortunately your assumptions as to the way the trade is going and what we are doing with HiFi Wigwam is miles apart from what I have in mind.

So that was a non starter anyway. Pity as I see it as a missed opportunity to see the obvious, and to support the slurping retailers is a journey into the past.

The only other current UK forum with the membership clout to try it is PFM, but there is as much chance of that as me growing wings

I think probably what is needed is one of the hi-fi retail groups to recognise their time has gone and there is little left apart from slow death to set it up as an online retail opportunity with a forum attached. Well Chester Group tried my idea that ended up as the Scalford Show from me talking about it so maybe someone with clout in the industry and capable of lateral thought is reading this.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

The other idea I remember discussing and thinking about a couple of years ago was to make all you satisfied users into sellers / promoters by showing your systems to friends and other interested people from forums and receiving a commission for any sales made. Interesting, but would it be good idea to introduce a commercial motive into your user base not sure that would be good, but I am interested in any opinions.

It would again have to be based on a website or forum and not restricted to one manufacturer, as most systems contain product from different suppliers.