If you're really looking at our competition, it's probably not in electronics. We're the subject of profligate discretionary spending and if that same money isn't spent on us, it's probably going to a MTM suit, a high-end watch, a kitchen remodel, or toward a luxury car. The reality is that few people think of us when looking to replace a TV just like like they don't think of a Rolls Royce Phantom in terms of replacing their current car. It's something you're exposed to, fall in love with, and aspire to purchase.
I've been selling the stuff for some time now and I really never see customers set up the proposition of B&O versus Sony. Doesn't mean they wouldn't buy Sony, but it doesn't seem to be how people structure the proposition. It's more like B&O or nothing. Not literally, but hopefully what I'm saying is clear. It's sort of like when I've bought an expensive watch or a pair of shoes: I'm not really buying a Cartier watch because I need a watch, I'm buying it because I've really fallen in love with that watch and want to buy it.
In terms of an actual company structure, though, I'd say Loewe is the only one I know of. They concentrate on high design, manufacture the entire ecosystem, and are priced at somewhat of a premium. I've often thought of the paucity of high-end, high-design, highly integrated AV as more of a dertriment to us because there is no institutional understanding of what we do. High end audio is usually for gear-heads and the stuff is often ugly and nearly impossible to use, so even if price and performance are similar, the concept couldn't be more distinct.
We understand luxury watches, supercars, etc. because there's a modestly crowded field for these things, but what if every car in the world cost less than $45,000 and then there was a single supercar company that made $250,000+ cars. How would they explain what they were doing and why? That's where we are in a way.
There is scarcely anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey. - John Ruskin