Have a look at this article from business.dk in Denmark.

They have called 15 random dealers in DK and they are reporting rising sales.

Link to article translated to english via google translate.

Link to the original article in danish.

/MikaelB

That's very good news!

Yes, my dealer confirmed that. A lot of customers, who has an Avant, MX or BV3 didn`t want to spend the money for a BV7/9. They bought Panasonics, Samsungs, LGs... Now they are back and want BV8-40. I think for Beo it`s a great TV.

Stefan

The Google translation is quite insane - a year and a half (halvandet) becomes eighteen years of falling sales ...

The BV8 is bringing in customers - and immediately, in an accompanying article, a "consumer expert" warns about the dangers of this. Said expert clearly not having heard about recruiting new customers to the brand being smart.

My dealer also said they'd had an excellent month last month.  The best they'd had in a long time.

the 8-40 is one good looking TV and the HD screen with 100Hz is certainly a good spec to get more ppl back into the brand.

i've seen it being used on a few window displays and it's an added way to attract attention....if only i had the space for it i'd snap one up!

soundproof:

The Google translation is quite insane - a year and a half (halvandet) becomes eighteen years of falling sales ...

Yes I know the translation lacks a lot. But it gives an idea of the contens. Didn't have the time to translate it myself.

/MikaelB

Michael:

My dealer also said they'd had an excellent month last month.  The best they'd had in a long time.

Hold on here. Dealers are sales people. They're very unlikely to say that things are bad for them! My local dealer has said that sales are improving/rising ever since they took over the franchise. Either they are fibbing or they've been on a constant upward curve for nearly two years!

I work for a publishing company and know things are really bad internally. However, if an external person or advertiser phoned up any of our teams and asked how things were, they'd say the same sort of things as these dealers: last monh was our best month for a long time (it wasn't), we're seeing advertisers return (we're not!) and that revenue is holding up strong (it isn't)!

....and in other shock news, turkeys look set to reject Christmas 2009 according to a latest poll.

Well, i can set the record straight in the UK at least..

In the main, dealers are still struggling - and quite a number of dealers are balancing on a knife edge.  Bang & Olufsen have been kind (in many cases too kind) when propping up ailing dealers, and i think Lars Flyvholm and his team have needed to toughen up a bit - and done so.

Some have had record months though - and some are reporting not much change in trade at all. These reports are coming from dealers i know and trust - they don't lie to me, and me to them.

The dealers that are struggling are the ones waiting for someone to do something for them..  By this i mean the dealers that feel they are 'victims' of a recession and do nothing but blame external circumstances.  These are the ones, unless financially strong, that will fall by the wayside along with the ones that have been giving less than satisfactory service during the good times.

The ones that are doing well are the ones that see hard times as an opportunity - the ones that realise now is the time to 'have a deal' with people and pull out all the stops with regards customer service.  These are, without exception, the dealers that will survive (and even prosper) in a recession.  There is still a strong demand for premium products, but the price has to be right or the service has to be exceptional - preferably both.

With regards pre-owned, it's steady.  I am either level with last years figures or up 5-15% on last years monthly totals. Enquiries are down over the last few weeks, but those who are spending are spending big and having a deal.. back to what i said.  My spend on repairing products is up dramatically thanks to the BeoVision 7, and servicing is getting more and more costly as B&O have jacked up the price of spare parts by up to 75% in some cases.  Financially, my profits will be down this year - but i'm paying the overheads, making a living, and i still love what i do. I'm happy!

The future of B&O is in their own hands as a company... Personally, i don't see any 'green shoots' and i haven't had any impressed upon me as i keep hearing pretty disappointing stories - but we'll have to wait and see..  

If software is going to be their 'new technology platform' they had better stop farming it out to incompetents.  I'm saying no more, it may turn into a rant.. 

Lee

A clear, concise and comprehensive overview of the UK situation - thanks Lee.

On the software front, I think it's clear that even traditional "hardware" products now have a very significant software content - the BV7 springs to mind for some reason. As you say, software that works "out of the box" is key to the future success/reputation of the company and it's products - sharpening their pencils in the software department would certainly smooth the new product launches!

Well i just seen the latest bv7-40 blu-ray to be honest it is is slight improvement on the early bv7 ,however i must admit /disregard the price etc....., i was not really impressed with the pictures i watched. The new led tv by samsung also the new sony thin tv (do not know if it was led) the picture was far Superior to me ,i must admit after selling my bv7-32  4 years ago i was really disappointed with the progress b&o achieved by their picture quality ,ok the got the connections sorted  hdmi  but still got lots of hard work to do if they want us to part with out with our  money imho.

With products like the Beosound 5 in its current state they will not bounce back, they will fail ...

Back to their core competence "MADE IN DENMARK" with the expected quality for their components:

- Exterior
- Interior
- Software

The Software seems to be a major issue for actual products and it should achieve the same high quality level as the hardware does! The Beosound 5 controller is great in terms of hardware (the aluminium wheels etc.) but with its current software state it is pure annoyance!

And it's funny to see that more and more people remember the word "quality" during this recession ... "Made in China" is not what people want that are looking for quality and it shines the light at B&O that they're only greedy - and this would be a VERY bad reputation.

So I hope they bounce back with products you simply love to use and to touch after you bought them and that someone in Denmark uses his brain to get them through the future :-)
 

Resonable prices and good products will make B&O grow, not overpriced products such like BV4, BV7 and BV9. 22.000,-€ fore BV9 hello are U stupid!!! I ruther buy a new Mini Cooper for that money!!!

TWG:

With products like the Beosound 5 in its current state they will not bounce back, they will fail ...

When my dealer was here the other day, installing my replacement BV7-40 MKIV, I showed them how easy it was to stream audio from my Mac Mini (hidden) and control via the iPod Touch. Far easier that selecting and controlling Beosound 5 music, from your armchair.

Uh oh! I hope you didn't show him movie loading and playback? Or VNC simulation of the screen of the mini on the Touch?

Or, heavens forbid, the new interface between Apple TV and the 2.4 version of the Remote on the Touch? Because that is quite sweet, almost unbelievably so. Buy movies or music from your armchair, play them; or use the improved YouTube control.

And the intelligent touch and drag sensitive control of playback, scene selection, ff-rew, that would have been considered alien technology just a few years ago.

I'm being a touch mean, but back in 2005 "someone" tried to show B&O top honchos what Apple was up to in providing AV interaction, and suggested that the company should accommodate for cross-platform use. Instead they wanted to do their own thing.
Fortunately, Hvidt-Nielsen has put down the law, and publicly stated that B&O will offer its customers cross platform interaction.

soundproof:

Or VNC simulation of the screen of the mini on the Touch?

Yes, that is quite frankly unbelievable. Being able to access and control a remote PC (or Mac), from your iPod Touch, via WiFi. It really works!