General Forum

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

soundproof — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:52:34 GMT

The analysts, and previous B&O management, have/had it all wrong when it comes to the shops.

The plan was to grow incrementally, relative to the number of new stores added. There was some attrition, but the growth projections were based upon a steady increase in the number of stores.

Several problems with that. First of all, let's be honest. Outside an empty football stadium, B&O stores have been boredom vortices. Simply incredible to have stores supposed to be selling the best sound and image conveniently available, and then not providing for that. Showcase displays of A/V as jewelry doesn't cut it. (I did a large survey of stores in several countries, and have to laugh at the number of times they wanted to show us Hell Freezes Over with The Eagles.)
Rather than adding stores, in order to ensure growth, B&O should have enlivened its existing stores, in order to attract more traffic. The fact that stores are dying off now is a good thing - as long as B&O supports those remaining with engaging content.

The stores should give me reason to pop by at least once a month, in order to find out "what they're up to now." For years, I feel I haven't missed much if I only go inside a store once a year.

B&O could have exponential revenue growth with a smaller base of stores, if they just focused more on switching all that equipment on, and not just have it stand idly by.

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

Puncher — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:53:56 GMT

Peter :

I agree that no electronics are selling well, but musical instruments and sheet music seem to be holding up. Windows was a wonderful shop and I think both they and B&O are poorer for the fact that they no longer are associated.

Peter - where is the new shop?

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

Peter — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:24:40 GMT

I agree that no electronics are selling well, but musical instruments and sheet music seem to be holding up. Windows was a wonderful shop and I think both they and B&O are poorer for the fact that they no longer are associated.

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

Hardwriter — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:24:16 GMT

In the UK, at least, I'm not sure that an independent selling B&O alongside other electronics items would be faring much better today. Many B&O dealers are selling non-B&O products but at the higher end of the market - home automation, etc. In the internet age there's very little money to be made at the Sony and Panasonic end of the market unless you are moving an awful lot of boxes. Maybe B&O could help by opening up options for dealers to sell more affordable "integration" items but only the dealers that know what they are doing are likely to want to go that way.

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

Kokomo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:23:12 GMT

Ah Plumbs! Fond memories as I bought all my stuff over the years from them.

I now live in Spain and what a shock I had when visted Warrington to find that store gone.

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

andy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:13:46 GMT

Peter

Hear Hear, when i was at Plumbs not only did we sell B&O, but Sony, Panasonic, Ferguson ( yes well...) and many others over the years, so we were never tied to just one product. its going to be a tough couple of years for all the dealers

andy

Re: Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

Peter — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:01:18 GMT

I must confess that this makes me wish for the old style store which had other brands and other interests. My old dealer sold Panasonic, Quad, a number of speaker makes as well as records, sheet music and musical instruments. One felt that they loved the brand - there were specialist B&O sales people but that the love of music of all sorts pervaded the store; the presence of a skilled service department only added the cherry to the top of the cake. It also allowed an extra revenue stream during hard times. Interested to see that they are expanding again at present with a second shop opening!

Shop death plagues B&O another google translation.

expoman — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:48:45 GMT

Shop Death plagues B & O

By Vibeke Daele Bjerrum Last Updated wednesday,15April 2009, 20:20

The crisis atmosphere in the Bang & Olufsen offers now resonate completely out of the individual B & O stores to close after another. With the many deaths it will be impossible for B & O to achieve its growth target, analysts predict.

Life as a B & O dealer has been anything but easy the past years. It must be Bang & Olufsen Group truthful, after no less than 38 European B & O shops have had to turn the key on the last three quarters.

Consumers have turned into large scale B & O back, and with the financial crisis took the B & O sales virtually stagnated. It has sent the Struer-based audio and visual group from a massive crisis where earnings rattle down and the stock price has followed suit. And now follows including dealers the same way.

Only the first three months of 2009 has given some 18 deaths of the group known as B1-shops, so dealers who only sell B & O products.Thus, B & O worldwide approximately 780 stores and, according to B & O analyst at investment bank Carnegie, Lars Topholm are many store closures a problem for B & O, which drastically needs for growth.

"It is critical, because basically, their revenue based on two things: what the store sells and how many new stores they open," says analyst and stresses that a large part of the problem is that only the European shops closing.

"It would not be so critical if they were big around the world, but they are still in a situation where the largest proportion of turnover comes from Denmark, Britain and Germany alone, and when you have such a centralized, you really beyond the step, to attract new dealers, "says Lars Topholm.

B & O is not only to suffer death in the shop these days, but the subject was Struer company can store closures have dramatic consequences, says the Carnegie analyst. He expects that B & O will have unusual difficulty in its growth next year, which sounds to the turnover in 2009/10 will land at 3.2 billion dollars against 2.8 billion dollars this year.

"In their turnover included an expectation that the dealers will increase by nearly 15 percent, and I think this is utopian. For three quarters, they said goodbye to almost five percent of their dealers, and that means that the first five percent revenue growth only brings them back to square one. Thus, each retail sales grow 20 percent, and it has never happened before, "says Lars Topholm.