floorstander dilemna

[Messiah]

(Apologies to the original poster as this is still not answering their question!)

But, surely it is better to sell someone 2K worth of kit with some discount or accessory than to have them spend 2K somewhere else??

Where I am I had 2 local dealers. One is part of a well established chain of dealers and all they were ever intereseted in was selling me something (Yes I know it's their job but there was always pressure to sell) and the other was an independant retailer who was always accomodating and always gave us some discount or a good trade in price. Do you know what...I spent literally thousands of pounds there and so did most of the people I recommended him to!

 

[SHAXOS]

I Agree! At the end of the day neither the customer or the salesmen is obliged to buy/sell from/to the other. It is in each parties interest to get the best deal they can (in an honest way - not demoing then buying online). If you dont want to discount to keep a sale then so be it, but dont hold it against the buyer to find a better deal.

 

[Anonymous]

The problem can be people just buy the product that gets the biggest discount or has the best offer, instead of the product that's right for them.

Some manufactures also don't like there products discounted, so they need to be careful not to lose the agency.

 

[Anonymous]

I think its perfectly reasonable to walk away if you're not getting the price you want to pay. If you went in the intention of not buying from there then thats out of order, but asking for a lower price and walking away is fine.

I'm happy to be corrected on this, I'm sure i learnt that with regard to sales its actually the customer making the offer to buy for x price to the seller. The marked price is just an indication of what the seller will accept, so yes the marked price is the ono price, if you;re willing to accept that or not is a different matter.

You'd expect to haggle for a better price on a car new or used so why not hifi? The only reason we don't haggle with food, clothes, cd's etc is because unless you're buying (relatively) expensive items its below the level you'd think twice about (for the item).

 

[JoelSim]

If you are considering buying several components from one place, then there is less work involved for the dealer and a sweetener makes the customer think a bit more of the dealer...hence repeat custom. Why do some people shoot themselves in the foot in a highly competitive marketplace. Even top jewellers allow a bit of bargaining and people are less likelt to buy a diamond over t'internet than even hifi!

Fool!

 

[Anonymous]

JoelSim:
If you are considering buying several components from one place, then there is less work involved for the dealer and a sweetener makes the customer think a bit more of the dealer...hence repeat custom. Why do some people shoot themselves in the foot in a highly competitive marketplace. Even top jewellers allow a bit of bargaining and people are less likelt to buy a diamond over t'internet than even hifi!

Fool!

Or just go to Superfi and take the risk that it sounds good - worked a treat for my speakers!

 

[bigblue235]

I don't think anyone is 'entitled' to a discount automatically. But I do think it is good practice to give one on a large purchase, IF there is scope to do so.

If the place at 2k is selling the goods at the same price as elsewhere, then I'd agree it's bad form not to offer any discount at all. If they were cheaper than their competitors, then I'd agree they should stand firm.

The only thing to be wary of is that people seem to think that the more you spend, the more your discount should be, and that doesn't always work as some products have much higher margins than others. We stocked a £999 product that we only made £100 or so, but also stocked a £299 product that we made £130 on.

I've had someone refuse to buy products from me at £1800 when I had tried to offer him the best cash price, leaving (genuinely) no room for freebies. He demanded a £50 freebie, but I couldn't. He went to another local store instead, as they gave him that £50 freebie, as he said it was the 'gesture' that counted. But he paid £1900 for the same goods

Can't win sometimes, even when you try your best!

 

[Anonymous]

bigblue235:I've had someone refuse to buy products from me at £1800 when I had tried to offer him the best cash price, leaving (genuinely) no room for freebies. He demanded a £50 freebie, but I couldn't. He went to another local store instead, as they gave him that £50 freebie, as he said it was the 'gesture' that counted. But he paid £1900 for the same goods

Can't win sometimes, even when you try your best! Now that guy's just an idiot.

 

[bigblue235]

Yeah, he did seem a little sheepish on his subsequent visits. I think he just got too carried away with haggling, and all he could think of was that he wasn't stoppng until he got the specific freebie!

It went the other way from time to time too though. Sometimes we'd ask someone what discount they expected, and they'd be too embarrassed to ask for much, so we'd get an easy deal. We'd usually throw something else in though, the 'nice guy bonus' as we called it!

Funny things like that happen sometimes. I always made a point of giving cash discount, it was only fair as we didn't have to pay the CC company commission. But some folk took offense at that, so we stopped it. Bizarrely, people used to feel as if we were being condescending to them because they didn't have a credit card.

As I said, you can only try your best. You can please some of the people some of the time...