Would you pay for a demo

[paulselwood]

Would you pay for a demo, and if yes. How much ?

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Pay to listen to a system you may not buy?

In a shop?

No!

 

[tonky]

I've paid in full for demo equipment equipment. Had them at home for a week or so. When returned the money is credited back in my account. That sort of arrangement works ok.

tonky

 

[Al ears]

So you bought some equipment with the understanding that you would get a full refund if you took it back within a certain time period.

Well thsat is, indeed, one way of getting a very-rare-these-days home demo but only one that implies you have to buy everything from the same dealer.

Not a route I would go down to be honest, but whatever works for you.....

 

[Gazzip]

No.

You pay for your demo in your dealer's 40% margin.

 

[davedotco]

I've paid in full for demo equipment equipment. Had them at home for a week or so. When returned the money is credited back in my account. That sort of arrangement works ok.

tonky

But costs the dealer a transaction fee both ways.

Running a proper 'bricks and morter' dealership is expensive. A lot of people seem disinclined to pay for the facilities.

 

[tonky]

I wouldn't know how much the transaction fee is. A set sum or percentage? It might be worth paying this fee but in all cases it was offered to me . It cost me time and petrol for transport etc. Quite sizable for some ATZ speakers I had to transport a fair distance (Not appreciable better than my Epos es14 speakers to do the deal).

I have purchased from 2 separate dealers on this basis so it has benefited them also. Thank you richer sounds and Cymbiosis.

tonky

 

[Vladimir]

I would pay for an hour long session in a B&M store with time scheduling (reservations). No more than 20 eur for my location, but in the UK I would go up to 50 quid. I expect to get a dedicated employee, 60min to demo gear with no one else cueing and to leave with a goodie bag full of brochures and a coupon for some free B&W/KEF/Linn music download and such.

 

[Gazzip]

I've paid in full for demo equipment equipment. Had them at home for a week or so. When returned the money is credited back in my account. That sort of arrangement works ok.

tonky

But costs the dealer a transaction fee both ways.

Running a proper 'bricks and morter' dealership is expensive. A lot of people seem disinclined to pay for the facilities.

Yes, but for every person who can be bothered to demo there are twenty that will buy kit without listening to it properly. As a small business owner myself I am not trying to suggest that it is easy, but the frankly obscene mark up that dealers make on Hifi equipment does not exactly instil me with any sympathy for their £2.50 loss each way on credit card fees.

 

[Vladimir]

No.

You pay for your demo in your dealer's 40% margin.

That 40% covers both my employee time and facilities costs, as well as all tire kickers I wait in cue with. I'd rather have those gone and pay for my time and get quality service from trained staff. Even if I demo and buy cheaper online, I contributed to keep my local B&M working.

40% also covers lots of overhead costs as well as discounts, clearance between model transitions, ex demo open box units etc. Interestingly it also covers waranty claims logistics on behalf of the manufacturer. So lots goes in those 40%.

 

[Covenanter]

No! They want to sell the stuff. They pay for the marketing.

Chris

 

[Covenanter]

No! They want to sell the stuff. They pay for the marketing.

Chris

 

[Frank Harvey]

Yes, but for every person who can be bothered to demo there are twenty that will buy kit without listening to it properly. As a small business owner myself I am not trying to suggest that it is easy, but the frankly obscene mark up that dealers make on Hifi equipment does not exactly instil me with any sympathy for their £2.50 loss each way on credit card fees.

Obscene?!! "Obscene mark up" is associated with clothing (£80 for a designer t-shirt?!), jewellery, and furniture (get your sofa half price? Double discount? And with 5 years interest free credit (paid for by the store, and they still make a fat profit!)?. Hell, even pound shops make more profit than hi-fi retailers! If we were working on obscene profit margins, there'd be more dealers around, they'd all have a wider range of stock (with more products in stock ready to go), there'd be better trained staff, and stores would be purpose built with perfect sounding demo rooms. As it stands, most can't even afford to run a store in a city centre any more.

 

[Waxy]

Or to test-ride a bicycle! You may have to leave a deposit of some sort, but surely retailers should build allowances into their margins for such things?

 

[iQ Speakers]

I guess the people who think 40% (I would guess it's higher than this) is obscene don't run there own business? I run a 50 car showroom I have to sell 27-30 cars a month before making a profit. Just me and my partner, no fancy coffee machines, or tiled floors. Just good honest cars and looking after people well when something goes wrong in warranty. Can you imagine the amount of time demos consume in a Hifi shop? Rent 60k for a smallish shop, 35k rates etc do the maths. Yes I think paying for demos would be an excellent idea, I even toyed with the idea of opening a dedicated demo facility holding multi brands and older equipment. Rent facility by the hour.

 

[tonky]

Do you charge for them? Would your customers buy without a test drive?

tonky

 

[iQ Speakers]

EDIT no different see below

would say when people test drive a car they are pretty much set on the particular car, so much higher conversation ratio. Also main dealers get most if there cash in bonuses for customer service site neatness they are basically an extension of the manufacture.

 

[fr0g]

Absolutely no way. Not a hope.

But to counter that, I am a good customer. I wouldn't go into a shop that provided assitance and demo facilities, then order the same stuff off the internet.

Bought 3 pairs of headphones from a local pro-shop recently even though I know they were 10% cheaper online.

I agree with David too, the profit in Hi-fi (equipment at least) is not obscene. Smartphones, especially of the fruity variety...yes, brand name clothes, jewelry.

I used to work for a software company doing retail software, so for all our customers I could see the cost and sell price for any item I wanted

High street jewelry is a huge rip-off...That £2000 engagement ring you fancy...Try a cost of around a quarter to a third of that.

You find a sale at a high street sports shop...40% off name brand trainers...They are still making a huge profit!

 

[Gazzip]

Sorry to have caused offence. I sell professional services, not goods, and judging from the responses on here to my comments from people who do sell real stuff I am way off the mark. Obscene was not a fair word to have used at all in relation to that profit margin. Soz.

I do however think that charging for demos would be an own goal. We have tried charging for our initial consultations, which I guess you could call a demo of sorts, and it put most customers right off. However quite often when we have given our initial advice for free (we are architects) those clients will take it, not appoint us, take our ideas to a builder and ask them to draw plans of what we had just discussed. We just have to suck it up and put the cost of that time on to the fees we charge for projects that do progress.

Charging for demos would not work in my opinion.

 

[fr0g]

Sorry to have caused offence. I sell professional services, not goods, and judging from the responses on here to my comments from people who do sell real stuff I am way off the mark. Obscene was not a fair word to have used at all in relation to that profit margin. Soz.

I do however think that charging for demos would be an own goal. We have tried charging for our initial consultations, which I guess you could call a demo of sorts, and it put most customers right off. However quite often when we have given our initial advice for free (we are architects) those clients will take it, not appoint us, take our ideas to a builder and ask them to draw plans of what we had just discussed. We just have to suck it up and put the cost of that time on to the fees we charge for projects that do progress.

Charging for demos would not work in my opinion.

To be honest, I would imagine it depends on the service. I could quite easily imagine an architect charging for his/her time. Soliciters do it. I guess it would need some sort of solidarity within the service mind you. It isn't off-putting if it's across the board.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Whilst charging for demos would sort the "wheat from the chaff", I don't think it's the way forward. Faces and names are usually easy to remember, so there's only so many times any one individual can waste your time. With a fairly small number of retailers around, spreading the 'time wasting' eventually gets tough.While most dealers are usually at each other's throats, they do talk when absolutely necessary...

It's not as bad as it used to be though, as customers are beginning to realise that in-store prices can be as good as web prices. At the end of the day though, it is the customer that shapes the future of hi-fi retailing.

 

[spiny norman]

Would you pay for a demo, and if yes. How much ?

Looks like the going rate is £12 on the door, or £10 if bought in advance.

Anyone else find it a bit bizarre to have to pay to go into a show and be sold at?

 

[TrevC]

I've never had a demo. I did return some speakers I didn't like once.

 

[SteveR750]

I'd be prepared to pay for the hassle of a home demo. You could set up an online only retail operation, with a range of demo kit that you ship out for 14 days on a sale or return basis, plus a demo fee so that you're time and effort is not wasted. Whether it's the full sales price, or partial is soemthing to consider, but would certainly discourage tyre kickers. I'm pretty sure most people are more likely to buy once the unit is in your own home. the demo fee could be refunded if the purchase goes ahead. This way the customer gets to demo whatever they want in their own home without having to drive for miles and use someones elses room and other kit; the retailer doesn't lose out to demo room time wasters, or those that find a better deal elsewhere, and might make more sales as half of the sale process has been completed. There's no reason why a bricks and mortar operation couldn't run this in parallel, as music is a bit of a social interaction and there are plenty of "reliable" customers who like to drop in and listen to the latest thing who could buy at some point in the future.

 

[steve_1979]

It's a business and they have overheads to cover. I'd be happy to pay for good service within reason. £5 per hour seems reasonable.