Want to know a typical audio equipment sales margin? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin. W]

I just picked up a Rotel RMB-1095 4 weeks ago for $1500CDN. Its retail is $3000CDN. The salesman who I've dealt with through all my HT purchase told me I got it for 18% below cost(~$1700CDN).

Kevin

 

[RickMac]

Hi all,
Seems like people are interested in other retail business' margins. I worked in sporting goods for years and margins vary according to the type of product you're selling.

Clothing and shoes, at full price, are usually a 50% (keystone) markup. Accessories for bikes, skiing, etc. can be up to 60%. Tennis racquets, skis, bikes and other "hardgoods" can vary from as low as 25% (high-end product) up to 50% (lower-end package stuff) if you're in a big buying consortium and benefiting from numbers. It stands to reason, like audio cables, that you make a lot of your money on clothing and accessories. Add-on sales like helmets, gloves, clothing, goggles, etc. are what keep higher-end sporting stores going. It's not the bikes and skis, necessarily. Like someone said, you don't see those $3000.00 racing bikes flying out of the store, but you can sell the crap out of tools, tires, shorts, lights, and helmets.

Overall, the reported margins in audio aren't at all surprising to me.

Later,
RickMac

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Lee - perhaps you could help me on a issue I have been trying to research.


Back in the 80' I setup a automated-CD burning system for my company. At that time, each blank CD cost $13 each (yes, that's per-disk). In calling around to find a better price, I learned that there was a special tax on blank media. Almost a full $1 of that price went to the recording industry. They went to Congress and claimed that blank CD's would allow piracy. To offset this, a special tax was created that went to the recording industry to compensate them.

Does that special tax still exist on blank media?

 

[KeithH]

It is absolutely impossible for interaction between Lee and John to be anything but adversarial.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Bob- The tax still exists, on music CD-R's and CD-RW's. If you use computer blanks (which will work in professional machines), no tax.

Same thing for DAT's.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

To offset this, a special tax was created that went to the recording industry to compensate them.

I do believe it still exists. Has not stopped the copying though. I wonder about the fairness of special industry taxes - it honestly seems un-American to me.

As someone said in a Rolling Stone article recently, technology will always be faster than lawyers.

The recording industry is run by a bunch of duufuses...they need to embrace the technology change and offer things like Apple is doing so they can benefit. They could also try to protect their content by going to hirez (which will eventually be broken but maybe not for some time).

Look, they brought this on themselves by not offering a fairly priced content-oriented product.

Oops, I guess this is another thread...

 

[TomH]

Just pay your tax and margin. I know we all would hate to see Britney give up the $7000.00 a night hotel rooms!

 

[Nathan_R]

technology will always be faster than lawyers.

I read that quote in an AJC article last weekend and loved it!


Best regards,
~~Nathan

 

[Asim]

what i'd like to know is how they can dare charge $4.99 for a 10pack of carnation instant breakfast (used to be $2.99 cpl yrs ago) or $6.99 for a box of Cinammon toast crunch????

why does everyone just not get up and say NO? let's start first with RIAA.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Supply and demand. Companies typically charge what the market will bear.

 

[Chu Gai]

which is why those little articles in Consumer Reports are so interesting when they tell you that Company X has reduced the size of their product from 3.2 to 2.9 oz and kept the price the same. Now what's all this crap about ice cream going from 1/2 gallon to 1 3/4 quarts? and when are we gonna see coffee back in 1 pound cans?