Hi

He is not completely wrong. The stores are really old fashioned and most of them are waiting that the customer makes all the stuff (lack of dynamism, of information, of skills).

Whatever the product you have to sell, if your salesforce is weak you are dead.

For sure, Bang & Olufsen should more concentrate on the salesforce technic as the design of stores which look nice.

Apple stores are hardly the epitome of technology, with row after row of wooden tables.

Having desirable up to date goods, festooned upon them is what drives people into shop. Their staff are very well trained and are knowledgeable, but no more so than most B&O stores I visit(Harrods excluded)

When I was in retail we had some excellent point of sale material. Empty a box of newly arrived goods into a basket, and people were around it like flies.

Just throwing money at the stores cosmetic appearance or yet another glossy mag which may never seen by the general public, is just shuffling the deck chairs.

Killer desirable products, that are up to date and regularly updated whilst being a little more affordable, is not only the future but somewhat the past isn't it?

BeoBoy68 wrote:

For sure, Bang & Olufsen should more concentrate on the salesforce technic as the design of stores which look nice.

No need to embolden text to emphasise an entire sentence.

I don't think the stores are as dated as people are making out. Bath's Sony Centre store is hardly revolutionary. The highly-popular independent store Moss of Bath is arguably as bland as the local B&O store. Indeed, the local B&O store has more attractive window displays.

The reason sales are poor/dropping is more to do with the general (increasing pricing) and the fact the likes of Stuff magazine adds a jibe about pricing every time they feature a B&O product in their news section! That doesn't help - it just reinforces the fact B&O's pricing is luxurious and is likely to put up a barrier for potential customers to venture in to the store.

“It is necessary to get something done with stores now. At the moment it’s almost like stepping into a museum when the consumer goes into a B&O store and it would does definitely something for sales. So if B&O’s new product launches are going to be truly maximised, it is of paramount importance that they are presented in the right environment “says Søren Løntoft Hansen."

- is another quote from the article.

Of cource we need all three things:

1: New products

2: New - not museal - environments for these

3:  A technical skilled and enthusiastic personal in the shops.

For some people and for some products the priority (of 2 and 3) may vary - but we surely need all three components.

And it might be wise of B&O to think about how the 'BeoStores' could 'be helped' to speed up the process of modernizing the shops.

The question is 'how to help'? This might be very different for different stores in different locations.

The need for such individual solutions could be the reson for the 'vague anwer' from the CEO to this question.

The new (and coming) products in old-fashioned stores won't increase sales, so it has to be done quick.

Greetings Millemissen

Millemissen wrote:

The need for such individual solutions could be the reson for the 'vague anwer' from the CEO to this question.

According to what Moxxey told about UK stores, the situation is absolutely not the case in France.They are often too small and the products are displayed in a inappropriate way for a good listening.

And I am always very disappointed when I discover how their knowledge about the actual and past goods are poor.

In 1996 the stores in the US featured peach colored walls,  cherry wood product displays. and old lady art prints on the wall.  It was not the store that drove a dramatic increase in sales that year.  It was the launch of a single product that people lined up to purchase.  The Beosound 9000.  

 The product is always the hero!    The Apple stores work because when you walk in the doors all you see are the products.  The store is the background.  Apple uses dramatic architecture for the outside to act as the carrot that pulls you into the shop to do what?  To buy the products inside that are simply displayed and easy to interact with.  

I have seen many award winning retail store designs all go out of business because they made the store more important than the product.  

What was the last B&O product you saw customers lined up to purchase.  I think it was the Beocom 6000 in the US?  That was 1999.  

Tonker wrote:

Apple stores are hardly the epitome of technology, with row after row of wooden tables.

Having desirable up to date goods, festooned upon them is what drives people into shop. Their staff are very well trained and m knowledgeable, but no more so than most B&O stores I visit(Harrods excluded)

When I was in retail we had for the time so excellent point of sale material. Empty a box of newly arrived goods into a basket and people were around it like flies.

Just throwing money at the stores cosmetic appearance or yet another glossy mag which may never seen by the general public, is just shuffling the deck chairs.

Killer desirable products, that are up to date and regularly updated whilst being a little more affordable, is not only the future but somewhat the past isn't it? Beovision 11-46, Beovision 8-26, Beovision 3-32, Avant RF 28, Beosound 8, Beocom 2, Beotime, a shed load of A8's and Form 2's. Beo 4's and a 6.