There is a Bose concept store within a store that used to sell B&O here in Toronto. My usual reaction to their products is 'wow, it sure does play loud'. The sales guys really like to crank it. Which is not how I listen at home. Anyway, I saw the videowave there. Possibly the fattest flat-screen TV ever made. How someone could think this is nicer looking than any other TV with a pair of B&O speakers sitting beside it, I don't know. It's 6 inches deep so if you wanted to wall-mount the set, it would be hanging 8" off the wall. Also, the picture seemed decidedly old school, not as contrasty as the best panels these days. But it does indeed play really loud!

Ryan wrote:

There is a Bose concept store within a store that used to sell B&O here in Toronto. My usual reaction to their products is 'wow, it sure does play loud'. The sales guys really like to crank it. Which is not how I listen at home. Anyway, I saw the videowave there. Possibly the fattest flat-screen TV ever made. How someone could think this is nicer looking than any other TV with a pair of B&O speakers sitting beside it, I don't know. It's 6 inches deep so if you wanted to wall-mount the set, it would be hanging 8" off the wall. Also, the picture seemed decidedly old school, not as contrasty as the best panels these days. But it does indeed play really loud!

I agree!  I see why there would be a niche market for this, I guess, but Bose certainly doesn't have the 'style' element pinned down with this product.  $6000 (CAD) can by a much nicer TV and some awfully pretty wall mountable speakers . . .

If cost is even the remotest of concerns, I'm sure a spouse would likely see the light and opt for a better TV & stylized speaker package.  Then again the Bose name somehow holds a lot of cache for the rubes, and if $6000 is nothing to the buyer this product will probably do pretty well.

mike

I went to the Westfield Shopping Centre in London the week it was launched to have a look - and I must say the whole concept was very clever, the sound was incredible (coming from the body of a TV !!) - but the image quality wasn't really all that.

I did ask who made the panel for them, but the question was greeted as if i'd just said 'what time do you feed antelopes in the staff room?'...  Blank looks, then surprised faces, nobody knew - and they confessed they'd never even thought to ask.  

Lee

Ryan wrote:

Possibly the fattest flat-screen TV ever made.

Actually I think the B&O 85" I saw is fatter ... but that includes all the stand mechanics and counter-balancing 😂

My original point in mt opening post was not that I thought this was outstanding, but rather they way Bose was approaching the selling process was very smart (in my opinion) ... maybe as someone says later (in reply to your post) it is tailored for selling to the "rubes" !

None the less, my point to Tue (if he gets to read this), was that here is how someone is approaching the restructuring of their channel for low cost qualification, standardised value proposition, and therefore I presume quick profitable sales ....... without having to create a sub-brand

Fair enough. There are certainly similarities to the way the two brands are marketed - neither is generally sold alongside other brands, Bose have been doing the concept store thing for years and both are in the higher price ranges. Certainly it would seem that Bose are doing better in the North American market if we go by number of stores. Bose are very good at developing point-of-sale materials and canned demos to show off their product in the best light.

One of the annoying things about B&O showrooms is that a lot of them don't even show prices on the products, which leads to a 'if you have to ask you can't afford it' mentality. I'm sure a lot of people who can afford it end up walking out feeling intimidated.

9 LEE wrote:

I did ask who made the panel for them, but the question was greeted as if i'd just said 'what time do you feed antelopes in the staff room?'...  Blank looks, then surprised faces, nobody knew - and they confessed they'd never even thought to ask.  

Lee

I'm surprised they didnt try to pass it off as their own!!! The arrogant bunch at my local Bose store would have.

In Frankfurt am Main this weekend, I walked by a Bose store and decided to go in.

The staff was quite young, impersonal, and seemingly velcro-stuck to one of the walls, as they stayed there in the same standing position, during the entire time of my visit.

I looked at the Videowave and the Soundlink or " Beolit " type-radio mentioned before. Nice finish, but that is about it. WIFI connect to the Soundlink speaker only is hardly a Beolit or Beosound 3 competitor.

I smiled and thanked them for (non-demonstration) allowing me to look at the products during my visit. The velcro evidently was still holding up well as I passed by the front glass outside.

Embarrassing: Keep moving. Bang & Olufsen has nothing to worry about here.

SWISS_2 wrote:

Embarrassing: Keep moving. Bang & Olufsen has nothing to worry about here.

😂 😂 😂

I missed you posting this earlier !

But the reason for resurrecting this thread is that this weekend the colour magazines that come "free" with the newspaper had several half-page or full-page adverts by Bose.

It seems that they are now selling a form of the speaker I described as a standalone (similar to the BL 7s, long and "thin") for use with ANY flat panel television.

Also we had the Danish Royals in Australia last week (the princess is Australian) and LEGO took advantage of their presence to sponsor events.

Did B&O ?

Sadly no.

Or sadly I was not invited 😂

elephant wrote:

But the reason for resurrecting this thread is that this weekend the colour magazines that come "free" with the newspaper had several half-page or full-page adverts by Bose.

Actually, so do B&O in the UK. Bose are advertising, but so are B&O. There are magazine adverts for the current TV trade-in offer and the BS8 as a Christmas present idea (expensive present, I'll be fair).

As for the comment about sales people being velcro-stuck to the wall. Actually, some people prefer this approach. Especially Brits. We Brits, as an example, often think we "know it all" and like to be left alone to browse, until we ask for some help. Not the other way around. We don't often like to be approached. Indeed, a few years ago a friend of mine really wanted a Beosound 1. He was nervous about going in to a B&O store. He eventually decided he'd go in to the store and, almost immediately, a sales person came over to him and started to talk to him about B&O TVs and why they are so good blah blah, forgetting a) it was his first visit (he never asked), b) that he was in for a Beosound 1 and c) that he had a budget of about £1000 max and a £7000 B&O TV was never even vaguely on his horizon.

He never returned nor bought a Beosound 1 :(

So, the velcro-stuck approach can and does work depending on your customer. A good salesman will know when to intervene or not. A bad sales person will believe that he has to jump in as soon as the customer enters the store.

I appreciate your thoughts and point regarding sales methods. And I certainly agree that a good salesperson knows how far to " read " a client and when to speak. I agree with your thoughts regarding British customs, having lived and worked there for many years.

I don't believe though that I am the only person to have travelled to North America, and observed the  " ARE YOU FINDING EVERYTHING YOU NEED " ? statement when shopping. Or in restaurants, when served winne, a salad, or first course, the equally loud " IS EVERYTHING OK WITH YOUR MEAL " ?  Perhaps that question would be more appropriate at the end of the meal, especially when one settles the cheque. And yes, when compared to the British or most Europeans, our American cousins are rarely introverted.

My wife and I heard " HAVE I GIVEN YOU EXCELLENT SERVICE " ? so frequently there it became laughable. I asked the then store owner of the Rodeo Drive B&O store about this trend, and he explained it was actually stressed in training and an job expectation in other retail businesses in North America. " Kind of a unfortunate mantra. "

My observation then regarding Bose versus Bang & Olufsen Frankfurt was to draw distinctions between not only the products, but the manner in which they are displayed and demonstrated. B&O sales staff are usually composed, professional, and friendly. I have yet to meet one that did not have the time to chat and be sincerely interested in B&O products and how they work. I have read complaints on this forum, but never seen such behaviour in any of the stores I have visited in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Brasil, and Asia.

The BOSE people on the other hand, did not move from the same spot against the wall during my entire visit, as if holding up the wall behind them. They were not sitting behind a desk, or working on anything, just chatting. When asked about the BOSE wave and videowave, it was just pointed out as " over there. " on the stand.

Can you envision someone with B&O chatting along, and when asked about the new Beosound 5  Encore  simply saying  " .... uh, over there " ?

Were three young people covering up a large hole in the wall, or something they didn't want me to see ?  Were they just caught doing isometric exercises against the wall ? I have no idea, but the concept of idleness comes to mind. Does that conduct define a professional ? How does one sell any products that way, aside from velcro ?

I received more of a positive demonstration of BOSE when my navigator went out on my Porsche during warranty, but come to think of it that was a Porsche employee. Perhaps that is the way of BOSE today: We're a big company, we're German, so we don't have to give a care. Remarkable.

I've not experienced this with anyone connected with Bang & Olufsen. And that is why I expressed the fact that as a result, B&O has nothing to worry about with BOSE. There is a difference, and not only price.