Pioneer Electronics has been slammed after they announced earlier today that they had done another flip flop in a desperate effort to cement themselves a position in the Australia display and sound market. After taking an each way bet between the specialist and mass channel the Company has now decided to concentrate on the specialist channel in an effort to deliver bottom line profits over revenue and losses. However the specialist channel may not support them.
Interviews done with the specialist channel by ChannelNews reveal that they are sceptical claiming “They don’t have the balls” to pull it off. Others have said “I will believe it when I see it”. “They are more interested in the mass market and have well and truly screwed the specialist channel in the past you only have to look at their web site to see this”.
During the next few months the Company claims that they will roll out an arsenal of new products including new plasma TV’s, a new generation of LCD TV’s made by Sharp as well as new home theatre kits, and high end sound systems all aimed at the specialist channel.
To facilitate the move newly appointed Pioneer Electronics Australia Managing Director Yasuo Sakuma has restructured his management team and is set to start rolling out new products however the specialist channel that Pioneer desperately need to support them do not trust Pioneer claiming that “Every year they change their mind in 2009 it will be back to the mass channel”.
Len Wallis of Len Wallis Audio in Sydney said “I don’t know whether they have the balls to pull this off, one minute they are in the specialist channel the next they are chasing mass retailers. They are constantly out of stock despite having excellent products”. He said.
He added “I have dealt with Pioneer for 30 years and they have constantly changed their loyalty. They very quickly drop their pants when the big boys call their bluff and say jump they jump”.
Adam Merlino a director at Pioneer specialist reseller Audio Connection in Sydney said “I will believe it when I see it. Their stock levels are always low and right now we have back orders for Pioneer plasma screens that they cannot fulfil”.
Peter Alexandrie of Audio Lifestyle in Melbourne who is also a specialist Pioneer dealer said “I don’t trust any of them. We set up nice show rooms, we spend hours of our own time going to training at Pioneer and they then go out and sell to the mass retailers who sell their product below our buy in price. The mass retailers know this and us as a benchmark so that they can sell under our plasma screen price”.
Another Sydney dealer who has dealt with Pioneer for 14 years said “It is all bullshit. They are in deep trouble and they now expect the specialist channel to bail them out. You only have to look at their web site where they have a preferred partner indicator. If you type in for example a 2000 code postcode the site spits out Pioneer partners within a 5klm radius. Not one of the top 10 is a specialist reseller it is all Bing Lee, Harvey Norman, JB Hi Fi and Domayne. There is your answer to what Pioneer think of the specialist channel”.
Mark Anning Marketing Manager for AV at Pioneer Electronics said “We have some bridges to mend. The past is the past we can only make decisions now and move forward from it” he said. “We are going to have face to face meetings with many of our partners in the specialist channel over the next few weeks” Anning also revealed that Pioneer will not have new plasma or LCD TV models until the end of the year and that during that period they will roll out new sound and home theatre systems.
ChannelNews has conducted an extensive interview with Pioneer this will appear during the next few days.