Velodyne Terminates Reps & Becomes an Internet Direct Subwoofer Company

[Sylar]

Eliminating reps obviously means they can sell closer to cost themselves and the mark up isn't going to someone else. As said before though, sucks for those reps.

Ok guys...feel free to knock me out with a hammer if you feel am nuts

Could this move be in response to the direction in which the economy is headed? The planets economy itself is in a precarious position, with the BRICK countries heading the way and most developed nations in trouble with their finances & hence their economy.. the next few years could be well 'interesting'. The euro problem is only postponed, the US problem is only getting started with the baby boomers starting to retire, and with the government printing more money equates to inflation - question is when and how bad.

Maybe they are expecting a slowdown in the economy and profits to drop & many reps closing out themselves. Now they can increase the profits by slashing prices and by cutting out the middle men, but loose out on selling stuff to customers looking for a demo and before buying.

Do we have statistics like, what the HiFi sales are like by nation? What it is like the last few years compared to earlier? Which regions did it increase & which regions fell in sales?

 

[detroit1]

Velodyne makes nice subs but their pricing is ridiculous compared to online sellers right now.
they are getting smoked by HSU, SVS, Epik, Emotiva, etc
they can now sell their stuff for less or not sell at all

even the dd+ series, while nice quality is way overpriced

they must be hurting as a company big time or they would not make this move

 

[Sylar]

Velodyne makes nice subs but their pricing is ridiculous compared to online sellers right now.
they are getting smoked by HSU, SVS, Epik, Emotiva, etc
they can now sell their stuff for less or not sell at all

even the dd+ series, while nice quality is way overpriced

they must be hurting as a company big time or they would not make this move

what would be an equivalent sub in velodyne in terms of performance when compared to HSU VTU2 MK3 or rythmik FV12

 

[detroit1]

generally speaking you have to at least double the price or more to get an equivalent velodyne versus HSU, SVS, etc and it is usually more than double if you pick the highest HSU or SVS; it can be triple in those cases
plus if you buy 2 of the lower priced ones, you will easily beat the performance of 1 velodyne; consider the SVS 13 ultra, which msrp is 1499 will easily compare to a Velodyne DD15+, which is 5K msrp
the prices are a joke

 

[GranteedEV]

I don't know what to think of this.

From boutique custom ID subs (Funkywaves, Salk), ffordable servo ID subs (Rythmik), and other general ID monsters (HSU, SVS, Epik, Seaton, JTR, Danley) ....and then people wavering between picking one of the above only to go with DIY monsters....I always thought velodyne's place in the industry was "overpriced brick and mortar subs that do give buyers confidence they will like what they buy". You know - people scared of I.D.

They went from a virtually non competitive market (custom installers etc where people don't really think too hard on decisions as long as the audition impresses them) to a fickle, saturated market.

Cost no object, velodyne can compete with most anyone. But there's a cost to "flawless that the ID market might not appreciate.

 

[gene]

Digital Drive Plus line is now available

I noticed today Velodyne is offering their DD+ line online for sale so I updated the article accordingly.

See: http://velodyne.com/vproducts/series.aspx?seriesid=1235

 

[Ricci]

Interesting.

Way back when I owned a pair of Velo CT-150's. They were a good sub for the day and a pretty decent bargain too. There have been some pretty big changes since the days when Velodyne was pretty much THE subwoofer go to. Their top of the line DD subs have always been high quality stuff but it seems their basic formula hasn't had a major update in many years and the price just keeps on going up meanwhile the competition has gotten fierce. Hopefully this is a strategic move to lower the cost to consumers some and perhaps gain some market share by selling direct. Maybe they will introduce a new pricing structure for both B&M and online. That would open a new market, even if it is a hotly contested one and improve their position in the current B&M outlets.

 

[Sugarbear]

I noticed today Velodyne is offering their DD+ line online for sale so I updated the article accordingly.

See: http://velodyne.com/vproducts/series.aspx?seriesid=1235

They need a better way of displaying the prices on the website...

 

[Warpdrv]

Just checked and the DD18+ is now $4999.00

$3999.00 for the 15"

Just click on the buy it now button and scroll to the bottom, shows the price.... pretty easy from what I can see...

https://www.velodyne.com/vshop/shop.aspx

 

[Casey01]

Quite frankly, considering Velodyne's reputation in the marketplace, I wondered why they didn't do this long before now? They have a long-standing reputation in the industry and they know who their customers are so why bother with a retailer where you compete with other brands in the store(along with the salesperson's preferences) and perhaps additional sales incentives offered by your competitors. It can sometimes be fighting a losing battle.

As has already been mentioned, the list of quality internet-only companies is constantly growing and it is interesting to note that three mid-high end retailers just in my area alone within the last three years have shut their doors. I am sure internet sales has been one of the reasons this has happened.

Now that Velodyne has eliminated at least one to two lines of distribution in their sales process, I wonder if their prices will be adjusted accordingly?

 

[Sugarbear]

Just click on the buy it now button and scroll to the bottom, shows the price.... pretty easy from what I can see...

https://www.velodyne.com/vshop/shop.aspx

That page sums it up pretty well... true, true.

$5K for an 18" box sub. I'm so interested in what their "ID Platform" prices will shake out to be.

 

[sholling]

I suspect that Velodyne was being squeezed between a steadily shrinking dealer network with corresponding reduced B&M sales and the ID companies taking their more experienced customers. Add in a very tight economy and you have a recipe for shrinking sales. I'd be surprised if they didn't maintain a dealer network but one with no stock (direct from Velo shipping) and tiny discounts/markups.

They're just going to need to get down to about ~8-10 products from $200-2500. Beef up the little VX11 (VX12?) to take on the $200-300 products and eat their lunch. Then maybe vented and/or sealed products in the $600, 1000, 1500, 2000 and $2500 price points.

 

[bikdav]

I suspect that Velodyne was being squeezed between a steadily shrinking dealer network with corresponding reduced B&M sales and the ID companies taking their more experienced customers. Add in a very tight economy and you have a recipe for shrinking sales. I'd be surprised if they didn't maintain a dealer network but one with no stock (direct from Velo shipping) and tiny discounts/markups.

They're just going to need to get down to about ~8-10 products from $200-2500. Beef up the little VX11 (VX12?) to take on the $200-300 products and eat their lunch. Then maybe vented and/or sealed products in the $600, 1000, 1500, 2000 and $2500 price points.

Do you mean a VX12 with a 12 inch driver _ like the VRP 1200 Velodyne sold at Circuit City? If so, they had better get moving. It wasn't an audiophile's dream, but the VRP 1200 did a very good job for what it was. I liked it.

 

[highfigh]

I was at a distributor and one of my reps was talking with someone on the phone- apparently, Velodyne didn't just terminate the repping network, they canned the whole front office.

 

[cpp]

I think as the economy gets even worst some companies are going to reduce their man-power in favor of a centralized or region concept with the 'do more with less' philosophy' or "internet direct". It does works buy saving the company money, less overhead to deal with while passing some of those savings to the end user, but it's the pits for the employees that are displaced.

 

[sholling]

Do you mean a VX12 with a 12 inch driver _ like the VRP 1200 Velodyne sold at Circuit City? If so, they had better get moving. It wasn't an audiophile's dream, but the VRP 1200 did a very good job for what it was. I liked it.

Yes, I owned a VX10 several years ago and for a small cheap (~$200) low-powered sub it was surprisingly musical. I just think the days of $200 100w 10" subwoofers are over. There are too many competing 12" products with better specs that will lure away 1st time buyers.

 

[picture_shooter]

I do not think this will hurt Velodyne in anyway.

 

[picture_shooter]

I use to own the VRP12 when it 1st came out. Not a bad sub at all, but the VX11 which I own now do sound mighty nice for the price I paid for them.

 

[highfigh]

This is something that happens in many industries but canning the whole front office is a bit less common. Usually, a manufacturer will sign on a rep firm so they don't need to hire their own people and because the rep firm has an established reputation for success. Once the brand is established, some manufacturers will stop using the rep firm and go direct. It seems short-sighted in some ways but they don't need to worry about sharing one rep firm with several speaker manufacturers, either. If the manufacturer used distributors, they may stop their relationship because some distributors may not be as strong with A/V as they are with some of the other lines they sell, like white goods (appliances). Either way, it's usually a matter of having better control over who sells their products and who's accountable for their success or failure.

 

[Sputter]

They are still a B&M brand. This thread is misleading.

A quote from Rob Morse (product support rep)

"There seems to be confusion about the term independent sales reps. These are not dealers, but rather marketing companies that covered a region of the country as a go between the dealers and the manufacturer. These marketing companies were what was let go. All of Velodyne's dealers are now able to purchase direct instead of through these third party companies."