376 Ruthven Street
TOOWOOMBA  QLD  4350
Ph:  07 4639 4321
Fax: 07 4639 4521
 fidelity    tpg.com.au

 

How we as a specialty retailer sell quality in the age of competitive price

 

TALKING SHOP

 

When flat-panel HDTV prices hit all-time lows, many people hit the big-box superstores and discounters and got unbelievable deals.  But a few months later, some of those people discovered they had derived more satisfaction from getting a great deal than they did from the gear itself.  That is because most of those stores are all about the price, with the customer left to his own devices to make an informed buying decision.  One remedy to commodification is to shop at an A/V specialist, where a well-trained staff can offer guidance based on your particular needs.  There are several good reasons to shop at a speciality store.  One is that many offer higher-quality products you can't find at big-box dealers.  Also, thanks to memberships in buying groups that harness the buying power of dozens of independent stores, specialty shops often offer surprisingly competitive prices. And while the sheer number of products at a superstore can be overwhelming, specialty dealers can act as a filter, narrowing choices to be a manageable number of brands with proven levels of performance and reliability.  Also, with products becoming more complex – and the desire for interoperability and unified control growing even more important –speciality dealers can leverage the higher competence of their staffs to manage larger, more complex installations.  But maybe the best reason is the most prosaic: Since repeat business and referrals play a major contribution they are more likely to care about you as a customer.  In fact, unlike most big-box retailers, whose relationship with the customer ends once the customer has left the checkout line, we at Fine Fidelity consider after-sales support and maintenance paramount.

We offer all customers full demonstration in our home theatre rooms only to be informed that they are are actually looking at buying an internet "bargain" and is using our facilities to evaluate the product. If course, we always advise the customer of the cons in relation to buying online(eg. no warranty in Australia as serial number is unregistered, amplifiers with no transformers in them, Surround Receivers that are 110 volt with no switching capability that have self immolated on plug in, etc).  Needless to say we would greatly prefer people to buy things from us when we have invested time and resources in them.  Unfortunately, one way we discover a customer has made an internet purchase is when they ring complaining that they "can't seem to get it going and doesn't sound like what our demonstrations are like" and as the item was not purchased from us, we are unable to offer any assistance.  In general, if it looks to be too good to be true, it is!

 We’re not just selling products – we’re selling the excitement, enthusiasm and enjoyment that comes from a great-looking and great-sounding system.