We're ALL in the wrong business!!

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Yep, you read it right. No matter what you do, where you do it, or who you do it for, you're in the wrong business. (excepting if you're a doctor, lawyer, or any other profession that traditionally brings in a 6 figure income annually)

Why is that I make this bold claim?

I reckon we should all move to Australia and become car audio dealers. As I have mentioned in other posts in other threads I am currently on holiday Down Under so I've had a first-hand look in some of the stores here. Why Australia? The prices here are INSANE. Well, to me they are. To your average Aussie car audio enthusiast the pricing may come across as normal (normal being a very subjective term in this usage)

I was in an electronics retailer that will go unnamed (my best guess is that it would be something akin to a Best Buy or a Circuit City type of affair that does on-site installs on car audio gear....but this particular place has a lifetime guarantee on their installations) and browsing the car audio gear. The initial sticker shock was almost enough to bring me to tears - then I realized that I needed to convert the prices in Australian dollars to US currency to see what I might actually be paying were these products in a stateside store somewhere and things didn't get much better. While browsing I naturally encountered other customers browsing the same gear I was. As this particular establishment had a huge (apparently) sale going more often than not these potential customers would utter something to the effect of "That's a pretty good price! Should we go ahead and get one today??"

Some of the products here are marked with different model #s than I am accustomed to seeing stateside but still readily apparent what each item was.

Here's a few examples using XE.com's real-time currency conversion of $1AUD = $0.7513USD and using Crutchfield as a guide for stateside retail pricing:

Kenwood 25th Anniversary XXV-01D ~ ON SALE for $989AUD.

This converts to$743.04USD for a deck that retails currently for $500USD

Sony CDX-S2010 ~ ON SALE for $136AUD

This converts to $102.18USD - Crutchfield's got 'em for $75USD

Pioneer DEH-1750 (I will assume the same thing as a DEH-1700 to us) ~ ON SALE for $184AUD

This converts to $138.24USD ~ Crutchfield's got 'em for $100USD

Pioneer DEH-P6750MP (again, assuming this is the same as a 6700 to us) ~ ON SALE for $358AUD

This converts to $268.97USD - Crutchfield = $210USD

Panasonic CQ-C7401W (assuming this is the same as the CQ-7401U) ~ ON SALE for $499AUD

This converts to $374.90USD - Crutchfield = $260USD

Kicker KX400.1 ~ ON SALE for $469AUD

This converts to $352.36USD - Crutchfield = $250USD

Kicker KX350.4 ~ ON SALE for $449AUD

This converts to $337.33USD - Crutchfield = $250USD

The possible examples go on and on and on mostly to the same tune as those choices listed above. Now - what I do not know is how many units of each product a large retailer would be able to move in a month/quarter/year as compared to a stateside retailer where the potential customer base is much, much larger (300 million ppl stateside as opposed to less than 20 million here) but the markup per unit is just staggering!

At first one might think it could be importation costs...but as the majority of car audio gear nowadays is assembled somewhere in Asia (which is much closer to Australia than it is the US) that argument doesn't fly. Not all stuff is manufactured in Asia - but certainly a huge percentage.

That's all I had to share for now - the pricing here just amazed me. If I had invested the same amount of $$$ here on car audio gear that I have tied up into the tunes in my lil wannabe Corolla I wouldn't have been able to buy near so much stuff as what I have (and I don't have that much to begin with!)

Discuss-

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[bimma85 5,000+ posts]

Outside dealers also pay way more than local dealers, I would imagine //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Decipha 10+ year member]

after reading your post multiple times i have come to the conclusion that i am

indeed in the wrong business

 

[MastaFlex 10+ year member]

I love america! I hate cars jk on the cars

 

[AVSTANG02]

Prowler573 you can not be this stupid.

 

[SAG3 5,000+ posts]

those guys are gettin ripped

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

stupid is as stupid does

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Prowler573 you can not be this stupid.

Why, exactly, would you ask that? I understand that prices in a market that isn't saturated with better deals to be had around almost every corner are going to be higher than what I am accustomed to in the states. I was, however, unprepared for the sticker shock that I was greeted with upon entry to one of Australia's largest national chain electronics retailers.
To me it's just madness!

 

[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

The prices arent that much higher than ours, seems like they are ~$50 more in most cases... You make it seem like they are hundreds more. Never the less, sucks to be an Aussie.

 

[bimma85 5,000+ posts]

those guys are gettin ripped

And you dont? how much you gotta pay for something like an re sub or something after shipping //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif. Much more than us lol.

Newsflash... you think folks in europe pay near what we do for a benz, bmw, audi etc?

Why dont you pick up one of these while you are there //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

http://www.reaudio.com.au/index.htm

 

[slim j 10+ year member]

Have you considered Business tax or other costs to run a business in australia. I don't know all the facts and figures, but it is something to consider.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

The prices arent that much higher than ours, seems like they are ~$50 more in most cases... You make it seem like they are hundreds more. Never the less, sucks to be an Aussie.

Seemingly the price difference is somewhat related to whatever product tier the unit in question fits into. A really low-level Sony HU saw a difference between US and Australian pricing of under $30. An entry level Pioneer differed about $40. A nicer Pioneer differed by $60. Two different Kicker amplifiers, a 4 channel and a monoblock saw markups of $117 and $102, respectively while one of the better Panasonic HU's price difference was in the same neighborhood as the Kickers'.
At the extreme end out of my given examples is the Kenwood XXV-01D seeing a price discrepency of over $240.

Meh ~ it just struck me as odd when I saw it. Take it as ya will //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

Newsflash... you think folks in europe pay near what we do for a benz, bmw, audi etc?

I would expect to pay less in Germany (where these cars are MADE) or a country closeby via overland travel for one of those marques than I would considerably farther away...such as in the US.
Pioneer, Alpine, Eclipse, and Kenwood producs are not made in the US. They're made in Asia somewhere. Who ya reckon is closer to (pick a point in) Asia? Sydney or San Antonia? Not that I'm in NSW...I'm in SA...but it's just an example.

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Ya, if you are rockin entry level pioneer in Austraila you are hot shit.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Ya, if you are rockin entry level pioneer in Austraila you are hot shit.

Pioneer doesn't seem terribly popular, actually. Pioneer is most definately around and sold most everywhere but it isn't near so popular as one might imagine. JVC, Kenwood, and Cadence is what I have seen most often. Audiobahn is slowly trickling over and the Aussies, like so many novice kiddies did stateside, are getting caught up in the 'bling' factor. I've seen some JL stuff but apparently not the entire range. I've seen W0s, W1s, and W3 but no Dub6s or 7s. Soundstream is fairly popular (I'm thinking it has to do with the spider graphics on everything from the amps to the speaker/sub grills). and lastly, where it should get mentioned, is the Xplod gear. It's hugely popular over here.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

Well, it obviously seems that their higher priced items are marked up more. And im hoping that most of you work in, or own shops that dont sell shit, xplode and insignia and dual HU's. Unless ordered for a specific customer...

In saying that...there is a lot more oppertunity to make money there. Afterall, the manufacturer is probably asking the same price for their stores, as they are here in the US.

BESIDES ALL THIS....dont say its hard to make a lot of money here in the US...until you can pop off alarms/remote start in just over an hour >2 Thats when you start making money....

Or how about tinting....personally, i dont see how more custom shops dont do more tinting...you buy a friggin roll of 36in tall tint by like 100 ft in length for lets say $75.

Cost to tint a full size 4 door car...200-220....you do lets say 8 FULL cars with that roll (no idea...might be able to do more)...... with those 8 cars...you just made over 1500 bucks profit......

Now lets look at your summer..if your a busy store lets say you tint a car a day for the first 3 months into spring and summer, so that about 90 cars...90*220= 19,000 in friggin window tinting in 3 months....even if thats in half a year its not that bad.