Dealerscope Behind The Counter

Behind The Counter: Basic Steps to Clean Up the 12-Volt Industry
July 28, 2008
Leaders of the mobile electronics industry recently met for its first 12-Volt Awareness Summit where they took the first few steps in creating ways to drive consumers to specialty dealers and installers.

But the outcome of that and future efforts—including...

Behind the Counter: Almo and Samsung Come Clean On Appliance Deal
May 29, 2008
Retailers walked away from Almo’s recent Dealer Expo with more than a few business tips and closeout deals. They left with a new partner that will help make a big difference in a sluggish economy and slumping appliance market.

Almo surprised...

Passing The Torch Sam’s Way
April 18, 2008
Runco’s Mexico Getaway for its top dealers last month could not have served as a better setting for the passing of the torch from founder Sam Runco to Scott Hix and the Planar team that will now be running the company.

Runco dealers, the...

The Grossly Exaggerated Death of Distribution
March 24, 2008
It turns out two-tier distribution is not dead after all. In fact, if you check out our annual distribution package in the April issue of Dealerscope, you’ll see it’s very much alive.

Each year since I began covering distribution...

Independents Hold Their Own in Retailer Survey, Service Is Key
March 06, 2008
Last year proved tough for a handful CE retailers, with Harvey, Tweeter, CompUSA and Circuit City hit hard. Meanwhile, the big nationals kept getting bigger, with the top-10 retailers in this year’s Dealerscope 101 survey of the country’s...

Behind the Counter: Confusion Can Be Beautiful
February 01, 2008
There is plenty of debate surrounding how much money dealers can actually make from the DTV transition and whether doing things like signing up for the converter-box coupon program and promoting the cut-off date are worth the time.  

Those...

Bad Service Kills Off Clients
November 20, 2007
If you’re an independent or regional retailer still looking for something to give your sales and service staff for the holidays, give them all a ticket to see American Gangster. The opening scene is a gift that will keep giving.

It’s...

Follow the Pros
October 22, 2007
You’d think that Baillio’s would never be able to top the marketing coup it pulled off 10 years ago when, with the support of Hitachi, the $40 million CE powerhouse in New Mexico promised customers who bought a premium TV a full refund if...

New Relationships Worth the Lost Sleep
August 15, 2007
Most everyone in this industry works their tails off, logging in countless extra hours to hit a product launch; spending days on the road away from the family grinding out the trade show circuit, maintaining partner relationships or building new ones....

Behind the Counter: Front Projection Home Theaters
August 03, 2007
Affordable front-projection home theater systems could be the next solution that differentiates your business by broadening your value-added service offerings, improving overall margins and increasing customer.

Until now, front-projection theater...