
dogdaysunrise
HCA - Gitarren
The Gibson District Sales Manager shows up this week for the "big meeting" and explanation of the new Gibson policies.
1. If you are an existing Gibson dealer you must commit to a $90,000 order immediately. (in addition to what you have in stock).
2. If you are not a current dealer but wish to become a Gibson dealer the opening order amount is $150,00.00. No ifs, ands, or buts.
3. 40% of all the guitar hooks in your store must contain a Gibson product. Period.
4. The $90,000 figure does NOT include OAI Division proiducts (Dobros, mandolins, and banjos).
5. The OAI Division opening order is an additonal $150,000. There will only be 12-18 OAI Division dealers nationwide. No ifs, ands, or buts.
These guidelines are for any store...whether you are in Cleveland...Seattle...or Bugtussle. In other words, the guy in Bugtussle with a population of 10,000, has to buy the same amount as the dealer in the Washington, D.C. area who can draw from over 6 million. Once again, no ifs, ands, or buts.
When pondering these order dollar figures remember this: LP Studios cost the dealer about $750.00 (a litttle more for the fancier one...)...LP Standards are in the $1250.00 price range, an ES-335 costs $1700.00 or so, a Custom Shop '57 Reissue LP costs about that amount also.
When you start adding up and trying to get to the "magic figure"...a small to medium-sized dealer is choking to death on product. This is clearly a move to weed out the small to medium-size dealers and make way for only the big boys to have Gibson available.
BTW....Sam Ash is no longer a Gibson dealer...I find that particulalry interesting in lieu of the fact that they are probably Musician's Friend's biggest competition.
Dave's Guitars (www.davesguitar.com) was shut down with no explanation at the time and Gibson refuses to this day to give him a reason why he is no longer a dealer. Dave's Guitars had annual sales figures with Gibson in excess of $1.6 million.
Music Machine (www.musicmachine.net) in Washington state was also shut down with no explanation. Their annual sales topped $2.2 million. Let me say that again...their sales were $2.2 million per year with Gibson and they were just cast aside.
As of this date 65% of all Gibson dealers who have been presented with these figures....have opted to no longer be a Gibson dealer. This exceeds Gibson's expectations by 35%. They figured they would lose about 30% of the current dealer network....they had no idea that 65% of the dealers would tell them to go to hell.
We are, as of this date, undecided as to what we are going to do. If it were strictly up to me I would opt with the other 65% of the dealers and tell them to go to hell.
Gibson laesst mich mehr und mehr
- Eigenschaft