Advertising 'International Orders Welcome' in WHF
WHF is globally read,but you wouldn't think so judging by the generally 'UK/EU only' mindset of the companies that spend thousands of pounds a month soliciting online sales.
Here's a copy of a reply i have emailed to a regular WHF retail advertiser,after enquiring about buying three 'five star' hifi components and shipping them to New Zealand.
(I have deleted all brand names for anonymity)
Dear ---,
Could you please read this,and if you are not the major decision maker in your company could you kindly forward this on to them?
I'm often buying via internet from US,UK and Australian retailers.
The advantage is a much wider selection of merchandise than is usually available with specialist products in small countries like New Zealand.
Problem is,the majority of UK AV retailers dont take advantage of this market!
I can go to websites and shop online only to get to the end of the transaction and find there is no NZ shipping option.
So either they wont ship internationally,or they ask for an email to confirm shipping cost.It's a time consuming excercise that can sometimes take up to about three days for an email response if the company's slack,or if they're supposedly waiting on a shipping quotation.
A couple of companies that i regularly buy from that do have this type of shopping cart system are Cable-Shop UK,and B & H photo and Electronic in the US.
Buying off Ebay still has a slight stigma attached to it,unlike the globally read WHF magazine which i see you regularly advertise in.
How about Advertising this in WHF:
'International orders welcome,all exports outside the EU are VAT free,we have a fixed shipping price at our checkout-so you instantly know how much you are paying!'.
Unbelievably no else is advertising this,they're all seemingly chasing local sales only.I'm thinking of companies like Peter Tyson,SSAV,Superfi,Richer Sounds,etc.
They're all saying the same thing..'International?Well go away then!'
I could understand them not wanting to ship AV furniture or flat panel screens,but thats about the only two exceptions i can think of.
I realise that some brands are sales restricted to certain areas,or not supposed to be sold online,but that policy is totally redundant.
Do some research online,and you'll find it's really not that hard to pick up ---- gear,- and - --- series,-----,and a host of other so called 'restricted' products.
Anyway thanks for reading this,and i must say WHF lead me to your website and that was laid out very nicely indeed.It just needs a market leading 'international checkout' installed.
Promoted with the help of print media,it should take your sales through the roof!
Cheers,
Brian.
If you work in the UK AV retail industry and are reading this,please be my guest and pass this on to your companys decision maker!
I believe a lot of the major (and possibly minor) manufacturers don't allow their retailers to ship to other countries, so there's not much the retailers can do.
Yes, that's usually the case, as many have entirely different distribution companies in each country or territory.
Yes but my point is not every retailer sticks to their distribution agreements which blurs the whole system.Let's face it every distributor can't police every single transaction in their dealer network.And if it's an international sale even better as the supplying countries distributor probably won't care anyway! What irks me with the 'supporting local'
EDITED BY MODS
argument is unless you live in a large market you usually have to fork out a ridiculous premium for the pleasure of owning a specialist product.Case in point the ****** acclaimed five star amp and CD I want to buy is £2700 locally in New Zealand,but can be bought in the UK minus the VAT,and airfreighted to my front door in Auckland for circa £1400! If a 'few' retailers can sell brand new 'name' products through EBay,why can't/won't regular WHF advertisers start competing for the same worldwide sales?
Probably because they're worried they'll find themselves not even able to sell those products in the UK if they fall foul of the distribution agreement..
This is not just an international problem (although mostly) as I live in Northern Ireland (which the last time I checked is part of the UK )and I have also tried to purchase higher end Hifi equipment from UK mainland only to get to the checkout to be informed they will not post over the vast water span that is the Irish sea. If I get lucky and find a dealer that will post then sometimes the premium in postage costs is more than the cost of a 1 day return ferry ticket for me and the car to travel across and pick it up. Given the price difference of the system you looked at (£1300) ,then you could also afford a return flight to the UK and have a look and listen for yourself and take it home with you and probably still have some loose change. I agree with you something ain't right.
Andrew's right: each country will probably have its own distributor so they'll want to avoid stepping on each other's toes. Can be equally frustrating in the UK, as international products are often cheaper in the US due to the $1=£1 exchange rate so beloved of many.
If the 'smaller country' distributors want to have any chance of survival they need to get the manufacturers to support a global pricing strategy then.
Same price for everyone,everwhere sounds both fair and do-able.
To the distributors i say fix the price problem or risk going belly up because you're not competitive!
international products are often cheaper in the US due to the $1=£1 exchange rate so beloved of many.
Pity the USA is on 110v and not 240v,else it would really be bargain time for the ROW 
Yes – provided you can do away with exchange rates, income differentials, distributor and retailer margins, taxation and the cost of shipping, should be a breeze.
Ah, knew there was a flaw in the plan...
Well, that and the slight matter of having to send it back to wherever you bought it should a fault develop.
Ok Andy,after two days research i've found a new plan...it's called Singapore.All you need is a phone and a credit card...
I wouldn't give out my card details to an unknown shopkeeper in another country over the phone......
Andrew is absolutely correct. It's all about distribution.
It's very hard to be a credible Hi-Fi company if you can only offer product online without the option of demonstration (though this isn't impossible) and you need distribution in every country you sell into to organise dealers/reviews etc in that particular market.
I get calls from distributors as far away as China, Russia and Australia when we have someone selling discounted product online in the UK that ships internationally (and in many cases when they don't). The Internet can be seen worldwide and as there are many costs involved in selling into certain countries, including taxes, exchange rate differences and the like, they get upset if their customers tell them that they can purchase a product more cheaply in the UK - even if they haven't factored in shipping, import duty and warranty validity.
In an ideal world everyone would sell at one price worldwide and from one location, sadly it's not an ideal world and there are dozens of complications in trying to do that.
Read:'that do have this international type of shopping cart system'
Panasonic PT AE8000*Yamaha Aventage A3020*Pioneer BDP 450*Project RPM 9.1*Dynavector P75*Klipsch RF/RC/RS 62 II*Klipsch RS41 II front height/rear surrounds*Velodyne SPL1000Ultra*Da lite 110" 2:35:1*DVDO Duo i/p scaler*Apple TV 1080p*MySky HDi*Cables-Wireworld Chroma 6 HDMI/QED Silver Anniversary XT/Chord Crimson plus/Clearer Audio Copper line mains*Control4 automation*