MY SHOP STARTED trading in January 1935, so we are now into our 77th year. And what a year this last one has been.   

Many long-established retailers closed down voluntarily and others were forced into administration. Who would have forecast that Sonex, with over 30 outlets, including 18 very prestigious Sony Centres, would fail? Or that Bruce Millers, the largest dealer in Scotland, would have to close.

The fact that the biggest retailer in the world, Best Buy, didn’t set the UK on fire didn’t surprise many, but it was a very expensive mistake. The Big Box concept failed over here and now even Best Buy in America says it wants smaller stores.

Probably the biggest shock of 2012 was the fact that Kesa couldn’t even give Comet away. It had to sweeten the deal by guaranteeing the £39 million pension fund deficit and give the purchaser, OpCapita, a “dowry” of £50m in cash. Unkind pundits in the financial press even questioned this deal and said: “The bigger the dowry, the uglier the bride.” Kesa has paid out nearly £100m to get rid of Comet. It remains to be seen how the company will fare under new ownership.  

LAST YEAR WAS not a good one for manufacturers either.
HP, the giant computer maker, decided to make a $499 tablet to compete with Apple’s iPad. Three weeks after it went on sale, Best Buy realised it was a failure and was trying to send back 250,000 of them. A fortnight later, HP killed the product and it was flogged off at $99.  

2011 was the year when the Japanese TV manufacturers finally realised that the Koreans had the upper hand. Sony had previously announced it would make 40m TV sets in the year to March 2014, but this target has now been halved. A multiplicity of Sony’s manufacturing plants have now been closed or sold to competitors in an attempt to stem eight consecutive years of losses at the TV division.
Panasonic also had a tough year and closed many plants, too.

I COULD GO on and on about last year, but that’s all in the past. What are the best opportunities for independent dealers in the coming year?

It certainly is not matching the best price the customer can find on the internet. Selling “me-too” products at “me-too” prices will not generate good profits.

Independents must find a way to add their personal skills to the offer. The young kids are already familiar with downloading and the concept of the “Cloud.” They are already streaming video and audio around their homes. Those kids’ parents are no longer watching bemusedly from the sidelines, they are playing catch-up.  
The main theme at the upcoming Retra conference should be “streaming will soon be mainstream”.
It is easy to demonstrate streaming in a small shop, but the concept is a difficult one for internet sellers and cannot easily be explained in a supermarket.  

Streaming is already happening. Check out your own young relatives and watch how they are already streaming AV from their Xbox, PlayStation, PC, to big screen TVs and hi-fi systems in the home. Parents have gradually noticed that their kids don’t buy videos anymore – they download them. Soon parents will want to do the same and they will want the very best and that means systems that are professionally set up.

Smart TVs were just the start. Almost every AV product will soon be “smarter”. Retailers need to get smarter, too. Are you ready?