So... Sonos is selling stuff to the public from their sight with big discounts / incentives - + free shipping. And why??? Are they not selling enough already? Why hurt the dealers??? This COULD backfire on them (imo).

+1000

That's for folks that can't walk to Target and buy it there. Still need to have it installed, and that's what you have to convince your customers of...

I will never understand why ANYONE would support Sonos. FUGG Sonos. STOP SUPPORTING THEM.

How's that any different than everything Denon being available online for 10% over cost?
or CI's that get Denon from every supplier on the planet and selling it at 10-20% over cost?
Same problem, different company.
It's a non-issue for people that sell systems and solutions and not just push boxes.

Simple solution, charge $150/zone to "add new zoneplayer" plus the labor to actually install it. lol

...Well some of us are brick and mortars - who sell a LOT of SONOS, but this is BS. Why can't they give us dealer rebates???

We sell (some systems) - but SONOS , even though the margins are crap- are a good revenue stream for us as well as our competing store next door.

Plus TARGET is giving away $30 / $40 / $50 Gift cards with SONOS purchases.

The denon is a good unit I'm installing 10 of them tomorrow. The rep assured of that there won't be any problem with spanning tree protocol like Sonos either

Let us know how that works out

Sonos primary claim to fame, is how easy the stuff is to install. If you think they are particularly worried about a dealer, or a CI, you're kidding yourself.

Last I checked Fry's Electronics doesn't sell SONOS. I have to bet the reason why is twofold. They likely don't make enough margin on the line. They sell BOSE, and with the SONOS product offering better functionality and sound, at a lower price, they wouldn't sell much BOSE.

I don't think SONOS has been misleading. They will sell direct to consumers. If you sell it as a retailer, you may have to compete with the other big box stores and SONOS on price, or risk losing the sale.

I think your retail location still has selling points. Some people will always want to visit a store and pick it up, as that gives them immediate possession, and the ability to return the item with little hassle if they don't like it. You just need to explain that is what they are paying for. There is always a cost for service.

We sell Sonos as a solution... like a swiss army knife in our pockets. I would have a Bone to pick if I were trying to sell it as a retail front and compete on the store level but honestly, it does not impact our ability to sell Sonos especially... Connects and Connect Amps when other solutions won't hit the budget.

Most folks buying at Target and the like will find the prospect of hooking up something not wireless as too much of a task. It is my observation that society as a whole is on the decline with their basic technical skills. It seems that there was a higher percentage of people that could hook up a basic stereo system in 1980 than there are in 2014.

Add it, sell it, set it up, walk away... there is a lot of gear you cannot say that about. Of all the globally available products out there (Think Apple products), this is one of the few you CAN make money with even though the margins are tighter than some other options.

Yeah, well u would be amazed how many people buy it, take it home and set it up, and we never hear back from them (except to add on more SONOS). It's pretty simple to say the least.
We offer with each sale to send out tech, and he does once in a while, mainly to help them navigate through the user interface--- but I'm shocked at how many people manage on their own, to get it going.

We've had a total of 2 jobs with service calls on Sonos. One ZP90 died. The other job was having issues streaming songs from their iPhones which we fixed with a NAS. So that's a total of 1 piece of bad hardware in 7+ years. Other than that, the sh*t just works. Why can't the products in our industry work so well?

Sonos is offering those gift cards to us as well, check your dealer portal. Also with at least Target connects and connect amps are not available in the stores (online only). Possibly other stores have the same setup.

This is an amazing statement. In 1980 there was no internet, hardly any video with audio... the hardest thing was understanding that too light of a tone arm pressure would damage records just as badly as too much pressure.

I'm sensing a theme coming over me here: Way back then, and way back even just ten years ago, we could propose something pretty complicated and we could just friggin' hook it up. Nowadays, if the display is more than six feet from the HDMI source, or there are multiple sources, we spend a great deal of time just making the damn thing work after it's connected properly.