Bosch selling direct to the public.
Submitted by tagoneo on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 6:11pm.
Well, first Whirlpool decided to start selling clearance product direct to the public via their website. Now Bosch is selling direct to the public, but not closeout product....brand new product. I found this out today while looking up a product for a customer, and saw a shopping cart. I played with it a bit, and sure enough I can order brand new product from their website. Nice kick in the teeth to their dealers. Plus I wonder how Almo feels about this, having taken on the line so recently.
NOTE FROM APPLIANCEADVISOR
Official Response from Bosch:
"Bosch is not selling direct to the public. All orders are being fulfilled by our valued dealers."
I just noticed the same
I just noticed the same thing regarding the 800 plus series. I just left my rep a message telling him that they better fix this fast or he will have a mutiny on his hands. It seems everyone right now is in california. Hopefully this is the topic of conversation. At the very least if they are going to fulfill I think those of us who are reputable should have an opportunity to sell, not just ABT.
bosch fulfillment procedures
I have been told that BSH IS currently using ABT to fulfill all orders nationwide on a temporary basis perhaps only until January. After that time, it is BSH's supposed intention to have certain dealers (whatever that means) in each local market complete the sales transaction. It is claimed that this will enable retail dealers not currently engaged in e-commerce to be able to sell to consumers who only wish to purchase products on the internet. We shall see!
Abt to fulfill?
My rep is out West in meetings. Waiting to hear what he finds out. It is my understanding that there is an "opportunity" for dealers to participate, if they meet certain requirements. I have heard some of these but can't confirm. All locations must meet display requirements, must meet a min annual sales volume ( have heard from $500K to $750K) and the best part, accept a lower margin in addition to selling at map. I have no idea if this is how shopatron is funded or if there are additional fees. Seems BSH would want to work the bugs out before going "live", but I guess they were afraid to miss a sale! On another note it seems you can buy 800 series products online from BSH, where the independent is forbid from offering the same. I am just glad that BSH is looking out for me, if I should decide to "engage" e-commerce. LOL and gritting my teeth. The Taco Stand is looking better every day!
Confused
Seems like you are confused on a number of issues. There are some people who always seem to totally miss the point of a discussion. Perhaps things need to be written to you as they are on Sesame Street ? Thought that would get the day going on the right foot. Tagoneo you seem to define everyone's comments in a way that meets your goal of the sky is falling. You need to reevaluate how you do that. That's an order .
That's an order?
AS, I hope that my Sesame Street mentality is not misreading your comment above. But it appears that you just tried to command me to do something. My simple reply to that: When you feel you have the ability to give me an order, do it to my face, not through a bulletin board. Because last I checked, I do not report to you, I do not work for you, I do not hold you in superior status to me. Unless you are an admin of this forum, in which case you have been given rights over this house and I will respect them or leave your house. But you sure as hell will never order me to do something. Enough on that. The sky is falling? I'll give you that - I tend to look forward as to how something new will impact my business. And if it is going to potentially affect me in a negative manner, I am going to express my views in a public forum, where others can read them and say "hey, I never knew that" or "that is possible" or "he is full of crap" or even "he is whining". Any of those are possible. But I will state my words without fear of someone implying that I am of an infantile of juvenile mentality, as your Sesame Street comment so elusively does. And I welcome replies on anything I post. I may be wrong, and I am willing to discuss. But your attempt to goad me into a nasty reply toward you, into an attack against you that your posts seem to be slighted towards doing again and again, I won't play that game with you sir - it is not worth my time or energy. I made my statement concerning your verbal battering of people in a separate post, and I will not enter into your game. I would like to suggest you do the same, a person of years in the professional world should be able to debate points instead of dragging it down to a backyard fight level, and I believe you have insight that should be considered. But when you cloud it with words of personal attack, you lose all respect and create a hostile environment that I think no one in this group wants any part of anymore.
tagoneo
As I suspected you take yourself too seriously. Look around , you probably do report to me but you just don't know it yet. However my real point is that you do seem to take things in a direction that satisfies your comments. That is called unfair and unbalanced , similar to Fox News.The only way there is hostility is if people like you take some of these comments seriously and get all hurt over them. You would enjoy this a lot better if your perspective was one of thicker skin. That way you could respond with the same humor I gave to you. This is not rocket science nor does it impact the economy much. However we all have some good insight at times. Your comments generally are pretty good except when you tilt sometimes.I suspect that is Sean Hannity influence over you.
it's not political
Not sure why you feel the need to bring a political ideal into the discussion, for this has nothing to do with politics. And I quite enjoy the conversations here. I just do not enjoy your idea of verbal superiority by any means necessary, including a weak attempt to tear someone else down. Regarding thick skin, my skin is quite thick, and the problem with textual conversation is that it is lacking vision of facial expressions and lacking audible inflections. Those two, combined with the actual words, are what make up communications. Without them, definition of conversation has to be taken at face value, unless you know the person you are speaking to in great detail, in which case the words can take on meaning beyond what is seen. Since I do not know you other than on here, and have seen only one or two humorous posts from you, but a whole lot of aggressive posts, naturally one is going to assume that you are speaking from an aggressive position. And I enjoy a healthy discussion...not one of attack and abuse, and quite honestly I see you as the instigator of it, drawing people into a battle. Many people thrive on conflict, and I get the impression this is how you are. But again, lacking visual expressions and vocal inflections, it is hard to judge. I would suggest you consider that when choosing your words. You suggest that I can reply in the same humor you gave to me. Call me crazy, but I do not see humor in the words. Regarding taking things in a direction that satisfies my comments - is that not what debate is about? Discussing your point with factual information, leading to an outcome in your favor? Again, not sure what is up with the implied political slant from your Fox News and Hannity comment, for that is not part of the discussion here.
Bosch Not Selling to Public
BOSCH CORPORATE RELEASE:
There seems to be some confusion about Bosch’s new online shopping tool.
Can you help educate your readers on the facts. Bosch is not selling direct to the public. All orders are being fulfilled by our valued dealers.
Bosch not selling direct to the public...sort of true
While Bosch's corporate release may cover their backside, I am not buying into it. I did not go all the way through with a purchase on the Bosch website, they do have listed on there that their order processor is www.shopatron.com. In very briefly looking at shopatron's website, my assumption (yes, assumption, as I am not interested in finding out more information about them) is that they are merely an order fulfillment service to create an insulating barrier between manufacturer and public, and then shopatron has the order fulfilled through "their fulfillment partners" as their website states. I would assume this would require a dealer to sign up with shopatron to get a piece of the pie that Bosch is so graciously letting dealers have a piece of. In my opinion, Bosch is selling direct to the public, no matter what their corporate release says. But if they feel safe behind the blanket of a 3rd party fulfillment service, then more power to them. What's most interesting is this: When you are in the Bosch shopping cart, the phone number for customer service changes to shopatron's toll free number. But while in the cart, there is this little sentence from Bosch: To find recommended installers in your area, please call 1-800-944-2904. Our sales support team will be happy to assist you. For those of you that do not recognize that phone number, that is Bosch customer service. Interesting how convenient to have both Bosch and shopatron's number on the same page. In addition, were any Bosch dealers reading this ever contacted about being able to get a piece of this pie that Bosch is letting their "valued dealers" fulfill for them? I was never contacted. So much for supporting the local business. But hey...Bosch is a huge global company, making decisions based on what they feel is in their best financial interest. So be it. I find their corporate answer somewhat reserved and misleading. Then again, this is America. Bill Clinton said that oral sex is not having sex. Enron said their practices were legitimate. I bet that Bernie Madoff was a legitimate investor as well. And of course, Bosch is not selling direct to the public. HOW TRUE!
BSH online
I went all the way through with a purchase. Wanted to determine who would fulfill an order for my area.
I am in the "Heart" of the South and my dishwasher arrived freightline from Abt. Just a mear 11-12 hours away. I paid MAP plus $59.00 for shipping. "No sales Tax" was collected. This is nice. Box (clear wrap and foam) was a little rough, but most of them are from BSH. I had it in 4 days, pretty quick.
So now we can educate the customer in the showroom, give them our best price. Customer goes home to discuss with the spouse. They look it up on the corporate site to be sure and hmmm, why drive back up to the dealer, we can buy it right here at the same price. Why fear an online purchase, this is the Manufacturer's site. And on the site it says average of 2-3 business days, the local dealer said to expect a week. And at the MAP price no less.
Customer can also add product protection and arrange installation (did not pursue these options).
I hope the BSH folks look at their internet policy. Why should any manufacturer offer items for sale? Seems like they devalue the dealer enough and now this. If independents go entirely away, the manufacturers will be stuck with big boxes and big regionals. They can fight for floor space and the low price will win. Sounds like a bad plan for companies who are raising prices because of material costs, crying about offshore dumping (which also sucks) and say they want to be innovative. Big box doesn't want innovative, they want commodity-cheap. The independent dealer is who sells the step up models, justifys value to the end user. We make the manufacturer profits by selling the better goods.
I think I'll just get a taco stand, but I'm sure somebody will figure out how to do that online too.
BSH Strategy
The BSH strategy has been clearly demonstrated by their actions over the past 11+ years since the acquisition of Thermador.
Prior to the acquisition, BSH (Bosch) was selling to Sears but had limited distribution through independent distributors and dealers. BSH wanted to pursue a strategy of mass marketing and needed manufacturing capacity in order to serve Big Box customers. But, they needed short-term volume to absorb inventory while they grew capacity in New Bern. That's where Thermador came in. Thermador had a network of distributors and dealers that could provide immediate volume for the Bosch brand.
As soon as the Big Boxes and Regional mega-stores were able to absorb BSH's production, the independent distributors and dealers became less important.
Your posting states that you are in the "heart of the South". Do you think you could have purchased a dishwasher on-line from APT if HADCO was still the BSH distributor? I think not.
Cohiba...
I have been very busy however I am having trouble following what you are saying here.If I define correctly what you are saying is that anyone should be able to buy from anyone anywhere in the country. I value the dealers however for us in the past distributors really helped push our business to a level we could not have achieved without their hard work to both market and sell the product. So the distributor in the south would have been serving dealers in the south , unless you are saying there is regional price differences which I am familar with in my current business but was unheard of in the appliance business I was in. Being idealistic the consumer should be paying the same price wherever they buy the product from don't you think ? It appears the way you explained it there is no more protected territories. Computers , internet , they are the anti-christ. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio ???
Stallion
This is the strategy BSH has followed - I didn't agree with it then and still don't. Thermador was only valuable to BSH because we had good distribution - and we had good distribution because we let distributors serve their own market.
Prior to BSH, Thermador controlled transhipping by not allowing a distributor to sell product outside of their own markets. And, they held their distributors responsible if a distributor's dealer sold product out of market. More than one distributor was cancelled because they couldn't (or wouldn't) control their territory. Most (good) distributors wanted local market control because they understood that the highway went in both directions and if they transhipped out of market or allowed their dealers to sell out of market, they could find other distributors doing the same to them.
But, BSH eliminated (all but a few) distributors. Apparently, they also ended any concern over local market control.
Cohiba...
Sometimes we have to wonder where the common sense and allegiance has gone. Thanks for clearing this up. Yes , THD had great distribution and frankly had good sales policies and strategies. You continued that great legacy during your time with them.
Open Letter to Bosch
Reader A-Box-A-Day claims that a purchase from Bosch's online shopping tool was fulfilled from the nation's largest dealer some 11 hours away by truck.
Bosch says above: All orders are being fulfilled by our valued dealers.
If the claims of A-Box-A-Day are found to be correct, if Bosch is directing online sales to key corporate accounts over the local dealer, or if there were some dealer membership level that not all dealers were offered, this will be a big problem. We hope that the claims are untrue, and await a response from Bosch.
Shopathon.com
Advisor,
I went on Bosch's website. As Box-A-Day claimed, there is an option to purchase online. There is also a note to contact "shopathon.com for questions about orders". I went on shopathon. It handles Internet sales for many different manufacturers and product categories. It is obviously not owned by or affiliated with BSH.
Consequently, if BSH allows shopathon to fulfill Internet orders through the shopathon bank of dealers, then BSH has no controls in place to prevent someone like ABT from shipping anywhere. For all we know, ABT is the only dealer shopathon has contracted with to handle appliance sales.
Well....
I guess we can all watch what BSH will do with this. Has ABT become self absorbed with this effort ?
Thanks Advisor...
My negativity aside I would be very surprised if Bosch was doing what a-box-a-day claims.It makes no sense.
Follow up offers from BSH...
I would wish that my post was not what it was, but it is indeed accurate. I did make purchase and had no choice of who would fulfill my order. It has been brought to my rep's attention and they are still seeking answers since they would probably get no credit for the sale either. I have now received a "Tell us about your recent BSH Appliances purchase" email. It's from Bosch Home Appliances. It has a survey and then as an insult to injury is suggesting other BSH products I might also enjoy! So now they are marketing directly to me! At the bottom of the email it is signed Bosch Home Appliances, at the base of the email it indicates Shopatron North America and Europe. I'm not new to this business or the Advisor, just new to posting. I believe this matter to be of great issue to any independent. It appears if you meet certain criteria then you can also be a fulfillment center. I am waiting to learn more. With all the manufacturers tooled up, I am sure they are looking for anyone who can take product and move it. The problem with this scenario is people aren't going to consume more off the internet, they are just going to buy it from the channel that offers the least resistance. Now this opens the entire online vs. brick and mortar argument. I still argue that without brick and mortar, you wouldn't have online. People have to see and touch most things, learn about them, compare... then they go on the hunt for the best price. Online searching offers the least "resistance". Online sales isn't reaching more customers, just the one's who spent two hours getting educated and comparing models in my showroom.
I am Literally.....
astounded over this effort by BSH. I am sorry this has happened to the fine dealer base out there....I am speechless.
If This is True....
it is a disgrace to the dealer. The problem today is generational to some extent. Just about anyone thirty or below thinks the world revolves around the internet. I suspect BSH has hired IT people in that range who think this is the way things should be. I find those IT types to be data driven only and have no sense of allegiance to anyone but their self serving methods. They are driven by what they have learned and what they have lived. The ones I have run across have no sense of respect for any legacy or any of the hard work anyone does. Generally it is because they have not worked a hard day in their lives but they know everything. Somehow the dealers are going to have to find a way to deal with this because it will only get worse. That is a shame. This is how jobs and businesses dry up. The big box buyers add to this with their eternally negative comments about prices always being too high thus causing those who want their business to keep lowering the bar. Sam Walton a genius ? HD a genius ? Costco a genius ? Those three stores have single handedly ruined dealers and manufacturer's margins and they continue not to care.
A totally unrelated story
I'm sure this has nothing to do with what you have observed. applianceadvisor.com/content/bosch-remembers-independents4000
Bosch Direct
Couldn't these sales be credited to the nearest dealer, or fulfilled by the nearest dealer? Without distribution to annoy, why not add a "Buy Now" button to the corporate website? Of course assuming that the nearest dealer gets the sale.