Miele Canada Re-invents Sales & Distribution

EXCLUSIVE & CONFIRMED
Effective July 2, all Miele consumer orders in Canada will be placed at brick and mortar dealer locations, face to face with a salesperson who together will enter the order using an online, password protected website  (https://www.mieledealernet.com).  All delivery, installation and service issues will be managed by Miele directly.  Miele has signed agreements with national installation, delivery and transport companies.  Except for the display units, the dealer will never touch the product.
We have also been tipped that dealer display units will be leased at $1/year to the dealer.  The entire program promises to cut costs throughout the system and improve service levels, though the $1 display lease, if true is a huge expense.  Dealers are said to love the program in theory but not without concern that the change sets them up to be removed polyp-like (not puppy-like) in the future from the sales stream.  Miele first employed the system successfully in Australia, but our tipster indicates that there is no plan to roll out the program in the US.....though why not?  Could 2-step distribution work with this type of system if their value add is that of a 5% Sales Rep?

UPDATE September 22:  Miele finally officially confirms our May 20, 2008 story with a press release.  Have not confirmed if they missed their July 2 launch, or if they had a soft launch quietly in July to work out the bugs before alerting the media.