Viking appliances to be in all Direct Buy Clubs!
Submitted by breakingnews on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 1:45pm.
Ok here is what I just heard. Viking just finalized a deal to sell the Direct Buy clubs. Ill update as I hear more.
Advisor Note to this Forum Comment: We are convinced that Viking will not be selling major appliances to Direct Buy, though they may sell small appliances.
For details Click Here to see our comment below.
Deal is OFF Thanks to all of you from "Breaking News"
Yes I broke the story and started this forum. My inside sources have told me that Viking did indeed pull out! thanks to all of you who spoke up. The amount of push back from the dealers was incredible. I have to say I do admire Viking for doing the right thing here. However if no one spoke up this deal was done signed good night.
Let me tell you this it was so close to be done my inside source had pricing on some models and it was lower than my cost on some models. Ouch! well as is good now.
Now with all of us rejoicing. Think about this. Almo sells them, Euro chef sells them, Felix storch sells them. Kitchen Aid direct and G.E. direct even does home delivery for them for like $75, need I go on. Why do we continue to allow their members to use our showroom and our valuable time. Let me ask you what is your display requirement with Almo? thats what I thought.
Direct Buys has Zero product on the floor. Catalogue only. Remind your rep next time they ask for more floor space or tell you you need more on display to be at a higher tier pricing.
Anyway time to fry a bigger fish, Look for my post during the week on another topic. I have decided to stir the pot a little and be a voice for the appliance dealer. This topic I thought was to important and all you needed to know what was going on. A win for the good guys. Time to have more transparency in our industry. Thanks to all who posted or spoke up.
Breaking News
In total agreement
Hey, Breaking News! Yes, so we win one in the case of Viking not going in to Direct Buy but as you pointed out, Almo, KitchenAid, Ge etc. are all in there. You gotta love Whirlpool for telling dealers that they have to have X-percentage of their floors devoted to Whirlpool corporate products to be priced competitively when DB has only catalogs. Maybe Direct Buy has to guarantee Whirlpool that 40% of their appliance binders will be Whirlpool or KitchenAid ones???? It makes perfect sense, doesn't it?Looking forward to your next post, Breaking News! I expect we will see more wild and crazy things happening in our depressed industry. Makes for good conversation but bad business!
Floor Space....
It was explained to me by a dealer owner that certain percentages of floor space gives the dealer a rebate at years end, Example. 50% of display floor space gets you a .5% rebate , 75% of display floor space gets you a 1% rebate. When I discussed this with the dealer I showed him on paper how he was probably losing more money in margin erosion then he was gainng in a rebate. I guess this is how the big five likes to freeze out the competition but people need to scratch out the numbers. The key ? PROTECT DEALER MARGINS !!!!
We Are .....
with you. However be wary of Viking attacking this in the future or in another way. It is truly amazing how any organization could crap on those who got them to the dance. As with all these high end guys , many of them think the dealers went "along for the ride " be careful. I have heard that from some of those owners who think they were the most important part of the strategy. The only one fully sincere has been Surjit through the years. He understood your contribution .
Viking Appliances NOT in Direct Buy
A reliable source tells us that Viking is not going to sell Direct Buy its major appliances. Direct Buy sells Viking mixers, blenders, etc. but, according to our source, Viking has no plans whatsoever to sell Direct Buy major appliances.
Of course this makes more sense for all the reasons fretted about below. Selling the branded small appliances through wider distribution than used for the major appliances could provide several benefits to Viking:
Time to stop hyperventilating.
Advisor This ....
was one of those "trial balloons" sent out by Viking to test the waters so to speak.Similiar to what politicians do to test the waters. I can assure you there will be the day that Viking does just what the rumor says. The Liston effect will play a big part in this. The more his legacy fades , the more the pressure to do these types of things. Some of us have seen this many times over. Viking will not be immune to those moves.Viking was built on the shoulders of his marketing strategy. He was not cloned. The damage is done , the seed is planted and how much confidence will the good dealers have knowing this was considered ? It has a domino effect to be sure.
not going in Direct Buy
Yes, it has definitely been confirmed by Viking that they have come to their senses and opted NOT to go into Direct Buy. They received a huge amount of pushback from dealers and realized the foolishness of the whole concept. Now if KitchenAid, etc. would also see the light.......
The company I work for has
The company I work for has found this agreement to include the Designer series of Viking appliances. Confidence is such that many of our showrooms have removed the Designer displays.
Viking selling to Direct Buy
It is correct that Viking brass has been out talking to dealers about their opinion on this move. Decision is to be made by Friday, Nov. 4. Obviously, dealers are going to oppose this. I don't know what Viking is thinking other than the fact that business is so bad for them that they are grasping at straws. If they go through with this stupid idea, it will be their death. Watch for retailers to dramatically pare back on displays of Viking (this, however, will be offset by the 3 pieces that Direct Buy will display, ha ha) and to deemphasize the brand. Of course, consumers are already doing the latter for dealers, hence the terrible sales! Viking needs to build a quality product and work to rearn consumers' trust----and dealers.
PS
Forgot to mention one little thing: if Viking goes ahead with selling to Direct Buy, DB will not have to adhere to any UMRP/minimum sell price because Direct Buy is a "club" and therefore the rules don't apply to them. I suspect there will be more appliance "clubs" formed if this suicidal plan moves forward. It is estimated that Direct Buy's pricing would be some 15% below current dealer builder pricing. As we all know, Direct Buy sells nothing, they merely write up sales made elsewhere so in my opinion Viking will gain nothing but a lot of disenchanted dealers but no extra sales.
A Moment in Time...
where Liston Durden would bring this back to order. I suspect they are missing his kind wisdom. Besides the product quality I gather this is a move to spur immediate sales without a strategic marketing plan that takes into account the longer term and allegiance to those who got them to the dance. Why is it so difficult for some to get that ?
Selling to Direct Buy would
Selling to Direct Buy would be a monumental error of epic proportions for them. Liston would have steered them clear of this fiasco. I would assume their reasoning for this move is to expand their customer base because their current dealer base is not reaching enough customers. They will try to justify it by saying that the Direct Buy Customer is not the indpendent dealer's customer anyways. We all know that this is a load of hogwash. Viking sales at the independent dealers will drop even further. I hope that there is "consultation" actually going on and that the dealers and distributors that are "being consulted" create enough of a stink to preempt this stupid move. If its a done deal, then Viking will soon be also.
confirmed
to be sold at our cost with a minimal markup and no display requirements. is your blood boiling yet?
not confirmed?
I't my understanding that Viking is gathering feedback from the trade and this is not a done deal.