Quote:
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Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sony have made conscious choices not to target the wider audience in the bigger retail environment. Unless you really search, the average person cannot easily find and view these PJs, which makes it tough for the average Joe to demo them.....unless of course you want to lay out over $5K to order all of them and then ship them all back. So, the lay-person just test-drives the X1 from BBuy and falls in love, which is probably why you have such a huge X1 following on this forum. Many of us are blissfully ignorant of the other PJs, because we took the plunge and bought the X1, which looks amazing to us. IMHO, it sounds like the other vendors need to take a look at the marketing strategy of Infocus and reconsider theirs.
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The quote above comes from another thread and it brings up an interesting point.
Is it the manufacturers or the retailers who are really deciding what product makes it in the retail stores? Front PJs are an interesting segment because they are widely considered to be computer peripherals. It's only in the past 18 months that a home theater segment is beginning to appear. (This excludes high-dollar PJs sold at high-end shops).
Many of the projectors people would like to demo ARE hard to find -- in retail. However, I've found that -- if you're willing to pay a premium -- you could go to your local office/media/presentations location and set up a demo. They'd want to know you are willing to pay THEIR price (higher than internet) and they'd want to BELIEVE you were seriously considering the product -- before they'd agree to it!
Certainly, we can ASSUME the manufacturers are the ones still sending PJs through the computer/office presentation channels. But are they really wrong? Should they go the Big Buster Electronics instead? Let's look at the X1.
BBuy picked up the X1 and sells it with a 30-day guarantee. Their overhead is higher because of salesman and a salesfloor. When you return this product, they may not recoup all/part of the credit card processing fees. And, they have to "pay" to restock the item. Then, the next person wants a discount to buy a used (open-box) item. Also, during the whirlwind sales of X1, the price dropped 40%! This also cuts into Best Buy's profit. (Some of that is eased through InFocus rebates, but Best Buy still took a big hit on this product).
The final result... BBuy can't be that thrilled and the manufacturers may be thinking. Wow, look at that mess....
Who won? The buyers did. But it can't keep going, can it? That's why we're hearing the the X1 has to be made cheaper. So, is this why the other projectors aren't in this band wagon?
Is it that the manufacturers aren't savy enough to go to big retailers or that big retailers don't see the profit margin in a product that has a more limited following than standard rear view display devices?
What REALLY needs to happen so we can see these projectors in the retail stores? (And, how can we assure the retailers we won't buy over the net after viewing the product in their stores)?
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Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sony have made conscious choices not to target the wider audience in the bigger retail environment. Unless you really search, the average person cannot easily find and view these PJs, which makes it tough for the average Joe to demo them.....unless of course you want to lay out over $5K to order all of them and then ship them all back. So, the lay-person just test-drives the X1 from BBuy and falls in love, which is probably why you have such a huge X1 following on this forum. Many of us are blissfully ignorant of the other PJs, because we took the plunge and bought the X1, which looks amazing to us. IMHO, it sounds like the other vendors need to take a look at the marketing strategy of Infocus and reconsider theirs.
=====================================================
The quote above comes from another thread and it brings up an interesting point.
Is it the manufacturers or the retailers who are really deciding what product makes it in the retail stores? Front PJs are an interesting segment because they are widely considered to be computer peripherals. It's only in the past 18 months that a home theater segment is beginning to appear. (This excludes high-dollar PJs sold at high-end shops).
Many of the projectors people would like to demo ARE hard to find -- in retail. However, I've found that -- if you're willing to pay a premium -- you could go to your local office/media/presentations location and set up a demo. They'd want to know you are willing to pay THEIR price (higher than internet) and they'd want to BELIEVE you were seriously considering the product -- before they'd agree to it!
Certainly, we can ASSUME the manufacturers are the ones still sending PJs through the computer/office presentation channels. But are they really wrong? Should they go the Big Buster Electronics instead? Let's look at the X1.
BBuy picked up the X1 and sells it with a 30-day guarantee. Their overhead is higher because of salesman and a salesfloor. When you return this product, they may not recoup all/part of the credit card processing fees. And, they have to "pay" to restock the item. Then, the next person wants a discount to buy a used (open-box) item. Also, during the whirlwind sales of X1, the price dropped 40%! This also cuts into Best Buy's profit. (Some of that is eased through InFocus rebates, but Best Buy still took a big hit on this product).
The final result... BBuy can't be that thrilled and the manufacturers may be thinking. Wow, look at that mess....
Who won? The buyers did. But it can't keep going, can it? That's why we're hearing the the X1 has to be made cheaper. So, is this why the other projectors aren't in this band wagon?
Is it that the manufacturers aren't savy enough to go to big retailers or that big retailers don't see the profit margin in a product that has a more limited following than standard rear view display devices?
What REALLY needs to happen so we can see these projectors in the retail stores? (And, how can we assure the retailers we won't buy over the net after viewing the product in their stores)?