Rumor has it...

[Manoet]

Devialet just picked up another $25M investment from an unnamed source in the past day or two but suspicion is high it 'may' be a US benefactor and possibly due to the following info. Part of this windfall is supposedly to be used to preclude choosing even a single existing US dealer or distributor and instead opening 12 US Devialet "company-owned" locations initially in high-end retail locations. My source is iron clad but he can't vouch as strongly for his source tho he feels strongly its substantive information. Intuitively it smacks of Devialet wanting to be a luxury brand and their dogmatic opposition to dealer-discounting which I personally see as self-destructive. Is anyone REALLY so naive to believe Dr's, lawyers, investment bankers, trust-fund babies and the well-heeled/well-to-do et al, really pay full-pop retail for Ferrari's, Lambo's and Rolex's!?! Devialet aint Ferarri or Rolex and the real world isn't Devialet-Dubai!

If memory serves, and specifically related to audio, B&O tried this exact business model over 2 decades ago and it essentially killed them... PERIOD! And hell, they even had speakers & other drop-dead gorgeous, bullet-proof product that worked flawlessly when it was released to market... every time! Today they're a faint shadow of their former self. Their sole remaining audio division has now sold their ICE amp division to try to remain afloat. And this from a corporation that held over 50 audio-related patents dating back to May of 1989. Some corporation's arrogance simply knows no boundaries. See any similarities?

[Jnan_devi]

I just wish it works out. Dealers do their job well. However, opening their own showroom, similar to Apple, which works, is what D is trying I guess!.

Good Luck to Devialet folks !

[NickB]

Pretty certain Naim don't allow dealer discounting - doesn't seem to have done them any harm.

And who said there were going to be no dealers - as far as I am aware it is there are no distributors.

[Jnan_devi]

Pretty certain Naim don't allow dealer discounting - doesn't seem to have done them any harm.

And who said there were going to be no dealers - as far as I am aware it is there are no distributors.

Correct! My bad. Dealers will/should exist and the showrooms to show cause "hey this is what we are, now if impressed go buy" .

But Its a good move by D in my opinion. Interesting to see how it goes. US is HUGE east coast to west coast, there is lot of acres to cover .

[Rufus McDufus]

I do know in the UK they've just cut the sole distributor Absolute Sounds out of the chain and are selling direct to the retailers with strict conditions on how the products are sold. I have to admit I assumed this was the model they were adopting elsewhere too. I didn't realise this plan may be connected to the additional funding they secured to specifically sell more Devialet's to the U.S. market though.

[Manoet]

As I understand the situation and again I emphasize this is 'rumor', there will be no independent US Devialet dealers or distributors... none, nada, zero, zilch, bupkus. It will be like the old Bang & Olufsen company owned stores or Apple company owned stores currently. That's why I used the B&O analogy in my original post. The way I'm understanding it the total US will be handled exclusively by Devialet company owned stores, staffed by employees of Devialet. Each store will be environmentally built-out and finished identically, to a specification. The sole purveyor of Devialet in the US will be Devialet. Sorry for the earlier confusion.

[Jnan_devi]

As I understand the situation and again I emphasize this is 'rumor', there will be no independent US Devialet dealers or distributors... none, nada, zero, zilch, bupkus. It will be like the old Bang & Olufsen company owned stores or Apple company owned stores currently. That's why I used the B&O analogy. The way I'm understanding it the total US will be handled exclusively by Devialet company owned stores. Each one built out and finished identically and to a specification. The retailer, distributor and dealers in this case will be Devialet, exclusively. Sorry for the earlier confusion.

Understood! after reading all of "none, nada, zero, zilch, bupkus" these .

This is Interesting to see how they will manage! Apple i can understand given many users for smart-phone devices. But how many Audiophile will go with Devialet, given way too many options out there. Some can wonder Devialet is unique (including myself) but there are friends who auditioned my setup appreciate the SQ (in true sense), but they still cannot digest the philosophy of Devialet. Comments like its digital only, or its a computer-amp etc continues !.

Indeed Interesting! I think they can create Show-Room/ State of art show-rooms, and allow dealers to sell them. The Show rooms should be used to market and show off the D's and Phantoms, but allow Dealers to deal with commercials/sell them in original style. after all how many buyers they will find. its not smartphone which sell in millions! (Apple example)

[completeluxury]

the reason for them to want to do it is pretty simple really.

I wont go into specifics.. but what Devialet and the distributors make per sale pales in comparison to the dealer.

they wont have to sell nearly as many to make the same amount of profit.

i think its a stupid move. whats good about a dealer is they usually have a showroom where they can audition the devialet with different upmarket speaker brands and the customer can then make a choice on the entire package.

although i just found this out today - in australia there is the sole distributor and im one of 3 dealers allowed only in my city but i have another distributor that sells raidho speakers. i just had a browse through their website today and noticed devialet is a new addition to their line up. this is bad for me as it adds more competition so i asked the question about whether the distributor had changed.

The answer was - no, they are only allowed to sell their products retail at full price because they are the raidho distributor.

i wonder if this has anything to do with the mystery investor mentioned at the start?

EDIT - Was way off base. they are just a dealer for devialet even though they are a distributor. they like the raidho devialet combo.

[Rufus McDufus]

Ah yes Manoet, I was being stupid - of course that's what they need the 25 million dollars for! I have a horrible vision of Devialet 'geniuses' staffing the stores.
Phantom is of course a product with ultimately a different target customer to the Expert range so it will be interesting to see how this works for both if that's what the change entails.

[Manoet]

Another thing that bears pointing out is this far-fetched notion that all dealers of all high calibre brands sell only at retail with no discount and that its carved in stone. Whether its Naim, Raidho or a gazillion others doesn't matter. You'd have to be crazy to buy into that notion! A dealer will do what's necessary to make the sale! I know it, they know it, you know it, EVERYBODY knows it! Don't make me mention the thousands of ways its possible, we're all adult here. If you pay retail for ANY big-ticket item then you simply paid more than you had to. Far as I know only Apple succeeds at that with iPhone and only for the 1st and 2nd quarters after any new release although even with the new iPhone there's a myriad of other incentives to sweeten the pot offered by carriers to get you to buy theirs. Retail is simply not a sustainable notion in today's global economy. On paper you may pay "full-pop" for Naim/Raidho/Devialet etc but c'mon what else is on that receipt that's DEEPLY discounted or thrown in gratis!?! I've been around this game over five decades and bought my first 'new' audio gear in the mid-60's. It was that way then and as my one month old 200 bears out its that way today. As I said early on in my original post... Ferrari's, Lambo's, Rolex's... no one "has" to pay retail on any big-ticket item and no one does!

Its not a good thing or a bad thing, a right thing or a wrong thing, really not even a here thing or there thing... but moreover simply the way it is. The sale and the 'art' of the deal.