Fender selling direct

[tbz]

There is no way on earth that FMIC is going to alienate their dealer network with a move like this. Whatever the details are, they've been worked out with the dealers in advance.

Not arguing, but just posing this as it seems relevant. With GC being so unstable, and with Fender's IPO having been pulled recently, partly due to reliance to GC, wouldn't it make sense that they ARE planning to alienate the dealer network?

With the financial instability present with GC, who sells 1/6th of all Fenders made, wouldn't it make sense that they would want to break out of the current, traditional, brick and mortar model?

If I was in any position of power at Fender I know I'd personally want to start to decouple them from the existing, somewhat broken, distributor => retail store => customer chain.

 

[Mofo-Kang]

I don't know, I can imagine there are people willing to pay a premium to get options that aren't on the basses in their local stores.

Unlined fretless basses? Unlined fretless basses with a MAPLE fingerboard? Yes, please!

 

[TheGreatSealof]

Strange. Unless they set the online price to be significantly higher than dealer street prices (thus rendering the online ordering pointless), they're going to seriously anger their dealer network.

They're also going to have to adapt to a much more hands on customer service approach if they're selling straight to end users.

I agree. Current Fender prices on their WS are considerably higher than the prices offered at other retailers. Seams to me that they will have to be more competitive pricewise.

 

[TheGreatSealof]

Strange. Unless they set the online price to be significantly higher than dealer street prices (thus rendering the online ordering pointless), they're going to seriously anger their dealer network.

They're also going to have to adapt to a much more hands on customer service approach if they're selling straight to end users.

The recommended retail prices on the Fender WS are already significantly higher than dealer street prices.

 

[Bert Slide]

If I was in any position of power at Fender I know I'd personally want to start to decouple them from the existing, somewhat broken, distributor => retail store => customer chain.

It wasn't the small retailers who broke the traditional supply chain dynamic. Not in musical instruments or so many other products. It's a widespread Walmart business model in the big retailers combined with corporate urgency of the big manufacturers to keep getting bigger and fueled by consumers who desire to pay less even as they watch their local economies devastated.

The neighborhood music store is not gone but getting as rare as the neighborhood hardware store. Y'all keep enjoying all that cheap plastic crap you bought at Walmart and GC.

 

[Malak the Mad]

The recommended retail prices on the Fender WS are already significantly higher than dealer street prices.

If you're looking at the prices on the list-view, those aren't "Street Price" or the "MAP" (Minimum Advertised Price) Bert Slide was talking about. (specifically, it's in this post) If you click onto a specific model, any will do, there should be the letters "MSRP" next to the price. That's the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price and is rarely the MAP/street-price of an item. That's why you see vastly different prices between the Fender site and most other retailers.

As I stated in an earlier post on this thread, a number of items Fender sells directly to the consumer via their website (parts, accessories, etc…) have both a "Fender Direct" price and an MSRP price listed quietly below.

 

[4andnomore]

+1 for unlined fretless. Not holding my breath though.