I'm not sure if everybody has the correct interpretation of what's going on. The way I see it, all the policy means is that (for example), Audioshop cannot LIST Axiom speakers for less than the price on the Axiom website.
Does this mean there's no advantage or potential savings to buying from a reseller? Very doubtful. Unless Axiom starts pricing speakers with a "manufacturer's minimum retail price" (I can't remember the acronym), you're still likely to get a deal from going to a store. I can't imagine any retailer not giving a deal on home electronics off the list price...no store would stay in business like that.
What Axiom appears to be doing is ensuring that they are the primary sellers of speakers over the net, or at least that there is no major incentive to buy from other web sites. This makes good business sense, particularly for the American market, and really doesn't penalize the consumer who shops at brick-and-mortar stores. Audioshop may very well lose a lot of sales over the net, but even that isn't a guarantee since most people seem to think Marc Hallam provides excellent service. In fact, there still isn't anything to prevent Audioshop from selling Axiom speakers on the net for less...Hallam just can't adverise that he's doing it.
This is probably much less of a deal than we're making of it.
Last edited by fhw; 03/28/02 03:40 PM.
