Comments on: Flat-panel TV makers sing the discount blues

Big consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers say deep price cuts on flat panels will eventually end. They hope.

[coachgeorge]

HMM Lets See

Okay, the complaint is that the LCD Mfg.s were price fixing. A loaner, Vizio, comes into town and decides to sell the products at a reasonable, real market price. The price fixers, in order to compete drop their prices. Mean time the retailers, who also were price gouging, are forced to either drop their prices or have excessive inventories.
The manufacturers sold their devices through so many outlets, their strategy to gain market share, that the plasma's and LCD's have become commodities and not speciality items.

I am sorry, I have no sympathy for either the retailers or mfg's.

[coachgeorge]

HMM Lets See

Okay, the complaint is that the LCD Mfg.s were price fixing. A loaner, Vizio, comes into town and decides to sell the products at a reasonable, real market price. The price fixers, in order to compete drop their prices. Mean time the retailers, who also were price gouging, are forced to either drop their prices or have excessive inventories.
The manufacturers sold their devices through so many outlets, their strategy to gain market share, that the plasma's and LCD's have become commodities and not speciality items.

I am sorry, I have no sympathy for either the retailers or mfg's.

[bluemist9999]

Why would this close stores?

I don't understand how lower LCD TV prices would cause stores to close. That's like saying "prices for milk are down so the local grocery store is closing its doors."

Surely the stores aren't solely relying on one cash cow to sustain them? That sounds like poor business practices.

[bluemist9999]

Why would this close stores?

I don't understand how lower LCD TV prices would cause stores to close. That's like saying "prices for milk are down so the local grocery store is closing its doors."

Surely the stores aren't solely relying on one cash cow to sustain them? That sounds like poor business practices.

[C_G_K]

Don't use TV's as a scapegoat

Cry me a river... too bad that companies like Circuit City can no longer sell flat panel TV's at hyper inflated prices to make up for the pathetic performance of the rest of their product line. Circuit City has had, in my experience, very poor customer service. I remember when they fired all their seasoned managers and replaced them with inexperienced ones. I was, at that time, treated like a criminal when I wanted to find out the price and rebate of an item BEFORE I purchased it, which I was told was not possible (I had seen an item on their website and was wondering if the instore price was the same). They could ring it up (it was a laptop) and then could tell me what the price and rebate was, but if I was unhappy, there would be a 15% restocking fee if I asked to have it refunded on the spot, without even touching the box!!!!!! This is obviously a farce and the rookie manager acted like I was being an unreasonable jerk. What a way to treat a customer. I see this whining about TV prices as a smokescreen to cover for the poor way companies like Circuit City and CompUSA have been managed. Have they not noticed that BestBuy has done away with mail in rebates? That is one reason I prefer Best Buy. MOST CUSTOMERS HATE AND HAVE BEEN BURNED BY MAIL IN REBATES!! As for the manufacturers, I have no sympathy either. It a free market out there, too bad if you don't like it. I bought a VIZIO and love it. My brother bought a sony at twice the price and I don't see it being any better picture or feature wise. It will probable last longer, but who cares. By the time the vizio dies, I will be ready to upgrade to the latest and greatest anyway.

[C_G_K]

Don't use TV's as a scapegoat

Cry me a river... too bad that companies like Circuit City can no longer sell flat panel TV's at hyper inflated prices to make up for the pathetic performance of the rest of their product line. Circuit City has had, in my experience, very poor customer service. I remember when they fired all their seasoned managers and replaced them with inexperienced ones. I was, at that time, treated like a criminal when I wanted to find out the price and rebate of an item BEFORE I purchased it, which I was told was not possible (I had seen an item on their website and was wondering if the instore price was the same). They could ring it up (it was a laptop) and then could tell me what the price and rebate was, but if I was unhappy, there would be a 15% restocking fee if I asked to have it refunded on the spot, without even touching the box!!!!!! This is obviously a farce and the rookie manager acted like I was being an unreasonable jerk. What a way to treat a customer. I see this whining about TV prices as a smokescreen to cover for the poor way companies like Circuit City and CompUSA have been managed. Have they not noticed that BestBuy has done away with mail in rebates? That is one reason I prefer Best Buy. MOST CUSTOMERS HATE AND HAVE BEEN BURNED BY MAIL IN REBATES!! As for the manufacturers, I have no sympathy either. It a free market out there, too bad if you don't like it. I bought a VIZIO and love it. My brother bought a sony at twice the price and I don't see it being any better picture or feature wise. It will probable last longer, but who cares. By the time the vizio dies, I will be ready to upgrade to the latest and greatest anyway.

[natejohnstone]

Yes, low $$$ tvs = store closings

Large screen tvs are what people were buying last year, plain
and simple. That's what they spent their electronics dollars on (I
don't have the figures, but it's a high percentag of the income of
all the retail chains).
When the profit margin on your #1 product goes WAY down, you
overall profit margin goes WAY down too. Very simple.
CompUSA and CircuitCity didn't loose money last year, per se,
but they made so little that in order to keep thier companies
alive they decided to restructure. Store closings where their
solution, and will likely in turn try to boost inline sales.

[oxtail01]

NO, not making money closes stores!

To say one particular product is responsible for CC or CompUSA closing stores is pretty ridiculous. Problems with low margins has been around for a while. Do you know how Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA generate most of their profits? It's selling extended warranty plans.

[natejohnstone]

Yes, low $$$ tvs = store closings

Large screen tvs are what people were buying last year, plain
and simple. That's what they spent their electronics dollars on (I
don't have the figures, but it's a high percentag of the income of
all the retail chains).
When the profit margin on your #1 product goes WAY down, you
overall profit margin goes WAY down too. Very simple.
CompUSA and CircuitCity didn't loose money last year, per se,
but they made so little that in order to keep thier companies
alive they decided to restructure. Store closings where their
solution, and will likely in turn try to boost inline sales.

[oxtail01]

NO, not making money closes stores!

To say one particular product is responsible for CC or CompUSA closing stores is pretty ridiculous. Problems with low margins has been around for a while. Do you know how Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA generate most of their profits? It's selling extended warranty plans.

[tpegan]

nothing's changed

20 years ago there was a no-name manufacturer that was undercutting the big guys. That manufacturer was Samsung. 20 years before that it was Panasonic, or just about any Japanese company.

[tpegan]

nothing's changed

20 years ago there was a no-name manufacturer that was undercutting the big guys. That manufacturer was Samsung. 20 years before that it was Panasonic, or just about any Japanese company.

[lleather]

You want a global economy...now you have one.

Just bought a vizio 50 plasma after looking very hard at the pioneer HD5070. I just couldn't see enough differences to substantiate the fact that I could get the Vizio for 1/2 the cost of Pioneer. Every customer comment I read indicated satisfaction with the product. I read several very negative comments about Pioneer having burn in issues and not resolving the issues.

Now if only us consumers could put the gas companies in the same boat ...... :) :)

[lleather]

You want a global economy...now you have one.

Just bought a vizio 50 plasma after looking very hard at the pioneer HD5070. I just couldn't see enough differences to substantiate the fact that I could get the Vizio for 1/2 the cost of Pioneer. Every customer comment I read indicated satisfaction with the product. I read several very negative comments about Pioneer having burn in issues and not resolving the issues.

Now if only us consumers could put the gas companies in the same boat ...... :) :)

[cahilltj]

Sherman Act

In the article Mr. Workman from PRO group states "(manufaturers)
were not strict enough with their minimum price requirements as
they joined in on the discount binge." Mr. Workman would do well
to remember that mimimun price requirements are illeagal, and
for good reason. Competition. Sounds like The tv guys are headed
for the same kind of shake out/up that PC makers went through.
Bad for them...great for consumers.

[natejohnstone]

NO

He wasn't talking about price-fixing, he was talking about a
specific manufacturer setting a minimum price for a specific model
tv. When a manufacturer doesn't hold firm enough to this, retailers
have more freedom to cut prices to compete with other retailers. In
the case of Big Screens lately, most of the manufacturers have been
lax in setting firm minimums.
He was not saying that Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, etc. should
have gotten together to decide what hdtvs should cost--that would
have been illegal.

[cahilltj]

Sherman Act

In the article Mr. Workman from PRO group states "(manufaturers)
were not strict enough with their minimum price requirements as
they joined in on the discount binge." Mr. Workman would do well
to remember that mimimun price requirements are illeagal, and
for good reason. Competition. Sounds like The tv guys are headed
for the same kind of shake out/up that PC makers went through.
Bad for them...great for consumers.

[natejohnstone]

NO

He wasn't talking about price-fixing, he was talking about a
specific manufacturer setting a minimum price for a specific model
tv. When a manufacturer doesn't hold firm enough to this, retailers
have more freedom to cut prices to compete with other retailers. In
the case of Big Screens lately, most of the manufacturers have been
lax in setting firm minimums.
He was not saying that Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, etc. should
have gotten together to decide what hdtvs should cost--that would
have been illegal.

[badsponge]

Adapt or die

Their attitude pisses me off. The brand names just want to keep their monopoly. How dare they lament their "mistake" that they dropped prices too much? Uh, that's called capitalism. Brick-and-mortar stores deserve to go out of business if they can't compete. Stores like CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, are overpriced fossils in a new world economy.

[badsponge]

Adapt or die

Their attitude pisses me off. The brand names just want to keep their monopoly. How dare they lament their "mistake" that they dropped prices too much? Uh, that's called capitalism. Brick-and-mortar stores deserve to go out of business if they can't compete. Stores like CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, are overpriced fossils in a new world economy.

[aporter5]

They want mass HDTV sales but not HDTV for the masses.

When I walk in a BB showroom I see 80% percent of the floor dedicated to flat-panel or RP HDTV. I rarely ever see a direct-view hdtv prominently on the floor or advertised. Over the air digital television and hdtv are inevitable thanks to the government, entertainment formats are moving to hd resolutions (hd cable/sat, hd-dvd, blue-ray, ps3, X360). Everyone will be forced to adopt this technology, however the electronics industry doesn't seem dedicated to providing products everyone can afford. If they want flat-panel to be a pricey upscale product they should stop giving them away, and start pushing affordable quality direct-view sets.

[aporter5]

They want mass HDTV sales but not HDTV for the masses.

When I walk in a BB showroom I see 80% percent of the floor dedicated to flat-panel or RP HDTV. I rarely ever see a direct-view hdtv prominently on the floor or advertised. Over the air digital television and hdtv are inevitable thanks to the government, entertainment formats are moving to hd resolutions (hd cable/sat, hd-dvd, blue-ray, ps3, X360). Everyone will be forced to adopt this technology, however the electronics industry doesn't seem dedicated to providing products everyone can afford. If they want flat-panel to be a pricey upscale product they should stop giving them away, and start pushing affordable quality direct-view sets.

[drewpeltier]

HDMI Cable

I was dumb enough to actually pay 100 bucks for that HDMI cable. Just about had a coronary. I did get a heck of a deal on my Samsung DLP TV but some of the cash I saved went for that stupid cable.

[drewpeltier]

HDMI Cable

I was dumb enough to actually pay 100 bucks for that HDMI cable. Just about had a coronary. I did get a heck of a deal on my Samsung DLP TV but some of the cash I saved went for that stupid cable.