future of aftermarket?

Picked up a copy of the CA&E Buyer's Guide last May and it had 30 or so pages of product listings, not what it once was by far. Should be interesting to see if the magazine exists this May. Many Manufactures have vanished or been absorbed in the last two years. It did make me happy to see Audiobahn fall. With OEM DVD's, Navigation, Alarms, Bose crap, what is left for the mobile electronics business? CES didn't offer any "got to have" new products. Guess I'm looking for some predictions. With ebay becoming more and more of a shopping cart, how are business owners looking to keep retail sales? There is so much cheap crap for sale it's tough to get customers to understand the difference. I see the high end products and installs staying alive but a crash for all the others. Maybe IASCA and DB Dragracing can keep the industry wheels turning. Not trying to be negative here, just trying to get a feel where things might be going.

Are you a business owner ? Just curious because I am and I just make sure that I diversify my portfolio of products that I sell. When I first started up it was mainly car audio and tuners for vehicles and now I have 70 % truck accessories and 10 % tuners and 20 % just regular vehicles ( non tuners ). The markets have changed for me and right now it seems that the truck market is a huge spinning wheel with lots of money to spend. Most of the truck guys are not kids out of high school rather people in their mid to late 20's. The audio sector has definitely changed for us as well where we use to sell to kids in high school, we now are changing the market to families that have mini vans or SUV's that want rear entertainment or iPod interface/SAT radio installs. The big wave for us this year is to try to get into OEM integration and get people to keep the entire system but spend money on add-ons such as subs, sub amps, iPod interface modules, Lockpick systems, etc... In conclusion I think that market is still there, just went a different direction that expected. You think this is bad for the aftermarket sector?..... just wait until the automotive industry has to change over to the 42 volt system ! Jeff

Velocity Custom Home Theater

Mobile Audio/Video Specialist

Morden, Manitoba CANADA

I don't really see it going down really. It just seems that things are changing quite a bit. Which can be a good thing for the industry though it may even get it a bit more respect. who knows... OEM integration seems to be what everyone wants these days so i'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of that as well.A DMM is a beautiful thing.

MECP Advanced Installer Certified.

As usual Jeff is exactly right, here we seem to be split between integration of ipod and BT kits, vehicle tracking and audio jobs on older cars, OK, their engines stink, the interior is tatty but by golly they spend the money. On many new cars the owners don't realise that the audio has BT and that's good for us. Frankly who wouldn't rather do an alarm & R/S on an 8 year old Toyota than a new CAN laden vehicle.

I was in business until the marked started its downward slide.  I don't do installs, the liability is too much.  As for retail sales, I worked out of my house( no 15000.00 shop rent) and now I stick to ebay.  I can get products below cost there, It's a cold hard fact, but in retail the goals set by the vendors are getting harder and harder to maintain so you have to drift to the net to stay on top.  It suxx but the ones who make the industry tick will be the show organizations and the internet sellers.  The industry is not helped by the fact that formerly good names are now sold en masse by Circuit City and Bust Buy. mdexxxiv

maximusde34 wrote:    The industry is not helped by the fact that formerly good names are now sold en masse by Circuit City and Bust Buy.

.... and eBayJeff

Velocity Custom Home Theater

Mobile Audio/Video Specialist

Morden, Manitoba CANADA

Velocity Motors wrote: maximusde34 wrote:    The industry is not helped by the fact that formerly good names are now sold en masse by Circuit City and Bust Buy. .... and eBay

Yes, manufacturers are selling there too.  That seems to be the way the industry may shift.  Ebay would probably be a good launch platform for new products.  It may head that way, saves overhead and advert expense.

mdexxxiv