Quote Originally Posted by Woochifer
Yeah, I don't see this having much, if any, effect on customers since it only impacts how the wholesale transaction is done. When I saw the headline, I thought NAD and PSB were going to a direct sales model, as in direct to consumer. That actually would have been newsworthy. But, the sale itself is still conducted by the retailer, so from the consumer's view, they don't see any change even if the behind-the-scenes distribution channels changed a lot.

Among the specialty audio brands, NHT's the only one that's trying to go to a direct-to-consumer sales model while still retaining a dealer network. My understanding of NHT's operation is that NHT's dealers provide space for demos, but even if the customer goes to a B&M store, all of the sales are handled online with the product delivered to the customer. Remains to be seen how well this works.
I would love to know how the NHT model works... Do the stores get paid a commission for the online sales made by customers from their store? Do they just get paid some kind retainer for maintaining a demo room?

The second idea (question) intrigues me... The concept of a store that has no intention of selling you anything, but exists solely as a demo area...