Phoenix, Ariz. – MTX Audio changed the name of its Connected Commerce program for brick-and-mortar retailers to Cloud Commerce and altered the program to pay dealers faster and reduce the cost of in-store demo units.
Under the original program, unveiled at International CES, brick-and-mortar dealers stock no inventory but instead place orders through a dealer portal on MTX.com. MTX then ships the order direct to the consumer or to the store. MTX also sells direct to consumers on its website at the same price.
When a purchase is made through a dealer, the dealer gets a commission check.
The program also includes a unilateral pricing policy (UPP), which requires all dealers to maintain a minimum retail price under penalty of losing the ability to resell MTX products.
MTX has promoted the program as reducing dealer and supplier costs, stemming discounting because dealers don’t have to discount to clear out inventory, and capturing customers who might otherwise be lost to showrooming.
MTX also said it has also been able to reduce product prices by 40 percent.
For dealers, advantages also include no buy-in minimums, no stocking requirements, no freight charges, no credit card processing fees, and no processing of returns and warranties.
Under the program’s changes, compensation to dealers will be paid within 7-10 days after each sale rather than paid in a single lump sum for all sales in a period of 30 to 45 days.
Under the new demo program, dealers are promised “a limited investment” to get demo models for in-store display.
