LONG BEACH, CALIF. —
Pioneer Electronics is making
a greater selection of
mainstream-series AVRs
available to authorized Internet
retailers, the latest
change in its approach to
home CE retail distribution.
The announcement follows
the company’s move to
independent sales reps for
home CE products.
Internet retailers are now
eligible to sell all AVRs in the mainstream series, which is
priced up to $749. Previously, Internet
retailers were given access to AVRs
up to $499. The mainstream series
consists of five AVRs.
In late February Pioneer began notifying
retailers that it is eliminating its direct
sales force in favor of independent
reps for its home electronics line.
Russ Johnston, marketing and
product planning executive VP, told
TWICE the reasons for the change are
“to reduce our fi xed costs and we want
to improve the service to our customers.
It was important to increase the
number of sales people in the field.”
Johnston said seven direct salespeople
will be let go by Pioneer and that
as of now, “We have hired five reps. We
have another two we are in the contract
stage with [and] by April we need to
hire around six to eight more. Our current
direct sales force will all be let go
by the end of March,” which is the end
of its parent company’s fiscal year.
Pioneer will still maintain a directsales
force for car electronics, Johnston
said.
