LAS VEGAS –
ProSource, the specialty
A/V arm of the BrandSource buying
group, held its annual International CES
bash at Bally’s on the eve of the show.
The dealer organization, comprised of
the Progressive Retailers Organization
(PRO Group) and Home Entertainment
Source (HES), used the occasion to
announce PRO’s new partnership with
eBay (see TWICE, Jan. 10), and
renewed its call for margin relief.
“2012 is all about increased profitability,”
PRO Group executive director/
COO Dave Workman told the crowd.
“We have to make more money, and
there are going to be some changes.”
David Pidgeon, newly elected president
of HES and CEO of Dallas-based
dealer and custom installer Starpower,
concurred. “The times have taken margins
down and the independent dealer
needs ways to make money in other areas,”
he told TWICE, and added that
independents will benefit from big-box
chains’ current woes.
eBay senior director/chief electronics
merchant Noah Herschman said the
pact with PRO will help give members
online parity and will provide e-tail services
including store design, payment
options, inventory management and
even mobile shopping apps.
“We’re both committed to specialty
retail,” he said. “It’s about the enthusiast
customer.”
“We’re a brick-and-click operation,”
added Workman. “We’re committed to
multichannel and are at the front end of
the whole evolution.”
Joining Pidgeon on the HES board
is first-time director Jeff Schneider of
Pyramid Audio Video, who succeeds
Marty Hayse of Dennis Sage Home Entertainment.
Pidgeon pledged to “work
tirelessly to improve the performance of
our group, forge tighter bonds with our
vendor partners and raise the trajectory
of our business channel so together we
can help our membership increase bottom-
line profits.”
Also on hand at the ProSource shindig
were Earth, Wind & Fire band members
Verdine White, Philip Bailey and
Ralph Johnson, to support their Gratitude
headphone line by Monster.
Separately, BrandSource reported
its best Black Friday promotion ever as
a result of new incentives and options
offered through its Expert Warehouse
II distribution program. The fulfillment
initiative, managed by Ingram Micro,
offers more than 8,000 SKUs in multiple
categories and improved logistics,
warehousing, shipping and billing
efficiencies. Its wider assortment of
brands, solutions and categories, including
laptops, tablets, headphones,
iPod docks and IT-networking components,
were developed to help members
drive store traffic, boost sales and
augment planned purchases with rentto-
own options.
In other BrandSource news, former
digital marketing manager Bob Donaldson
has been promoted to digital
communications VP. In this new role,
Donaldson will oversee member communications,
social media and email marketing
campaigns, Internet sales, the Brand-
Source app, an extensive redesign of the
group’s backroom communications area,
and other new digital technologies, the
buying group said.
