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Episode #9: transitioning online—successfully
Summary:
AudioAdvice established a solid reputation in a region, then leveraged that online.The ecommerce transition was not a “copy our success and paste it online.” Instead, it took massive soul-searching and question-asking to understand how, what and why would their customers buy online.They embraced competition with other online marketplaces.They effectively communicated a compelling value proposition through their website.They are available to provide advice at almost any time in a given week.They reach their audience throught targeted content pieces.
Meet Jonathan Stephens, with AudioAdvice
Jonathan is the general manager of AudioAdvice.com. He was one of the main instigators in moving AudioAdvice from two premium showrooms in North Carolina (and thus serving the local population) to online.AudioAdvice was founded in 1978, and launched their online store in 2015 (37 years later). Instead of splurging on a Harley, AudioAdvice’s midlife crisis meant going for a Magento site—and it is paying off.How did Jonathan come on board? While in school to get his MBA, Jonathan was mentored by the CEO of AudioAdvice.
AudioAdvice “back then”…
Audio Advice was started by Leon Shaw in 1978. HIs vision was to provide an exceptional world-class experience while focusing on high-performance goods in the audio/video space. At the time, there were 18 other competitors in his geography. Now, AudioAdvice has eclipsed the competitors in many ways—all through patient trial-and-error.
High-performance audio is another luxury market. You really want to love this $50k audio setup that you are going to get installed. Or, you want to appreciate the beauty of the $100k home theater configuration. Their showrooms in Raleigh, NC and Charlotte, NC are just that.
But, serving local markets is only so scalable… unless you want to drop a new store in every major city in the US (and that can be expensive).
AudioAdvice goes online.
Hearing perfect sound or seeing a beautiful image on a TV is not something you can easily replicate online. After all, the only headphones you might have could be from that flight back from Amsterdam last month—and you know they had to have cost Delta less than $0.10. They seem better at playing muffled static than actually hearing what was intended.
Locally, obviously, we have a very well-established brand but at a national level, Audio Advice was an unknown brand, for sure.Jonathan Stephens
They went online in a strategic, calculated way:
They could not ignore Amazon and other marketplaces.They had to replicate, as best as possible, their core value proposition.
How did they compete with Amazon?
Free, fast shipping.No-hassle returns.
(which, by the way, this is not cheap or easy to do in itself)
As they came to see, these offerings would reduce the friction to purchasing, but it wouldn’t necessarily ensure a sale. The sale comes from a compelling value proposition:
Superior knowledge in the industry.Effectively sharing that knowledge.Leveraging that knowledge in only selling the very. best. products.
They see the validation of this migration all the time:
Their repeat visitor purchase rate is very high.A customer was taking pictures in front of one of their stores. This is not normal behavior as parking lots are typically there to hold vehicles, while the driver goes inside. This customer was a massive fan of the AudioAdvice YouTube channel, and was super excited that he was in town and just had to stop by.
When we were looking at the e-commerce space in general and thinking about inspiration for the type of experience, the creative experience that we wanted to develop, we looked well outside of our existing industry for inspiration.Jonathan Stephens
Many retailers look to their own industry: what is my competitor doing? I need to copy them so I can take their sales. The key question that this misses is “what if
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By Joseph MaxwellSummary:
AudioAdvice established a solid reputation in a region, then leveraged that online.The ecommerce transition was not a “copy our success and paste it online.” Instead, it took massive soul-searching and question-asking to understand how, what and why would their customers buy online.They embraced competition with other online marketplaces.They effectively communicated a compelling value proposition through their website.They are available to provide advice at almost any time in a given week.They reach their audience throught targeted content pieces.
Meet Jonathan Stephens, with AudioAdvice
Jonathan is the general manager of AudioAdvice.com. He was one of the main instigators in moving AudioAdvice from two premium showrooms in North Carolina (and thus serving the local population) to online.AudioAdvice was founded in 1978, and launched their online store in 2015 (37 years later). Instead of splurging on a Harley, AudioAdvice’s midlife crisis meant going for a Magento site—and it is paying off.How did Jonathan come on board? While in school to get his MBA, Jonathan was mentored by the CEO of AudioAdvice.
AudioAdvice “back then”…
Audio Advice was started by Leon Shaw in 1978. HIs vision was to provide an exceptional world-class experience while focusing on high-performance goods in the audio/video space. At the time, there were 18 other competitors in his geography. Now, AudioAdvice has eclipsed the competitors in many ways—all through patient trial-and-error.
High-performance audio is another luxury market. You really want to love this $50k audio setup that you are going to get installed. Or, you want to appreciate the beauty of the $100k home theater configuration. Their showrooms in Raleigh, NC and Charlotte, NC are just that.
But, serving local markets is only so scalable… unless you want to drop a new store in every major city in the US (and that can be expensive).
AudioAdvice goes online.
Hearing perfect sound or seeing a beautiful image on a TV is not something you can easily replicate online. After all, the only headphones you might have could be from that flight back from Amsterdam last month—and you know they had to have cost Delta less than $0.10. They seem better at playing muffled static than actually hearing what was intended.
Locally, obviously, we have a very well-established brand but at a national level, Audio Advice was an unknown brand, for sure.Jonathan Stephens
They went online in a strategic, calculated way:
They could not ignore Amazon and other marketplaces.They had to replicate, as best as possible, their core value proposition.
How did they compete with Amazon?
Free, fast shipping.No-hassle returns.
(which, by the way, this is not cheap or easy to do in itself)
As they came to see, these offerings would reduce the friction to purchasing, but it wouldn’t necessarily ensure a sale. The sale comes from a compelling value proposition:
Superior knowledge in the industry.Effectively sharing that knowledge.Leveraging that knowledge in only selling the very. best. products.
They see the validation of this migration all the time:
Their repeat visitor purchase rate is very high.A customer was taking pictures in front of one of their stores. This is not normal behavior as parking lots are typically there to hold vehicles, while the driver goes inside. This customer was a massive fan of the AudioAdvice YouTube channel, and was super excited that he was in town and just had to stop by.
When we were looking at the e-commerce space in general and thinking about inspiration for the type of experience, the creative experience that we wanted to develop, we looked well outside of our existing industry for inspiration.Jonathan Stephens
Many retailers look to their own industry: what is my competitor doing? I need to copy them so I can take their sales. The key question that this misses is “what if