From: brycerw@brandonu.ca
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: FOR PETE'S SAKE CBM!Re: Upgrade Amiga OR buy 486??
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:57:57 GMT
Organization: Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

In article <NV4ioB1w165w@bluemoon.rn.com>, brianl@bluemoon.rn.com (Brian Lowry) writes:
> 
>         Well, I am truely upset by Commodores new Letter to Dealers.  I 
> write this now because maybe you will see why there are fewer Dealerships 
> and current ones being lost.  It reads:
> 
>         Dear Authorized Affiliate:
> 
>         During the past year the Affiliate Program has matured into a 
> significant channel for the distribution of the Commodore Amiga product 
> line.  In order to continue the momentum, several modifications have been 
> initated:
> 
>                 1) Affiliates will now be able to purchase Commodore 
>                    product from any Commodore Distributor.
> 
>                 2) All Affiliates will be assigned an ID# which must be 
>                    when you order product from an Authorized Distributor.
>  
> Look at this -> 3) All Affiliates MUST place an opening order of $2500 and
>                    retain sales of $20,000 annually/$5000 every calendar
>                    quarter in order to remain active.
> 
>         Signed Geoffrey Stilley, VP Sales
> 
> ----------
> 
>         Because we can now order from any distributor, this will produce 
> competition between them (i.e. lower prices), a plus.
> 
>         But #3, with all the negative things said about the Amiga and 
> Commodore, it becomes harder and harder to sell the Amiga line.  For the 
> small business trying to enter the market, it will be practically 
> impossible and with Amiga sales declining, the raising of hte quotta will 
> drive out present Amiga Dealers.

Yes and no.  $5000 a quarter here would amount to about two A3000's a month
(if my estimate of dealer costs is correct).  In the states, I would imagine
it would be 3.  In a large center, I do not see this as unreasonable IF
proper advertising is used and knowledgeable salespersons are available to
promote the Amiga line.  In a smaller center, I do see a difficulty, though.
But here, it might do some good.  The local Commodore-authorized dealer
presently does not care if they sell a single Amiga.  They buy products
together with a store about 200 miles from here.  They would sooner sell a
clone or a Mac than an Amiga.  I was in the store the other day, and a
customer inquired about an A3000T.  List price here (in Canada) was $5700!
Competition here is necessary!  Besides that, the salesman didn't know how
much ram it came with, that cpu/fpu combination, standard hard drive, or
what it could be expanded to!  The customer asked if a toaster would work
in it, and the salesman never heard of it!  And this salesman is supposed to
know as much or more than the others in the store - he's one of the better
ones!

Now if they had to sell a certain number of them, maybe they would try to
sell them, rather than just clones all the time.  And maybe they wouldn't
mind bartering a bit on their Amiga prices.  And maybe they would learn a 
little bit about the product they're selling!  There is enough of a market
that I believe they would try to keep their connections with Commodore
rather than drop it.

> 
>         I listed all the points, good and bad, as not to put Commodore 
> down too much.  Commodore does not treat their Affiliate Dealers well at 
> all.  Will quottas and restrictions;  Commodore uses us, the dealers, to 
> do their advertising.  They call it Co-op.  
> 
>         I'm not going to grip about Commodore too much.  But with their 
> restriction of NO >500 MAIL-ORDER, it makes it kinda hard!
> 
>         Brian Lowry
> 
> +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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> |                                  |                                    |
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Robert Bryce
BRYCERW@BrandonU.CA
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy