digital audio market?

October 14, 2005 3:06 PM

I'm looking for input on a business idea. With the boom in mp3 players, I thought it would be a good idea to open a store that specialized in that item, along with accessories, podcasting equipment, etc.

It would be nice to have one spot where a person could compare iPods to Creative Zens, browse the millions of accessories, have their music ripped for them, attend workshops on digital music and get answers about the differences in players, online music stores, etc.

What do you think?

posted by strangeleftydoublethink to shopping (11 answers total)

MiniDisco is slowly moving from MiniDisc to MP3 players and accessories. Just suggesting you might already have established competition if you're going online.

If you're thinking about opening a retail store, you'll have a very difficult time getting iPod stock from Apple to resell to the public. Many long-established third-party retail stores that resell Apple products are going under for lack of fresh stock, and many have gotten together for a class-action lawsuit against Apple for withholding product.

Since Apple sells the most popular MP3 player, unless you can make a business from non-Apple products you may have a difficult go of it.
posted by Rothko at 3:15 PM on October 14, 2005

I think you'll go broke, quickly. People are doing their research on the internets, then looking for the cheapest price.
posted by fixedgear at 3:17 PM on October 14, 2005

Getting Apple stock would be key, but I think a lot of the profit would come from accessories.

One good thing about a store is that people want to try things out. They might do their research online, but there's nothing like comparing players before making that choice.

One other added service would be the ability to trade in your old mp3 player for credit for a new one. I could then offer older models for resale.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 3:25 PM on October 14, 2005

As fixedgear points out, you can't beat the web for pricing, but you can easily beat the web on customer service. Your resale idea isn't bad, either. A strong business model will help you with some of the limitations you will run into.
posted by Rothko at 4:08 PM on October 14, 2005

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of online versions; the key to getting the kids in the store would be getting your hands on the new stuff coming out of S. Korea and China (see link). Everyone's got iPods these days... but see someone walking around with one of these and you want to know where they got it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:13 PM on October 14, 2005

It could work. You might do well to specialise in headphones, they are the one thing you really need to try before you buy. If you could find a hygenic way of letting people experience these you should sell a good few, at a tidy margin.

It all depends on location. You would need to be in or close to an Akihabara or Tottenham Court Road, somewhere audiophiles go shopping.
posted by grahamwell at 5:16 PM on October 14, 2005

civil_disobedient what's so great about an Mp3 player that's bulkier than a shuffle $60 more and half the memory? Am I missing something?

As far as the retail store idea goes - your market is in getting the late adopters. If you can find a way to make it worth their while to get involved in this new media you have a goldmine on your hands. You'll get nothing from the younger crowd who will purchase their products and accessories for price that will be a nickel over your wholesale cost. Your value is in making something that seems very daunting - easy. While you are at it why not advise people on digital cameras as well. I get two calls a week from family and friends asking me what digital camera to buy.
posted by any major dude at 7:49 PM on October 14, 2005

civil_disobedient what's so great about an Mp3 player that's bulkier than a shuffle $60 more and half the memory? Am I missing something?
posted by any major dude at 7:49 PM PST on October 14 [!]

It's not Apple, so it's "automatically better." ;P
posted by Rothko at 8:43 PM on October 14, 2005

what's so great...

Well, for starters, it has a color screen. Last I heard, the Shuffle didn't have any screen. Or was that supposed to be a feature?

It's not Apple, so it's "automatically better."

More like, It's not what everyone else has, therefore it's better. Silly, I know, but you're going to have a hard time convincing people to drive out to your store just to get headphones they could already get online for less cash. You're going to need more shiny things to play with to draw them in. Oh, and to separate yourself from, say, Best Buy, you could actually put some goddamned batteries in the things so people can test them out. /hates Best Buy
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:34 PM on October 14, 2005

I could then offer older models for resale.


This may be a key component. My friend just purchased an iPod the other day, and then they came out with the version that plays movies -- a day later. He went back to Best Buy to return his unit, and get the new one, and they wanted to charge him a restock fee. He finally argued his way into getting no extraneous charges, as he felt he was the victim of a bait and switch.

In a market that has such a quick turnover of features and new models, I would think that a resale business would do pretty well, particularly with late-adopters.
posted by thanotopsis at 8:19 AM on October 15, 2005

Even though the focus would obviously be portable music players - you should probably consider other devices as well. I'm talking about game systems (PSP, Nintendo DS) and high end cell phones. In order to differentiate yourself from the big box stores, I think the import market is key. I'm starting to like the idea of the "trade-in, trade-up" concept. As long as you kept an eye on the street price as set by froogle and ebay, you could build in a small margin to your buy back and credit that to the exchange on an upgrade. It would take a while to build up a used inventory, but it would be the exact same thing as Gamestop and Electronic Boutique. As for marketing, a blog and especially a podcast would help as well as doing classes or seminars like "how to podcast". Another interesting retail method is to build an instore Podcast Studio for your customers, not only to try out the high end tech, but maybe use it as a ancillary revenue stream by renting it out to serious podcasters. If you're serious about this, please put a weblink up on this thread when your're ready.
posted by marc1919 at 9:21 PM on October 19, 2005