Muso in John lewis

I witnessed and reported similar at the JL store in Edinburgh some months ago.

Naim should employ a secret shopper.

G

Funny that this should appear. I visited the store in Chichester yesterday. After playing Massive Attack at high volume from my phone I asked the guy in the shop why they were demonstrating the Sonos, Bose and B&W but not the Muso. He explained that they appeal to 'different markets', the Muso being for those who like good sound while the others were for those who like app driven convenience.....  He said that they sell five a month, but only to those who come looking for them, and not to browsers. 

There was no display board, and not even a price tag! It just sat there looking sad - until I woke it up! He did say that it was the best thing in the shop though, and it was what the staff used when the store was empty. Naim are not helping themselves - a decent display board and an iPad running the app would work wonders. In fact, I was so disappointed that I emailed Paul about it, making the same points I've made here. 

I'm happy to be the mystery shopper.....

Does not surprise me JL sell so few.

Bought a muso for my daughter and her family for Xmas 2014. They are impressed -  and their  friends too, until when the answer to their question 'is it a Sonos' is no - it's made by Naim. Then these lose interest. Simple fact is they have heard of Sonos, and their friends own some of it, so it's fashionable. Most of them have never heard of Naim, so regardless of its quality, and the limitation of the Sonos to hi-res music they are unlikely to buy.

Crunch posted:

Speaker domes pushed in

A strangely hurtful thing to see on any piece of hi-fi equipment

Hungryhalibut posted:

Funny that this should appear. I visited the (John Lewis) store in Chichester yesterday.

John Lewis in Chichester? News to me.

Dave

I was in the Cardiff store yesterday and made a point of going to look at the mu-so. It took me a while to find it; no signage, on a second level shelf I.e. Not counter top, and in a far corner of the electronics section.

I'm  very surprised that Naim put up with this from JL.

We bought all of our Muso's from JL, but that is only becuase we get partner discount.

I do agree about the display and lack of enthusiasm from the staff though.

dave4jazz posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Funny that this should appear. I visited the (John Lewis) store in Chichester yesterday.

John Lewis in Chichester? News to me.

Dave

It's one of the John Lewis at Home branches, with no clothing. It's in a retail shed out by Sainsbury's. I always feel ill when I visit as it has no windows. The branch in Southsea (Knight and Lee) is much nicer. 

No sign of any at all in the Kingston branch over the holiday. A shame, as while I was passing anyway, I'd hoped to demonstrate to the Mrs... Was going to wait and see the Qb before purchase anyway, but surely this isn't what Naim expected from expanding sales routes to JL etc 

I have experienced the same lack of interest and knowledge from the staff in JL in Milton Keynes.. (not the norm in my experience).

I would have thought at the very least there would have been some marketing display shouting about the awards the Muso has won to gain public interest and boost the NAIM brand as isn't that well known to joe public in comparison to the usual suspects like Bose/ Sonus etc.

A great product poorly marketed and sold to the buying public... Shame... 

I'm glad I'm not alone!! Perhaps the guys at naim need to visit mr Lewis and sort this mess out!!!!!!! It's a shame this fantastic piece of kit is allowed to be retailed like this!!!

Hungryhalibut posted:

dave4jazz posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Funny that this should appear. I visited the (John Lewis) store in Chichester yesterday.

John Lewis in Chichester? News to me.

Dave

It's one of the John Lewis at Home branches, with no clothing. It's in a retail shed out by Sainsbury's. I always feel ill when I visit as it has no windows. The branch in Southsea (Knight and Lee) is much nicer. 

Ah. Thanks. That explains it. Not your regular John Lewis as at West Quay, Southampton say.

Dave

Crunch posted:

I'm glad I'm not alone!! Perhaps the guys at naim need to visit mr Lewis and sort this mess out!!!!!!! It's a shame this fantastic piece of kit is allowed to be retailed like this!!!

But isn't this what it was built for?  A 'mass market' audio player to rival the likes of Sonos.  I'm almost surprised main stream dealers were allowed to sell it !   It's not majored in my dealer, it sits on a display shelf looking... well, just looking... that's all.

Some decent POS (point of sale material) would do wonders for people's appreciation of the product, and why not?  Naim's marketing dept / partners certainly do a fantastic job when they sit down and try 

...mind you, if I were selling a new product manufactured thousands of miles away in a facility over which I had little control and upon which I had to place orders well in advance (weeks if not months), I would be hesitant about creating too much demand for the product before I had experience of how it stood up in the users hands (its reliability).

I once worked for a company that made and sold plastic domestic hot water cylinders (yes plastic). They were made in two halves, glued & aluminium riveted together.  They sold hundreds & hundreds of them... until the rivets started corroding away after about 2 years.  Absolute disaster... just about every one failed... hundreds of claims for clothing, decorating, carpets... you name it, they had claims for it.  The company went bust.

Now I'm not sure if the MuSo is held together with aluminium rivets, but it must be a bit nerve racking in the Salisbury production planning office every time someone reports a problem with their MuSo   

CariocaJeff posted:

Does not surprise me JL sell so few.

Bought a muso for my daughter and her family for Xmas 2014. They are impressed -  and their  friends too, until when the answer to their question 'is it a Sonos' is no - it's made by Naim. Then these lose interest. Simple fact is they have heard of Sonos, and their friends own some of it, so it's fashionable. Most of them have never heard of Naim, so regardless of its quality, and the limitation of the Sonos to hi-res music they are unlikely to buy.

This puts everything in context, nicely highlighting the problem. For muso to be come popular, it has to be.....popular. Good old catch-22 situation, just like actors having to be in Equity...

So what is needed is a concerted advertisement programme, good point of display mateial, and persuade the likes of John Lewis to play it to anyone wanting something lesser but sufficiently close in cost that they might be persuaded to budge. If the quality is good enough to stand out in the shop environment, playing it might just swing it. And for adverts, some free ones supplied for use as props in (where's the spittoon?) TV soaps.

Maybe forum members should do some missionary work in John Lewis and other stores that sell the Muso. They could hover around the product and when someone shows some interest in the shiny box, swing into demo mode. It would be classed as volunteering and give a sense of purpose to those who follow their partners around looking lost in a department store and getting in other shoppers way.

Having said that I am sure Naim sell plenty and are happy with the representation given to the brand......otherwise they would do something about it.....wouldn't they?!

In reality though, how much influence does Naim have on how John Lewis sell it? 

I suspect it's relatively little, and providing POS material does not guarantee that it'll see the light of day on the shelves.

When the Muso initially came out I visited my local John Lewis where none of their staff had a clue about its operation even though it was clearly switched on. I decided to try and pair it using Bluetooth from my iPhone which was instantly successful. I then hit it with some music from iTunes and almost scared myself, the staff and the customers half to death as it was on full volume. They certainly heard about the MUso that day.

I was intrigued to read the above experiences of the marketing of the Mu-so in JL stores. As I used to work for an independent market research agency for 12 years and have worked in the retail sector for clients such as Halfords, Sainsburys and (some time ago) Radio Rentals I thought I would conduct some mystery shopping at JL in High Wycombe out of interest.

Unlike some on here I believe that the likes of JL are perfectly suited to retail volume hifi products such as Mu-so. If well managed and supported by the manufacturer there is no reason why JL stores and other premium retailers cannot sell Mu-so. Indeed while in JL today I witnessed a very competent sales pitch/demo of the Sonos 1, 3 and 5 to another potential customer. Of course Sonos have the benefit of superior (to Naim) brand awareness and they have clearly invested in a far superior point of sale in JL with 50% of a dedicated 'island' and built in tablets (2) both running the Sonos app, with the Sonos 1, 3 and 5 on demo. Very professional.

Not so unfortunately for the poor old Mu-so, languishing there with no tablet or app next to the Sony system and two or three other brands on an island half the size on the Sonos display. Anyway I pressed on with my little mystery shopping adventure. I put on my very best 'I need help' demeanour only to be entirely ignored by the several sales assistants that walked by me. Not one asked me if I needed help! I spent some of the time looking at the POS materials. These comprised of a review by Andrew Everard, some rather forgettable blurb and believe it or not a spec. sheet downloaded from Richer Sounds with the Richer Sound logo plastered all over it! I kid you not! Each of these items were poorly prenented in an array of tatty plastic covers and I almost missed them.

After 10 minutes I politely 'hailed' an assistant for help. I started by asking to hear the Mu-so at which point the assistant told me that the Mu-so wasn't functioning properly as they were waiting a software update! The assistant said the demo of the Mu-so was normally done via the Naim demo USB stick which he pointed to inserted on the side of the Mu-so. He went on to say that the USB was not working due to the aforementioned outstanding software upgrade. I still wonder why the old software rendered the Mu-so partially inoperable but I didn't push it. I say partially inoperable because the sales assistant then offered to get an iPod to do a demo. After two iPods were produced (the first was out of charge) and two cables (the first had the wrong jack plug) we listened to his selection - Emily Sande. Presumably I was listening to a low res file and I know the Emily Sande album is poorly produced and compressed. Needless to say it sounded poor, flat and dull. I selected some Maroon Five but it was no better due mostly I guess to the low res files coming out of the meagre iPod.

I then asked why the Mu-so was twice the price of the most expensive Sonos. The sales assistant then proceeded to point out all the benefits and superior features of the Sonos! I asked again about the price disparity and how could it be justified. The assistant said that Sonos had got the integration and app just right and that the likes of Yamaha (?), Bose and Naim were focussed on superior sound quality. Unfortunately this is the one and only USP this poor chap had singularly failed to demonstrate with the Mu-so.

First let me state straight away, none of this rather dissapointing episode was the fault of the sales rep. He was very polite and was doing his best under adverse conditions. If this chap had a fully functioning Mu-so with some training in how to conduct a proper demo and training about the Mu-so's key USP (sound quality) he would have had a better chance of explaining the price disparity and demonstrating the superior sound quality of the Mu-so.

Now it is clear that Sonos have invested more in their POS and space within JL and I am not suggesting Naim should try to compete with Sonos' investment here and I don't know the relative retailer margin for Sonos vs Naim and hence how much influence the manufacturer can have. I suspect Naim have little or no influence. That will only come with actual sales volumes. However some simple guidelines for the sales assistants (no least to try and suss out from customers how important sound quality is to them - the Mu-so's key USP), a fully functioning Mu-so complete with tablet and Naim app, better quality POS written materials, and training on how to conduct an effective demo would cost very little and IMHO help sell Mu-so through this entirely new (to Naim) sales channel. These improvements will be even more critical when the Mu-so Qb hits the JL stores IMHO.

The hard fact is that in the mass marketplace Sonos has significant brand awareness and Naim has little or none. Unless the superioir sound quality offered by the Mu-so can be demonstrated in stores like JL, I believe it will be a struggle to get the sales volumes this route to market should be capable of delivering, particularly while Naim's brand awareness is so low.

I fully believe the extension into mass markets with the Mu-so and now Mu-so Qb is a perfectly valid means for Naim to generate sales and hence profit and I do not believe the brand will be tarnished if properly managed. However this is an entirely new marketing channel for Naim and it needs a different sales effort, both to the store(s) and within the store(s). Relationships with non-tied retailers (such as JL) also need a different approach by the manufacturer IMHO. I am not so arrogant to suggest that Naim aren't fully aware of this. It is just that my little shopping experience today brought this home to me in no uncertain terms. And I for one want Naim to continue to be successful so I can benefit from the continued improvement of black boxes that I suspect profits from Mu-so and Mu-so Qb will help fund. Selfish I know!

If anyone from Naim is reading this I would be very happy to carry out a thourough mystery shopping programme and my rates are very reasonable.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Muso and Sonos each have their own strengths. As a stand alone a Muso will be better than say a play 5 (though I would contend that a sonos connect into a decent hifi set up will be better still). If you want multi room then sonos will be better, both in use and sound wise. Unless there has been a recent change Naim only streams multi room in 320kbps where as sonos streams at full CD quality.  I believe a play5 will sound better fed with a full fat CD file size than a Muso playing 320kbps.  Source first and all that.  Also each sonos unit can act as the primary / master for any other sonos unit. In fact the master slave thing is a bit meaningless in sonos world.  The Muso needs a proper Naim streamer (uniti range, through to NDS) to act as a master for a multi room set up.  A single Muso can't stream to another Muso directly (again, unless there has been a recent software update).

NigelB, that is a very interesting and well presented piece - I hope Naim take notice, whether or not they take you up on your offer (rate = 1 Statement per store?)

whilst mass sales might not be Naim's intent or expectation, it would seem that an opportunity is being missed, and if that is lost profit it is also lost benefit to other things Naim do.

Your suggested rate for my mystery shopping expertise seems perfectly reasonable to me.

PG posted:

Maybe forum members should do some missionary work in John Lewis and other stores that sell the Muso. They could hover around the product and when someone shows some interest in the shiny box, swing into demo mode. It would be classed as volunteering and give a sense of purpose to those who follow their partners around looking lost in a department store and getting in other shoppers way.

Having said that I am sure Naim sell plenty and are happy with the representation given to the brand......otherwise they would do something about it.....wouldn't they?!

Or you can connect to it with your phone, play something really good really loudly and then wonder around the store watching as untrained staff struggle to turn it down. Worked a treat in Manchester and people certainly noticed it even with the Sonos near by

Sad to report that the situation I reported last year regarding the positioning of the Mu-so in the Watford branch of John Lewis hasn't changed either. The wireless music systems like B&W and Sonos are on a well appointed stand and the Mu-so is tucked away in a corner in an area primarily displaying televisions. I thought I'd look in on the large Apple store in Watford and they still don't have one on display.

Mattnbarns posted:

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Muso and Sonos each have their own strengths. As a stand alone a Muso will be better than say a play 5 (though I would contend that a sonos connect into a decent hifi set up will be better still). If you want multi room then sonos will be better, both in use and sound wise. Unless there has been a recent change Naim only streams multi room in 320kbps where as sonos streams at full CD quality.  I believe a play5 will sound better fed with a full fat CD file size than a Muso playing 320kbps.  Source first and all that.  Also each sonos unit can act as the primary / master for any other sonos unit. In fact the master slave thing is a bit meaningless in sonos world.  The Muso needs a proper Naim streamer (uniti range, through to NDS) to act as a master for a multi room set up.  A single Muso can't stream to another Muso directly (again, unless there has been a recent software update).

 

With the advent of Mu-so Qb, I wonder if the multi-room capability (exclusive of a Naim streamer) is being worked on?