RETAILERS FACE MORE COMPETITION EVERYWHERE.With the expansion of chains like Guitar Center, MARS, and Sam Ash, and mail-order competitors like The Woodwind & Brasswind, Musician's Friend, and Sweetwater Sound, Main Street dealers in the U.S. understandably feel under siege. These days their counterparts in much of Europe are having similar feelings. The type of generic 20,000-to-30,000-square-foot retail buildings preferred by U.S. chains are not readily available in much of Europe, so there is no immediate prospect for a "Trans-European" chain of m.i. superstores; however, large German dealers, like Thomann and Musik Productiv, have used tax advantages, their buying power Buying Power The money an investor has available to buy securities. In a margin account, the buying power is the total cash held in the brokerage account plus maximum margin available. Also referred to as "Excess Equity. , and U.P.S. shipping to promote all aggressive mail-order business that is giving local dealers fits. From warehouse showrooms in Germany, Thomann and Musik Produktiv blanket France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, and Switzerland with flyers and catalogs with the headline "Hot Deals." (Obviously, "Hot Deals" is a phrase that needs no translation.) In certain instances, customers buying from outside of the country can also save the 16% German Value Added Tax value added tax n (BRIT) → impuesto sobre el valor añadido or agregado (LAM) value added tax n (Brit for even greater savings. Talk about a local sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. disadvantage! European phone companies still charge for local calls by the minute, so customers are less likely to spend an hour surfing the Web in search of the best possible price, but that, too, seems to headed for a change. Jim Rosenberg of MusicYo.com, an Internet commerce site that has opened a warehouse in Europe says that within two years local phone charges will be abolished in favor of a flat fee. SABIAN HONORS DISTRIBUTORS ASIAN DIST DIST Distribution DIST Distance DIST District DIST Distinguished DIST Distinct DIST Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (Australia) DIST Digital Image Scaling Technology . OF THE YEAR--Dan Barker, pres.; Masani Yanagisawa, Pearl, Japan; Andy Zildjian, v.p.; Bob Zildjian, chmn. NORTH AMERICAN North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. DIST. OF THE YEAR--Joe Arias, v.p. sales, HSS HSS Humanities and Social Sciences HSS High Speed Steel HSS Home Subscriber Server (3GPP) HSS Hospital for Special Surgery (New York, NY, USA) HSS Hospital for Special Surgery HSS History of Science Society ; Bob Cotton, pres., HSS; Bob Zildjian, chmn.; Andy Zildjian; Dan Barker, pres. EUROPEAN DIST. OF THE YEAR--Andy Zildjian, v.p.; Bob Zildjian, chmn.; Adrian Schackmann, Weerts, Holland; Dan Barker, pres. EUROPEAN DIST. OF THE YEAR--Andy Zildjian; Bob Zildjian, chin.; Paolo Ricci, FBT FBT Fringe Benefit Tax FBT Flyback Transformer FBT Fused Biconic Taper (fiber optic connector) FBT Floridians for Better Transportation FBT Fire Boat FBT Functional Board Test FBT Feedback Technology FBT Fruit Basket Turnover Electronica, Italy; Dan Barker, pres. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion