May 3. 1975
JVC Quadracenters
Boost 'Q' Concept
By STEPHEN TRAIMAN
NEW YORK-
JVC is establishing 25 to 30 "Quadracenters" at major audio/hi fi dealers across the country, coupling intensive sales training and consumer seminars in a major effort to sell quadraphonic as a concept-not "which system is best."
Being set up by Bob Walker, JVC hi fi merchandising manager, the Quadracenters are being franchised in key markets over the next few months. Vital criteria are good 4-channel demonstration facilities and knowledgeable salespeople.
The move is part of JVC's recognition of the fact that 80 percent of the hi fi business is done by 20 percent of all dealers. With the end of fair trade near, the firm will be working closely with its best dealers, staying primarily with audio/ hi fi locations.
First franchise agreements were signed with three-store Cartridge City, Kirksville, Mo.; Mission Elec-tronics, Los Angeles; Audiocraft, Cleveland, and Palmer Stereo, Toledo. Initial outlets in the metro N.Y.-N.J. area, opening this week, are Classic Electronics on Wall Street, and Newark's Electronic City.
Although JVC is one of the prize movers (and co-developers) of the CD-4 discrete quadraphonic system, Walker emphasizes that matrix gets just as much attention in his intensive sales briefings.
"We need matrix and CD-4 side-by-side to do the job in quadraphonic," he notes. "The consumer is confused enough without having to worry about a particular system, and most manufacturers are incorporating both matrix and discrete modes in their receivers now."
Among incentives for dealers to display the full range of JVC's quadraphonic product line-receivers, demodulators, turntables-are use of a JVC MM-4 4-channel memoryscope in the demo area, "Q” incentives to salespersons, an extensive national Quadracenter promotion, and free enrollment in the new RCA Quadraphonic Record & Tape Club (Billboard, Feb. 15) to purchasers of any JVC quadraphonic component.
To help promote the Quadracenter concept, JVC will run one of the first 3-dimensional hi fi ads in the industry in the July issue of National Lampoon, viewed through special punch-out 3-D goggles. Ad will include a toll-free 800 number to call for the nearest Ouadracenter or JVC dealer. Dealers also will get special point-of-purchase material, an official Quadracenter plaque and CD-4 demo sampler disks.
At Classic Electronics in Manhattan, more than 60 percent of the hi fi business is now quadraphonic, according to the firm's Gary Cantor, due mainly to a new sound room that Walker terms among the best he's seen. A Switchcraft unit enables salesmen to shift between up to 24 receivers, 24 tape decks or turntables, and 24 pairs of speakers. Primarily quadraphonic lines are JVC, Marantz, Sherwood and Fisher.
The Electronic City Quadracenter opening in Newark is to kick off with a weekend (2-3) consumer seminar, following an intensive sales training session by Walker.
Walker will be kept busy setting up the new Quadracenters, but sees the JVC move as another vital step in getting the most important dealers in the business to sell the overall concept of quadraphonic.