[DefBringer]

I'm trying to figure out why, when I walk into any local retailer, the only brands I see are really just garbage like Sony (lower-end), Panasonic, Skullcandy, Diddy Beats, etc.   And typically I'll see MAYBE one Sennheiser IEM and/or gaming headphones.
 
The PX-100ii is the best sub-$100 headphone on the market. You cannot find it anywhere.  Why is that? Why do I have to purchase these online?

If Sennheiser bothered to push these into stores in the same way those other brands do (or better yet, let people test them like at Best Buy or Apple Store) I am confident they would put many of their competitors out of business. 
 
Anyone care to speculate why Sennheiser fails to take initiative?

 

[Jajo]

It's about money.
 
Sony and Panasonic probably have a huge budget compared to Sennheiser.  They can afford the better marketing and having their product front and center at Best Buy and Apple.  

 

[DrSpiv]

Profit margin. Those dealers have great wholesale prices relative to their MSRP. Senn (and most of what people on this forum are buying) have prices a little closer to their value, so the big chains don't want to pick them up.
 
For reference: most retail outlets won't look at something that doesn't sell for at least 200% of cost. Honestly they can't afford to. Overhead is crazy at a place like walmart/bestbuy/target/etc. When you start seeing Sennheiser products in big chain stores, it will be because they did like Sony, and created a retail line specifically made to hit retail cost structures. Don't expect the value to be as good.
 
Has nothing to do with marketing. I remember working "retail," when pallets of utter crap would come in week after week regardless of what the floor guys were being asked about on a daily basis. No one responsible for deciding what got stocked could give a damn what anyone actually wanted, they just got great wholesale deals on garbage, and knew if that was all that was in the store people would buy it because they didn't have another local option. And then week after week they had to trim back employee hours and any cost measure they could because they were losing their shirts to internet orders. Go figure.
 

 

[basementdweller]

From a customer's perspective I didn't become frustrated with in store selection until I found this forum.  I do remember seeing Senns IE8s in a Best Buy one time and thinking, "who in their right mind would spend that kind of money on headphones and who is Sennheiser trying to fool?"  I imagine much of the uninformed public walks in to a store and sees the massive displays for $100+ phones from the likes of Boss or Dre....then looks at the glass case where the $400 IE8 stay...and a lot of them probably think that the Boss/Dre are just as good as the Sennheiser phones under the assumption that Sennheiser has to charge more for a similar product simply because they either don't know how to market their product or can't afford to.
 
From experience, I know first hand that my IE8 phones are easily to the Beats Tour what the Beats Tour are to stock Apple ear buds  and the price really reflects this.  What I don't understand is why companies who market phones like the HJE900 or RE0(this is a general non specific comment/said phones are just examples) which fall into the $80 real world price don't at least get their products into stores as they are the more likely high end competition to the likes of Dre/Boss/Low end Sony.
 
Disclaimer:  This all kind of assumes that you've listened to Boss/Dre because they aren't really bad headphones, but they are probably $50 headphones that sell for double or triple that.

 

[Bennyboy71]

Most normal people dont want to spend more than about fifty quid tops when upgrading their CrApplebuds - maybe even as low as twenty or thirty.  Thats why the Sennheisers you do see in shops aimed at mainstream punters are the CX300 stylee low-end ones.  Those are in pretty much most of the electronics shops like Currys or the HMV stores etc.
 
Who cares what you can buy in shops when they won't let you try them on and they charge more than on the internet anyway?

 

[SoSpecial]

 
Quote:

From a customer's perspective I didn't become frustrated with in store selection until I found this forum.  I do remember seeing Senns IE8s in a Best Buy one time and thinking, "who in their right mind would spend that kind of money on headphones and who is Sennheiser trying to fool?"  I imagine much of the uninformed public walks in to a store and sees the massive displays for $100+ phones from the likes of Boss or Dre....then looks at the glass case where the $400 IE8 stay...and a lot of them probably think that the Boss/Dre are just as good as the Sennheiser phones under the assumption that Sennheiser has to charge more for a similar product simply because they either don't know how to market their product or can't afford to.
 
From experience, I know first hand that my IE8 phones are easily to the Beats Tour what the Beats Tour are to stock Apple ear buds  and the price really reflects this.  What I don't understand is why companies who market phones like the HJE900 or RE0(this is a general non specific comment/said phones are just examples) which fall into the $80 real world price don't at least get their products into stores as they are the more likely high end competition to the likes of Dre/Boss/Low end Sony.
 
Disclaimer:  This all kind of assumes that you've listened to Boss/Dre because they aren't really bad headphones, but they are probably $50 headphones that sell for double or triple that.

Boss and Beats are fine, it's is the price which creates a facade of quality. Not to mention they are pretty nice looking to people who are wow'd by  hip hop. I wouldn't spend the money for them, and in stores they usually cost more( my XB500's cost $90 in store I got them for $45 which is a fair deal if you ask me).
 
the thing is people like companies they've heard of, Bose and Sony are some of those companies ( JVC's sell at HH Greg BTW, when I went they had RX500's to my dismay.) Kilpsch sells at best buy but only some models and for much more.
 
If they had RE0's at best buy thy;d be at least $120 and at that point they are out classed by other phones from say Amazon.
 
Guitar Centers are good and the prices are fair to be honest  but people who really want to take their music seriously wont even think to look at those, they will end up in Best buy buying Beats or Bose. The worst part about it is when you tell your friends you got say Grado Labs 125i's for $150 they look at you like your stupid for spending that much.  Then they try it and ask why they don't block out much noise and doubt your purchase further. That's what the general population cares about, they don't care about SQ they care if they leak sound or isolate well which is stupid. If you buy open back headphones like iGrado's then you have no intention on using them on a plane and they are clearly not meant for that.
 
It's all stemmed from how the general population perceives headphones in general. They see them on a whole as unnecessary if they don't isolate well, and that  that is a indication of a good set. Monster picked up on that one and ran with it.
 
I'd love to see more lesser known companies in brick and moarter stores but I fear if that happens then they will only produce what the general population wants.