SVI Magazine

We are consistently told that we live in a global world and that trade now has no borders. So, you would think that we would all be well integrated and European or global in our outlook. But, it would appear that during times of recession a certain amount of nationalistic fervor raises its head. Just look at the ‘British jobs for British workers’ wildcat strikes that have been taking place and the relatively high levels of publicity some of the less Euro-friendly political parties have been receiving over recent weeks.

It seems that there is an in-built desire to look after our own when times are tough. Even the Archbishop of York has recently made a buy British plea (relating to farmers’ food produce) and Selfridges has reported an increase in demand from consumers for British products (Frank Cooper marmalade is up 33%!). But what relevance does this have to the British Hi-Fi industry, and are there any ways we can tap into consumers’ desire to support home grown industries?

Beyond Blighty...
Of course, our starting point should be the fact that, by definition, all British retailers are just that – British retailers; and so any form of promotion and consequent purchase will help the economy. But what of the products they stock? It’s all very well harking back to the golden era of British Hi-Fi, when it was without question the best in the world, and many dealers only sold products from British manufacturers, but we didn’t live in a global world then. The mass communications that are available to us now mean that many of the non-British products that can now be purchased here probably weren’t even known to the consumer back then. It would be difficult for any retailer nowadays to proclaim that they only sell British; even if on the face of it the products they sell are from British brands, there’s no telling where the components within come from or where the product was assembled. It’s also a fact that British companies don’t make all the products that consumers want these days – British plasma manufacturer anyone?

One of the first lessons of marketing is that we have to supply the consumer with the products that they want to purchase. That effectively rules out being an all-British concern if one is trying to service a wide consumer base – sure, you can do it (the component caveat aside) with two channel Hi-Fi, but start getting any more complicated than that and the possibilities rapidly diminish.

It might be fair to say, then, that any attempt by our industry to promote buying British during a recession is doomed to failure because we simply can’t supply the right products for the modern consumer from British manufacturers. Whilst that is true – seeing as we don’t make plasmas or entry-level home cinema amps – maybe a little lateral thinking can get us around the problem. For example, the vast majority of products that are sold in British Hi-Fi shops are either made by or distributed by British companies. Ignoring the aforementioned component or assembly issues, isn’t it fair to say that everything we sell is helping not only the British economy but British-based companies too?

British bought
The hard part is how to promote this, as it is a difficult message to get across to consumers. Tell them that buying British is your business’s objective and then try to sell them a Japanese product and you’ll no doubt get some strange looks and comments. The obvious thing to do is to promote your business as the British element in a campaign and turn around the perception that British Hi-Fi means solely British-made – change the emphasis to British-specified or -voiced or -supplied, as well as -made. It’s just like the well known National Farmers’ Union red tractor logo that you’ve seen on food produce: the EU only allowed its use if the NFU agreed that the logo would be used to identify food produced to British standards, rather than specifically from British farms.

This sounds like I’m flying in the face of supporting the Britain’s Hi-Fi manufacturing base. Nothing could be further from the truth, but in a consumer driven market we have to be realistic about the variety of products that must be stocked and accept the premise that the definition of Britishness needs to be widened. BADA, the British Audio-Visual Dealers Association, is very proud of its associate (manufacturer and distributor) members, all of whom are fully committed to the development of the industry in this country and the raising of standards throughout. Many of them are not home-grown companies, but what they all have in common is that their sales in Britain have a direct bearing on British jobs. So, as a retailer, I believe it is perfectly possible to proclaim buying British to consumers whilst still supporting the diversity of product stocked.

If you would like information on BADA and its efforts to improve the standards and cooperation within the British Hi-Fi industry, get in touch via .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 020 8150 6742.

Phil Hansen is Operations and Marketing Manager for BADA, the British Audio-Visual Dealers Association, and also runs Red Sheep, a successful Marketing and PR Consultancy operating within and outside the Hi-Fi industry.