Parkway Car Stereo

Many specialists don’t participate in Black Friday, but this year, those who did, saw sales anywhere from flat to up by 45 percent.

Some retailers in the Mobile Electronics Specialists of America (MESA) buying group reported the strongest gains:

Freeman’s Stereo Video, NC, (7-stores) was up 45 percent for Friday and Saturday compared to last year. It increased its marketing with Pandora and with other media including Google ad words during the holiday kick off. Sales for the entire week Monday through Saturday were up just shy of 30 percent.

Line at Sound of Tri-State on Black Friday

Custom Sounds, TX, (16-stores) said sales for the weekend jumped 21 percent.

Sound of Tri-State, DE, (3 stores) was flat for the weekend.  Black Friday itself was up 11 percent but Saturday was slower than last year for the chain.

Car Toys, WA, (50-stores) said, “Car Audio results were very positive – we were thrilled.  Sales were up in virtually all categories beyond expectations with powerful results in bass reinforcement, head units and security,” said Jim Warren, Senior VP Merchandising.  The company promoted on TV, radio and social media and said store traffic was up year over year.

For the holidays and through next year, many retailers said they are pushing backup cameras more heavily.  Some are looking to driver safety as a category of focus now that more new cars include iPhone/iPod connectivity and Bluetooth. Others are getting more aggressive in LED lighting.

Sound Advice, FL said its sales were flat for Black Friday weekend, but for the week from Monday to Sunday, sales were up 31 percent.  The company promoted a week early because of the late Thanksgiving holiday this year.

As for Black Friday specials, Freeman’s said in-dash navigation and AV were the top categories, but it saw increases in all categories.  A strong seller was the Pioneer AVICX850BT.

Custom Sounds’ Mike Cofield attributed some of its double digit gains to a new method of in-store training the chain has implemented in a step by step sales process from the time the customer walks in the door.   Cofield said, “At the Men’s Warehouse, by the time you are out of the dressing room with the suit on, the sales guy already has the shirt, tie and cuff links laid out.” He said the new sales program uses a similar step by step approach “that we can teach a new salesman in two weeks.”.

Custom Sounds also added Pandora advertising through a MESA group buying deal that starts at a $1,000 buy-in, instead of Pandora’s usual $10,000 minimum buy, he said.

Top products for the weekend at Custom Sounds were the Rockford R1L2X12 dual 12-inch subwoofer box, the Kenwood  PW1210  amp and sub package (62 were sold), Jensen in-dash navigation ($299), Alpine SWR12 subs and JL Audio 12W3 subs, as well as remote start.

Some retailers opted out of Black Friday this year, including Car Concepts, UT.  The store said since the recession, during Black Friday, customers  would buy a remote start at $89 and then get angry at the price of a data module to install it.