Dear Friends,
It was great to be back in Vermont where we hosted the big Thanksgiving feast with lots of Mayers, Bangouras and Kellys in attendance. We got our taste of cold weather and snow and are glad to be back in the sunshine in Key West now.
Black Friday did not seem to be as big as previous years and there may be many reasons for this but I think that the big box stores opening on Thanksgiving had some impact. We will never open on Thanksgiving as we believe this is a day for our employees to spend with their families, not to head to work or to the mall for shopping. In terms of sales impact, however, I also think that the deep discounting that many of the big box stores offered on Apple products was both a reflection of the amazing popularity of the most innovative products on the planet produced by Apple as well as the fact that these stores use these products as “loss leaders” to drive customers to their stores to buy TVs, refrigerators, etc. Our response to this during October was to partner with women’s shelters to make a donation from each sale. During October we were able to raise over $16,000 for these shelters thanks to customers who bought from Small Dog Electronics not based upon price but based upon community.
Competition will always be there and I do not see the deep discounting going away anytime soon. So, what is our response? We must give you many reasons to buy from Small Dog Electronics. We strive to become contributing and involved members of the communities in which we operate, provide complete solutions, patient and non-pushy sales and work very hard to make each of our customers a loyal customer. We believe in making customers for life and whenever our company intersects with your life that we both leave that intersection better from the experience. I had one friend tell me that my employees were too focused on customer service and not on sales. That we gave away our expertise and worked hard to find the right solution for the customer but that wasn’t our role, that we were sales and we should concentrate upon just that. Well, that is not going to happen, at least not on my watch. We have made our name by the friendly and caring interactions with our customers, our community involvement and honest recommendations. That is a consultative sales approach with the ultimate goal not being the small profit that we may make from a single transaction but rather the life-cycle value of a loyal customer.
Nevertheless, we have some awesome deals for the holidays both on Apple products and third-party accessories as well as tools you may need for your digital life. Check us out online or in any of our retail stores, we will be happy to see you!
Speaking of great deals, we have made a special buy on a high-end digital camera. Now, I know that so much of modern photography is done on iPhones and iPads however, if you want to truly bring out that inner artist you may want to consider a “real” camera. The Canon EOS 7D is just such a camera. It is an 18 megapixel CMOS camera with a 28mm to 135mm lens. This camera sells for $1299 on Amazon and you can find it for about $1099 if you just want the body without the lens, but for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can get this brand new camera with lens for only $999!
