FEATURE AUDIO-TECHNICA TXxxxx
AT’s revival
Fifty years young this year, Audio-Technica is continuing to celebrate and has invested in a new back-end customer interface system, secured a huge Olympics contract and is up and running with distribution of the Allen & Heath mixer range. Ronnie Dungan took a trip up to the firm’s Leeds HQ for an update….
massive Olympics contract and a big anniversary year, there’s a lot going on at Audio-Technica right now. The Allen & Heath deal, which saw
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the firm take on distribution of its range of powered mixers, has necessitated an increase in warehouse space and improvements to its ordering and stock allocation system. In the middle of all this, the firm said
goodbye to UK sales director, Tony Gravel, who resigned after only six
28 July 2012
ith a new audio range to incorporate, as well as a new integrated orders system, a
months in the job. But not before he had helped the firm integrate the Allen & Heath brand into its portfolio. “What we needed for Allen and Heath was more warehouse space,” explains MD Adrian Rooke. “And the processes to be able to handle orders and the sales staff to process them.” Staff have been schooled in Allen & Heath and the firm has recruited Stuart McKay from JHS and Gary Maguire from Studio Spares, who is product manager for the analog console line. Pricing has also needed adjusting too. “Because we also distribute in Germany,
we also set the pricing for Germany in the UK,” explains senior marketing manager, Harvey Roberts. “So UK retailers are not suffering from grey imports coming in. It’s a pan-European approach to pricing. “One of the most important things for us is that EU countries are not competing against each other. So the UK can’t slash the price of brand products. Distributors get all the same offers. “We liaise closely with Allen & Heath in Cornwall on marketing activity. We’re planning on ramping up the marketing and running seminars. In the UK we will look at what Allen & Heath has done in
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