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Focal & Naim Lifted Prices 40% After NA Distribution Was Dumped

Recently the price of Focal and Naim products were lifted in Australia by 40% with local distributor BusiSoft claiming that it’s “in line with overseas price rises”.

ChannelNews understands that BusiSoft who recently took 10 Australian dealers overseas to gain a better understanding of the brands heritage is looking to restructure their Naim & Focal retail network in Australia.

George Poutakidis, CEO of BusiSoft told ChannelNews that the price rise was introduced after Focal lifted prices overseas.

“We will always have parity with overseas pricing, and we are confident that we can grow sales of Focal and Naim in Australia. We are seeing a lot of enthusiasm for the brands and we are investing in the retail network in Australia” he said.

He also said that he would not do anymore Hi Fi trade shows in Australia as they failed to attract the right customer and did not deliver a return on investment.

The move comes after New Zealand Company NA Distribution were dropped as the Australian distributor due to poor sales and poor inventory management.

One source said that the relationship with the Chris Murphy owned Company which is believed to be struggling cost Focal over $1M.

An investigation of Focal pricing in both Canada and the USA reveal that some Focal products are now cheaper in Australia.

At Best Buy in the USA a pair of Focal Aria 926 floor standing speakers are retailing for US$3,999 the same speakers are selling at Audio Solutions in Australia for $4,800.

The converted price of the US speakers based on a $0.65 Australian dollar to the US is $6,177.

A pair of High-End Focal Utopia Dynamic Headphones are selling at Addicted To Audio for $5,499, the same headphones are being retailed in Canada at Bay Bloor Radio for $4,999 which is equal to $5,371.

When NA distributors were appointed to take on the brand Chris Murphy was very quick to criticise his predecessor Len Wallis.

Investigations by ChannelNews at the time revealed that after 3.00pm Australian time retailers and customers found it hard to get a support call answered by NA Distribution staff with calls transferred to a New Zealand support line.

Earlier today ChannelNews called NA Distribution to question executives as to whether they are facing a major New Zealand tax bill, the phones rang out at 9.25am in the morning.Sometime later an employee answered however Managing Director Chris Murphy failed to return our calls.

We wanted to question Murphy over as to whether Focal funded him to the point that they got fed up of poor sales in Australia and mounting inventory levels.

Recently Murphy who still lists NA Distributors online setup HiFi Collective, ChannelNews wants to know whether this was because of debts associated with NA Distributors.

Sources involved in the business claimed that part of the reason he lost the brands was “due to the excessively high levels of stock he had, and the debts racked up with Focal”.
Several retailers who in New Zealand have contacted ChannelNews re the operations of NA Distributors.

Focal of France appointed N. A. Distributors as its Australian distributor for home audio products as of 1st May 2015.



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