One of the categories most affected by the tariffs imposed on Wednesday by President Trump is consumer A/V, with smartphones, laptops, headphones, TVs, loudspeakers, and nearly all electronics made in Asia or Europe becoming more expensive for consumers. It’s not even a question that it is going to happen.
How do we know this? While we won’t disclose the details of our email exchanges with manufacturers and distributors, we’ve already had to update pricing in certain articles and anticipate a wave of new price sheets in the coming weeks. Some PR agencies have even requested that we delay stories until final pricing is confirmed.
Uncertainty isn’t good for the market. Consumers were already bargain hunting, and this will only make those hesitant about purchases even more cautious with their spending.
Some companies have already made small price increases, but they likely weren’t expecting the steep tariff hikes—20% on E.U. products, 36% on Chinese goods, and 24% on Japanese imports.
Certain TV manufacturers were initially relieved that Mexico avoided reciprocal tariffs, but that relief quickly vanished with the heavy tariffs imposed on China, Korea, and Japan.
Many beloved high-end brands like KEF, Q Acoustics, Wharfedale, Audiolab, Quad, PSB, Bluesound, NAD, HiFiMAN, FiiO, and Astell&Kern are manufactured in China and Japan, making it almost inevitable that their prices will be affected in the short term.
We hope that IAG, Lenbrook, and MoFi Distribution anticipated the tariffs and stocked ample inventory in North America to cushion the impact on pricing and availability.
Any Good News?
My medication prohibits me from smiling too much at the moment, but we know one distributor that has made the decision to hold the line on prices and we hope that he’s not alone.
Bluebird Music is based out of Buffalo, New York (another futile season for the Sabres) and Jay Rein has proven to be a rather smart businessman over the years. Rather than let the market and dealers sweat over prices, he sent out the following correspondence this afternoon.
On March 13 we informed our dealers that Bluebird Music had decided we will not increase our prices regardless of what tariffs may eventually be applied to our brands.
I’m please to confirm this remains our policy; there will be no price increases for any of the five brands we represent: Canton, Fezz Audio, Jadis, Orpheus Lab and Weiss.
In the twenty-five years Bluebird Music has been in business we have weathered several economic storms: 9/11, Gulf War, Financial/Housing Crisis and Covid. We are working with our suppliers and we are adapting, and we will weather this storm too.
Bluebird Music and our suppliers and dealers have all invested too much blood, sweat and tears to develop our business relationships and to build a presence for our brands to allow that investment to be put at risk. One advantage of Bluebird Music’s short line card is that we can afford to carry deep stock of each of our brands. We are very proud of our “Yes, It’s In Stock” program and we’re proud to be in a position to be able to make this commitment to our dealers and to consumers.
We value our relationships with our dealers, and the trust consumers place in us when they purchase one of our products. From Day One supporting dealers has been a foundational principle of our business. At the end of the day the preservation of our relationships and trust takes priority over short term profits.
To the hundreds of dealers we’ve done business with over the past twenty-five years, and to the customers who have purchased our brands, we sincerely thank you for your support. We will do everything we possibly can to continue to earn your trust and your business every single day.
Yours truly,
Jay A. Rein, President
BLUEBIRD MUSIC LIMITED
The Bottom Line
Bluebird Music represents European high-end audio brands like Fezz Audio (Poland), Jadis (France), Canton (Germany), and Orpheus Labs and Weiss (Switzerland).
All of them fall under the tariffs and considering the current pricing — these very expensive high-end components and loudspeakers could see a rather dramatic increase in price.
That Bluebird Music was smart enough to pre-order enough inventory to keep dealers well stocked for the short-term and is keeping its prices at their current levels is to be commended.
How this plays out for the rest of the industry remains to be seen.
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