Silver@UMass.BITNET (I forgot your name already.) (08/19/86)
Hi,
You know, I work for this Atari Dealer. And we seem to have some sort
of problem in getting ANY Atari hardware in. Seems that Atari either
has run out of stock, or do not have enough people in charge of orders
for dealers. It is pretty sad, cause we cannot sell what we do not have
in stock. On a daily basis we lose sales to mail order, cause people
cannot afford to wait for Atari. We have been waiting for "any day now"
for about 2 months now. Sigh. It is pretty sad. I dunno, maybe Neil
over at Atari can say something. One of the tricks to selling computers
at a dealership when competing against mail order is to be able to
have the hardware in stock. People cannot deal with "any day now".
So they leave, and go mail order. Atari is trying to compete with
other major computer companies. But we cannot sell what is not
available. "We carry all these, plus the ST which is more powerfull
than any IBM machine, but we dunno when we will get one. We DO have
the IBM-Compatibles in stock, though" When people go computer shopping
they like to get what they buy NOW, and not wait for some non-announced
date. If this is the way that Atari Corp. is planning to deal with dealers,
it is pretty sad. Selling machines ONLY mail order and in stores like
Lechemer's is not very good if you want to establish yourself in the
market. Corporations, Schools, Universities (we have 6 around us) will
ONLY purchase from a dealer and not from mail order. Business men like
to SEE what they are getting and try it out, and get a store to back
them up with some sort of service contract. By going only with mail order
and such, Atari Corp. is putting itself in danger. In the end one can
see a price war like happened before. And nobody wins. Machines are sold
below cost, and losses are reported everywhere.
I honestly hope that Atari Corp. sees beyond this mass-volume-sales
into the future and establishing themselves as a real, mature, secure
and stable computer company which can computer with big blue and others.
But by not suppording its dealers, they place themselves in jeopardy.
Since, without dealers, they will not be accepted into the business,
educational markets in any amount that causes a difference. I like Atari,
and I own an ST. I have followed the Tramiels for years. Having started
off with a PET 2001, then a C64 and now an ST. I wish to continue being
with them, but that can only be done, if they keep up with times. I
personally require as time goes on more mature machines with better
company support. I believe Atari is more than capable to support ths
mature level of modern computer business, but it is something that might
take time.
Our dealership is based on Atari business, it being our main line.
This might have been a mistake, due to the lack of hardware to sell. But,
we took the risk, cause we believed in Atari and Tramiel. We think it
can be done. But every month that goes by that we cannot sell a machine
cause Atari doesn't send us any, is another month that pushes us closer
to re-consider our dream. We are right now receiving strong pressure from
our investors to carry another line of computers as our main line,
one which we can have over_stock. Not "any time soon". We are honestly
trying to hold out for Atari, the market in our area is perfect for it.
(College Students left and right, about 100,000 of them, and we are
the only Atari Dealer). But we need hardware, not promises. They do not
pay bills. I hope that something does work out.
Silver,
SILVER%UMASS.BITNETjons@islenet.UUCP (Jonathan Spangler) (08/23/86)
In article <860819014936.00000C3F.BDET.MA@UMass> Silver@UMass.BITNET (I forgot your name already.) writes: >...I work for this Atari Dealer. And we seem to have some sort >of problem in getting ANY Atari hardware in. >... On a daily basis we lose sales to mail order, cause people >cannot afford to wait for Atari. We have been waiting for "any day now" >for about 2 months now. Sigh... >... "We carry all these, plus the ST which is more powerfull >than any IBM machine, but we dunno when we will get one. We DO have >the IBM-Compatibles in stock, though" When people go computer shopping >they like to get what they buy NOW, and not wait for some non-announced >date. > >Silver, >SILVER%UMASS.BITNET I will have to agree here, as we are also a dealer here for Atari ST's and compatibles. Some answers would be GREATLY appreciated, as the number of calls I've gotten recently on the 1040ST has doubled and tripled because of the advent of wonderful software like Music Studio, the Michtron software, OSS Personal Pascal and magazines like "STart" by Antic and "Atari ST Disk & Magazine" by Compute (wonderful creative name for a magazine, eh?) Anyway, WE NEED ANSWERS!!!! Please, Neil, if you can help us, please do. As Silver said, we are losing sales to PClones because people can SEE the hardware. I have two basic questions: 1) Availability of hard disks (20 meg) 2) When is the IBM emulator due. (I need a realistic date -- it is totally unfair to lead people on if the product is 6 months away. If it will be 6 months, for Christ sake, SAY SO!) I hope Atari understands this as positive enthusiasm for a spectacular product and not as something negative. PEOPLE WANT TO BUY ATARI'S, I TELL YOU! I WANT TO SELL THEM! Aloha from Waikiki, Jonathan Spangler {ihnp4,vortex,dual}!islenet!jons