Retailers

NY Attorney General Files Action Against B&H Photo Video Alleging Multi-Million Dollar Tax Dodge

November 18, 2019 by Ted 2 Comments

Whistleblower Notified Authorities

New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against B&H Photo Video alleging that the NY retailer has operated a scheme to avoid paying the State of New York millions of dollars in taxes on money earned from manufacturer reimbursements. The State says B&H violated New York Tax Law, New York Executive Law, and the New York False Claims Act, and for this reason is asking the court for treble damages that are potentially in the tens of millions of dollars.

See more on the NY AG vs. B&H Photo Video…

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CEDIA 2019: Onkyo USA Says It Will Become a Retailer of Sonos, a Distributor Too

September 14, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

Onkyo USA announced this week that it will become a retailer of Sonos wireless music systems – selling the company’s wireless music systems on Onkyo USA’s website. The company also says it will distribute the brand nationally as well.

See more on Onkyo’s partnership with Sonos…

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Bravas Group Sold to Private Equity Firm in $75 Million Deal

August 23, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

Group Says Deal is Just the Beginning

Bravas Group, a cooperative of integrators aggregated by Paul Starkey and Steve Firszt of VITAL MGMT, was first put together as part of VITAL MGMT’s consulting practice helping member companies better organize their operations, improve their financial performance, and drive greater profitability. Ultimately, the group’s fifteen members coalesced into one widely-spread unified organization, with over-arching centralized management and plans for the group to be packaged and sold.

Now, in a deal said to be valued at $75 million, Bravas Group has been sold to Presidio Investors, a private equity investment company with offices in San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX.

See more on the Bravas – Presidio deal…

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Amazon to Kill the Dash Button

August 7, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

Photo of Amazon Dash button to order Tide laundry detergent

Amazon has announced that the end-of-life for its Dash button is rapidly approaching. If you’ve been dying to try it, better move quick – Amazon will completely disable the system just three short weeks from now on August 31st.

What went wrong with Dash? Read on…

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Sonos/IKEA Partnership Delivers SYMFONISK Lamp Speaker & Shelf Speaker

August 2, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

Symfonisk table lamp/speaker combo unit from IKEA and Sonos — IKEA and Sonos want homeowners to both see and hear the light [Click to enlarge]

Formally announced back in April, Sonos has collaborated with IKEA on a line of products for which it has great expectations. The first products of this collaboration – a table lamp with speaker built-in, and a thin bookshelf speaker that sits on a shelf and LOOKS LIKE a book…are finally now available. Will IKEA fans turn out in droves to buy these new models?

See the Sonos lamp & shelf speaker at IKEA…

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SnapAV Slammed with Credit Downgrade by Moody’s

July 18, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

Credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the credit rating of Wirepath LLC (corporate name of SnapAV) from B2 to B3 in the wake of their announced acquisition of Control4. The primary reason for the downgrade is due to the fact that SnapAV will be forced to increase their debt by an additional $390 million to a new high of $683 million in order to close on this acquisition.

See more on SnapAV’s credit downgrade…

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Retail Store Closings in Q1/2019 Almost Equals Total for All of 2018

April 10, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

According to the most recent data from retail industry market researcher Coresight Research, retail store closings just a little over one quarter into 2019 are nearing the total number of store closings for all of 2018. This data includes both those retail companies falling into bankruptcy…and those trimming locations out of their overall footprint while remaining in business.

See more on this stunning report…

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Japan Opens Antitrust Inquiry into Amazon

March 6, 2019 by Ted Leave a Comment

At the urging the industry minister of Japan, the country’s Fair Trade Commission will look at a new program announced by Amazon Japan that some suggest may be anti-competitive in nature. Depending on the Commission’s findings, Amazon may be forced to abandon the idea, which is a form of a consumer rebate program.

See more on Amazon’s troubles in Japan…

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Retail Struggles Continue; But Holiday Sales are Up

December 27, 2018 by Ted Leave a Comment

Mastercard’s SpendingPulse retail shopping survey reports a robust increase of 5.1% for holiday sales this year – well over the expectations of many trying to handicap the shopping season. In fact, according to MasterCard, this is the biggest holiday sales increase in the last six years. But not every category is celebrating. And overall retail trends in 2018 offered some troubling results.

Retailers

NY Attorney General Files Action Against B&H Photo Video Alleging Multi-Million Dollar Tax Dodge

Whistleblower Notified Authorities

See more on the NY AG vs. B&H Photo Video…

CEDIA 2019: Onkyo USA Says It Will Become a Retailer of Sonos, a Distributor Too

See more on Onkyo’s partnership with Sonos…