Munch,
I can tell ya from personal experience having worked with them for 2 1/2 years a few years ago for their reasoning behind tactics such as opening up stores opposite to each other in direct competition.
I used to work in a Delta Music store where directly opposite us was a huge Sanity store.....their reasoning for these strategies is the fact that if they dont open these up stores then someone else will and effectively they could have someone VERY close to them offering discounted items much cheaper to their Sanity stores....ie JB Hi Fi/Leading Edge etc etc! For Brazin it's more of creating a Monopoly and shutting out competitors than anything else, even if it means opening up stores at a loss to offset profits at other stores within the vicinity.
I believe where Brazin has gone MASSIVELY wrong is with their marketing and I'll explain to you why.
When I worked for Brazin between 1995-1998 the company consisted of 2 key music retailing groups (exc BNT), those being their Sanity & Delta Music Store Chains. Back then I can honestly say that probably CLOSE to all store were flying and profitable and I know this for a fact. However, the way they marketed both these chains were successful and smart. The Sanity Stores were marketed towards the 13-26 year old market, prodiminantly the image bring young, cool, hip etc etc with always good looking young people working there. The Delta Stores on the other hand were marketed towards the more mature market 27+ and done so very successfully also. So together with these two chains they covered all market segments and gained a HUGE slice of the OVERALL market share. HOWEVER, I started to observe this changing about 2-4 years ago when they started changing their Delta Brands to a new brand called 'I2M' (In2Music) - also aiming these stores to the younger hip market much along the same lines as Sanity, effectively shutting out their more mature market they had captured.....they thought that they'd their customers wouldn't mind shopping at I2M or Sanity stores. CLEARLY they were wrong as I2M had the most aweful appeal to it I have ever scene...disgusting colours (orange mixed with brown) and clearly their loyal mature customers weren't impressed! THUS through this HUGE marketing mistake they lost the majority of the mature market as older people DO NOT want to walk into a store surrounded by young teenages with blaring Techno/Rap music on the speakers.....BELIEVE ME, CHANGING THEIR BRANDS WAS A MASSIVE MISTAKE FOR BRAZIN.
Together with these massive marketing mistakes and the advent of internet file sharing (kazaa etc), BRZ will find it hard to claw back from where it is today.
BRZ
brazin limited
