Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Hailun Distribution Channel

Has the Hailun distribution channel changed?

I haven't been on Craigslist in a while, but--inspired by another thread--I was just poking around there and came across the following post that's advertising Hailuns at "factory direct" prices:

HAILUN Pianos at Factory Direct Prices

Hailuns have a reputation for being a good value, but cutting out the middleman could possibly result in a really sweet deal.

I think Hailun is simply selling through piano techs in areas where there is no traditional piano store. I assume they'll still have to get the pianos from a distributor and make a profit from the sale, so "factory direct" pricing may be a bit of hyperbole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTLirGzs1jo

Does "factory direct" really mean anything? Why would any manufacturer of anything supply pianos to random people to sell and undercut its authorized dealers? Indeed, why would any manufacturer sell anything in a way--direct or not--that undercuts its authorized dealers?

My RPT is our area's rep for Mason-Hamlin. I couldn't tell you how far it is to the closest M&H dealer, and I live in one of the largest cities in the US. We only have 2 full-scale piano showrooms in the metro; 1-Steinway and another that is authorized for about 10 other brands, but with very limited in-store selection for each of them. He only has 3 or 4 M&H pianos in stock most of the time in his shop.

One advantage to this approach is the fact that RPT's are out servicing pianos so there get to know their clients tastes and needs. That makes them a good resource for advice about replacing a piano. Then if they can make a sale and take the old instrument in on trade, they'd be able to refurbish the old instrument and make another sale. This could be a great 2nd stream of income for RPT's, and it could be very helpful for piano buyers' in more rural areas. My wife and I were just talking this week about how spoiled we are now living in a major metropolitan area. Just about everything we need is within a 15-20 minute drive. We've never lived in a remote small town, but we used to live in a much smaller city, with pretty limited shopping options. The basics were covered, but beyond that it was an hours drive a best to really have options.

May I ask what an RPT is?

RPT = registered piano technician.

I followed the link on the Craigslist ad out of curiosity (I'm in another continent so not really an option for me however tempting the prices). The ad takes you to another website, which explains,

"As Virginia’s only authorized HAILUN piano dealer, The Optimal Piano, owned by Steinway trained Master Piano Technician Dan Cammarata, wants to spread the word about this wonderful hand crafted instrument. Take the time today to make an appointment to come play a HAILUN piano in my shop near Smith Mountain Lake. "

That doesn't exactly strike me as being "factory direct"!

Hailun whoslesale prices have gone up by over 30% in last few years.
This is more than any other Chinese made piano I know.
While being a very good piano, not sure if they still represent very good value.
Buyers to judge these things.
Norbert

Hi Norbert,

would you please specify your statement that "...Hailun wholesale prices have gone up by over 30% in last few years"? What time frame are you referring to? Which market (USA, Canada, China, Europe)? Thanks.

Note: The site does not allow me to update my signature line.

Thanks John. Not a term we tend to use over here.

Rgds,
Rob.

When you see a piano technician stating they are "Steinway trained", one should ascertain what they mean by this. Some times the term is used very liberally and connotes more fraud than feat.

RPT is the term fully franchised members of the Piano Technicians Guild earn by passing all the tests and belonging to PTG. Most members are in the USA and Canada but we do have some from all over the world.

Conspiracy?

I suspect that if you click on the Edit Profile link, and scroll down to the signature box, that you'll be able to edit it like the rest of us.

Normally I would have chalked this off to hyperbole, marketing speak, etc, but if I'm not mistaken this distributor recently lost one of his other lines, so I thought perhaps he'd lost this one too, and that there might be some truth to the "factory direct" claim, since that's now how sellers of the other brand are acquiring them. Hence my question.

That is incorrect. Hailun has had the same North American distributor for several years, and a good-sized dealer network in the US.

Hailun has started to prepare all of its first senior production technicians at the factory to get certified as Registered Piano Technicians. In the fall of last year, our head voicer at the Hailun factory, flew to the US to take the exams and passed with flying colors. At this moment five other piano factory technicians are preparing for the exam. We recommend our customers to only use Registered Piano Technicians for service and have seen a definitive difference between what are often good intentioned but unqualified technicians and professionals that continue to sharpen their piano technician skills and educate themselves.

Retsacnal, thanks.

I make the change and push the save button- but it does not save it.

Steve Cohen posted in this thread that SMP for Hailun's 218 was $28,684 in 2011. The SMP today is $38,812, which represents an increase of 35.3% in seven years. In Fine's methodology, SMP is simply a multiple of cost, so we can assume that wholesale went up by the same rate. That sounds pretty darn close to "up by over 30% in last few years."

If you're going to post implications that someone else's assertions are incorrect, then you should be prepared to post the "truth," so please let us know how the wholesale prices have increased in those four markets in the last few years Thanks.

Well, the software engineer in me got my conscience to working.

Since your signature has three URLs in it, I wondered if the submit and/or DB commit might choke, throw an exception or otherwise fail and result in no changes. But I changed my signature to match yours, and, as you can see below, I could change it back.
* queues Twilight Zone theme music... *

btw, be sure you're pressing the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the page, and not just the "Preview Changes" button below the signature.

Anyway, maybe one of the moderators can change it for you.

But most people wouldn't think of seven years as a few years.