It’s not news, but I was reminded of this topic yesterday while shopping and
I saw side by side displays of the Bose SoundDock for iPod and the Around
Ear Headphones in the AV section of my local Costco.

It wasn’t that long ago that Costco was generally regarded as a pariah in
the Electronics industry for their low-margin price points and their
ferocious willingness to source grey-market products whether the
manufacturers liked it or not. I remember working for Sony around 1998 and
the squeals of outrage both internally and from the dealer network that
occurred when Wega CRT TVs showed up at Costco at unheard of selling prices.

Over time that attitude has changed, and many vendors have agreed to sell to
Costco in order to better manage Costco’s handling of their brand, and they
typically produce SMUs or Special Make Ups that are vaguely different and
with a Costco-only model number to alleviate the friction from other
retailers.

Bose however has been pretty late to that party. It was only about five
years ago that I participated in a points-program that Bose Canada ran for
their independent dealers. The prize for one of the benchmarks was a $500
gift card to the retailer of your choice. Well, I earned a gift card, and I
chose Costco.

Well, that set off a firestorm. My regional Bose rep got torn a new one by
his boss, the National Sales Manager. The conversation as it was related to
me could be paraphrased as “ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT BOSE PROMOTIONAL DOLLARS
WENT INTO COSTCO’S TILL!!!?? WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU!!!???”

Long story short, my regional rep was eventually able to sit down again
without a pillow, but future points programs spelled out the options from
which retailers you could select your gift card.

So considering the sturm und drang that I got to witness it’s kind of funny
to see Bose change their tune and welcome Costco to their list of authorized
dealers.