Another point about Monster's pricing and margins is that not everyone who sells Monster Cable makes as much money on it as Radio Shack does. In JB1592's example, the Tandy Corp. would have a gross margin of about 87%, if the Radio Shed really paid $8 for that $60-retail cable. Small indie dealers, on the other hand, might have gross margins along the lines of 50% for Monster Cable (less on power products), which still might seem obscenely profitable to some, but differences far less than that are usually what spell the difference between making a profit and going out of business.

Small retailers depend on high margins on low-cost items because their margins on the big-ticket items can be very small. 50% margins on accessories is not at all unusual. Even 100% margins are not unusual. Your local music store is probably making at least a 100% profit on little things like guitar strings and clarinet reeds.

What is highly unusual is high margins for the manufacturers, which for many products might be in the 3% to 10% range. Monster has managed to create a pricing structure that assures them a huge margin - if Radio Shack does indeed pay only $8 for a $60 cable, that tells you the cost to manufacture and distribute that cable is probably under $4. That means the small retailer who pays $30 is giving Monster a 750% margin. That's almost unheard of in the electronics industry.

What I want to know is how Monster has managed to make its brand the de facto standard in music stores and electronics retailers, some of whom carry nothing but Monster. If you buy a bigscreen TV at Circuit City you will probably also walk out with at least one Monster product. My local CC store does not sell anything else. I'm guessing Monster offers a lower price to retailers that agree to sell Monster exclusively.

ORIGINAL: bitflipper

If you buy a bigscreen TV at Circuit City you will probably also walk out with at least one Monster product. My local CC store does not sell anything else. I'm guessing Monster offers a lower price to retailers that agree to sell Monster exclusively.

My wife and I bought a 52" HD LCD from CC earlier this year and, of course, the sales guy insisted that I buy a "special" cable for my TV in order for the HD to work properly. I insisted that I didn't need it, he insisted that I did, I insisted that I didn't,...you get the point. Long story short, 20 minutes later I walked out of the store with a $125 Monster Cable (yep, the only brand they carried ). When the DirecTV guy got to my house a few days later to set up my HD system, he looked at the (unopened) Monster Cable and just chuckled - "they forced to buy that , didn't they? Don't worry, you don't need it." Fortunately, I was able to return the cable with no questions asked and, surprisingly, my HD works perfectly even without the "special" cable. When I told the young lady at the return counter what the DirecTV tech told me, she said "Yeah, I know. Almost everybody ends up returning these cables."

If a radio shack had a 100% mark up and grossed say 60K a month that would only leave 30 k for advertising, franchise fees, rent, salaries, professional fees, utilities, taxes etc. That company would probably be operating at near breakeven at 60k. A 100% markup is not unusual at all for a small low volume buisiness like Radio Shack.

60k is just a made up number based on my experience with small companies - I was a CPA and now I'm an accountant, I've seen lots of companies accounting records (probably more than 100 companies).

ORIGINAL: cryophonik

ORIGINAL: bitflipper

If you buy a bigscreen TV at Circuit City you will probably also walk out with at least one Monster product. My local CC store does not sell anything else. I'm guessing Monster offers a lower price to retailers that agree to sell Monster exclusively.

My wife and I bought a 52" HD LCD from CC earlier this year and, of course, the sales guy insisted that I buy a "special" cable for my TV in order for the HD to work properly. I insisted that I didn't need it, he insisted that I did, I insisted that I didn't,...you get the point. Long story short, 20 minutes later I walked out of the store with a $125 Monster Cable (yep, the only brand they carried ). When the DirecTV guy got to my house a few days later to set up my HD system, he looked at the (unopened) Monster Cable and just chuckled - "they forced to buy that , didn't they? Don't worry, you don't need it." Fortunately, I was able to return the cable with no questions asked and, surprisingly, my HD works perfectly even without the "special" cable. When I told the young lady at the return counter what the DirecTV tech told me, she said "Yeah, I know. Almost everybody ends up returning these cables."

Are you using HDMI or RCA ? You do know that RCA is analog, and doesn't look anywhere near as good as HDMI which is fully digital right? If you are using RCA's you have ripped yourself off. And if you are using S-Video, then you are not looking at an HD signal at all.

ORIGINAL: Ognis

Are you using HDMI or RCA ? You do know that RCA is analog, and doesn't look anywhere near as good as HDMI which is fully digital right? If you are using RCA's you have ripped yourself off. And if you are using S-Video, then you are not looking at an HD signal at all.

DirecTV included an HDMI cable (and NOT a Monster brand ) with the HD reciever - fully digital and an awesome picture.

ORIGINAL: cryophonik

ORIGINAL: Ognis

Are you using HDMI or RCA ? You do know that RCA is analog, and doesn't look anywhere near as good as HDMI which is fully digital right? If you are using RCA's you have ripped yourself off. And if you are using S-Video, then you are not looking at an HD signal at all.

DirecTV included an HDMI cable (and NOT a Monster brand ) with the HD reciever - fully digital and an awesome picture.

Okay cool. Yeah it defentily doesn't have to be Monster brand. Just didn't want you to be watching a crappy S-Video picture Direct TV includes HDMI huh, nice. Comcast only gave me RCA's But, we do have a sharper picture than Direct TV though Direct TV highly compresses their HD signal because it doesn't have the bandwidth to handle HD if it doesn't. Just like if you got the internet though them, it'd be super slow compared to comcast. Cable just has so much more bandwidth.

the real problem with satellite internet is the latency. it's no problem for TV, but 500-600ms latency on the internet gets old fast. plus the signal goes to crap during heavy rain.

Verizon FIOS also gives you an HDMI cable for free. The guy at Best Buy tried real hard to sell me an HDMI cable (probably Monster, but I forget) when we bought our TV, and told me point blank that I was wrong when I told him Verizon would be giving me one.

ORIGINAL: Ognis

Just didn't want you to be watching a crappy S-Video picture

Hey! I resemble that remark! And so does my nine-year-old 32" 4:3 tube TV.