Learning From Leaders

WORDS BY JAMIE SORCHER

Back in the 70s and 80s, if you wanted an album, portable radio or a car stereo, you shopped at a big name in the business. Sam Goody was one of them, and that’s exactly where Mike Anderson, vice president and GM of Alpine Electronics of America, began his career.

“I started with them in Valley Stream in the Green Acres Mall,” he said, noting that the final iteration of Sam Goody and the Sam Goody he worked for were two completely different operations. “When I worked there, it was a place where you could buy any album or cassette tape under the sun.” He recalled the business had the best selection, as well as a hi-fi department, audio gear and a radio department that included compact stereo systems and accessories, and car stereos.

Alpine was previously headquartered in Torrance, Calif. but now calls Auburn Hills, Mich. home. Anderson himself grew up on Long Island in Farmingdale, he

said, but he currently resides in California. Keeping to his roots, he noted that he’s a Giants fan and a Rangers fan. “I started getting into hockey before the Islanders existed, so the Rangers were my team.” Anderson also keeps a Giants helmet in his office—a fond reminder of his east coast roots.

After gaining experience in Sam Goody’s radio department, Anderson was soon selling mid- to high-end audio gear at higher prices than most other stores. “I sympathize with dealers today who are concerned with Internet pricing,” he said. “We had a version of that when I was growing up.” The biggest difficulty, he said, was Uncle Steve’s in downtown Manhattan and “people on Canal Street who sold things at ridiculously low prices.” When the Sunday paper came out, stores advertised these low prices,

and customers would bring the ad into Sam Goody’s, wanting them to meet the price.

“We were pretty well-trained salespeople, and we talked customers out of the lower prices while offering a better service experience,” Anderson explained. “It was the analog version of showrooming—I lived that.”

Even now, Anderson credits Goody’s for giving him a solid foundation in sales, adding that the company had an outstanding training program. “There are still are a lot of Sam Goody alumni out there,” he said, “and many of them are now on the rep and manufacturing sides of the business.” Anderson stayed in retail working summers while in college, then took a full-time job with Sam Goody, but burnout with retail hours had him set a new course elsewhere. When a position opened with the local Pioneer rep company, he took it.

“When I joined Pioneer, there were two completely separate divisions,” he noted. “There was home audio, U.S. Pioneer, and car audio which was Pioneer of America. I got hired by the company-owned rep for U.S. Pioneer, the home audio side.” In 1982, he said, the companies merged and his firm was selected to represent both home and car audio. As the youngest person in the company, Anderson was given car audio and became the product specialist. This grew into a sales role, then a senior sales role, and then a regional manager role, he said. This led to Anderson joining Alpine in 1990. “I just celebrated 30 years.”

Looking back, Alpine was at the forefront of many car audio industry firsts—navigation being one of them. “The whole idea of buying a separate unit that

required a separate screen was so foreign to most people, but once they put a navigation system in their car, they couldn’t live without it,” Anderson recalled. Once navigation became standard in new cars, it really took off, he added, and portable navigation became a huge business for a long time.

“We were selling navigation systems for $1,500, but you could buy a portable piece for $300—and the software could be updated more often,” he said. “Of course, navigation has ended up on our phones today.”

Navigation is just one example of Alpine’s pace-setter status when it comes to new technologies. “It’s now part of an internal initiative known as First One products,” Anderson explained. “We were the first company to introduce in-vehicle navigation, and we were the first company to integrate the iPod into a car audio system. We were one of the first

companies to introduce satellite radio in the car, as well.”

He noted that there are many “First One” milestones that Alpine has enjoyed over the years, and the company takes great pride in it. “More recently, we were the first company to introduce a floating screen in the dashboard.”

The smartphone, of course, was destined to become a key piece of equipment in the car—an evolution that started with devices which allowed folks to have as many tunes as possible for a ride. “People began to gravitate to a portable MP3 player to bring their music into the car,” Anderson said. “When you had CDs, you needed a valise full of them and then you could have thousands of songs on one device—iPod or Zune or whatever it was— but once that transitioned and you could put it all on your phone, it was all over.”

The convenience, though, comes at a slight cost that isn’t lost on Anderson.

As a result of compressing those files, he explained, there was a lesser appreciation of good sound quality. Now, however, it seems as if that’s turning around. “With hi-res audio and better headphones, it’s created a greater appreciation for quality audio,” he said. “With Tidal, a high-res audio streaming service, people who appreciate good audio are gravitating toward that.”

Today’s younger generations have not only grown up with a smartphone in hand, but with a different mindset on vehicles. These are folks who take Ubers and Lyfts—and may not be as interested in owning their own car. Anderson admitted this is an issue we will face long-term.

“The younger generation’s desire to own a car is nowhere near as strong as it was 10 years ago. Your first car was your first expression of who you were as a young adult,” he said. “You wanted to redo it, put audio in it, add motoring accessories. It was this personal statement.” Anderson recalled his first car, a 1967 Chevy Malibu that he purchased for $500 from a neighbor. “Within days, I had an under-the-dash 8-track player and 6 by 9 speakers in the rear deck.”

Reaching out to today’s younger consumers is a challenge that retailers have to address on many levels, according to Anderson. “That’s where social media becomes so important today,” he said. “Kids get all of their information from

their phones on social media, so you’ve got to be active to get your message out.” This means one thing hasn’t changed, and that’s the value of word-of-mouth marketing. “That’s how you build an audience and a loyal following—but then you’ve got to keep communicating to those people.”

With the pandemic overshadowing most of 2020, Alpine is positioned for a strong 2021. Anderson said he is cautiously optimistic for the year ahead. The company has seen a resurgence in business, and Anderson added it’s not just Alpine—it’s across the entire industry. “People who aren’t working are getting stimulus money, and they’ve got time on their hands. More importantly, the people who are working and continue to work are now buying things instead of going to concerts, ballgames, movies or restaurants,” he added. Customers are improving their homes and vehicles, as well as boats and side-by-sides. “As a result, our business has exploded. It’s been on a good trajectory since mid-May. Right now through the end of the year, we’re looking very strong. We’re chasing inventory. The entire industry is still chasing inventory.”

Set for introduction this quarter are successors to Alpine’s floating screens. A new nine-inch floating screen is coming out this month, as well as the industry’s

first 11-inch screen. “There could be needs down the road for even larger screens in pick-up trucks, SUVs and RVs, all of which we are targeting with the 11-inch model,” he said. “But nothing larger than the 11-inch is in the works right now. We’ll be introducing new products for next year, so we’ve got a good outlook about our business.” Anderson said Alpine is cautiously optimistic since the future is unclear, and no one is sure what will happen with the economy or the stimulus money.

One thing Anderson does know is that for the first time in a very long time, Alpine won’t be in Las Vegas for CES. “That’s probably the single biggest marketing event we have in any year,” he said. “CES is still a really important show, not only for our brand but for our OEM customers, but SEMA has also become very important.” However, he noted, Alpine doesn’t exhibit there. “We choose to limit our big investment to CES, and we’ll probably be back in 2022.” Still, he said, there’s no show this year—“I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself the first week of January.”