The company has always had premium prices, but in certain categories the products haven’t always matched the brand’s cachet: 2010s attempts at noise-canceling headphones were bulky, sounded mediocre, and had poor battery life; and also sold a line of overpriced Bluetooth speakers with screens no one needed.
Then, after its physical storefronts didn’t have the billboard effect that Bose wanted, the brand, just before teaming up with Snyder, decided to do a radical (a word that can often be substituted for “panic”) pivot toward a strategy that It focused on online sales and strengthening displays in existing stores such as Best Buy in the United States.
This radical change meant that all Bose stores in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan closed, resulting in 119 store closures and hundreds of layoffs around the world. So far under Snyder’s direction, that pivot toward online and in-store retail has worked, according to the company, but it could have gone the other way.
Brands like nike Those that have moved away from brand-name retailers have seen sales declines, but the key difference lies in Bose’s decision to lean on retail partners. By beefing up displays at places like Best Buy and other stores, as well as leaning on sales on Amazon and other online retailers in addition to its own website, Bose has been able to maintain a broad reach without keeping retail overhead in-house. According to Snyder, this streamlined approach has been effective in correcting Bose’s fortunes, especially when combined with excellent new products.
Exclusive audio
As a technology company that focuses exclusively on audio products, Snyder says Bose’s secret sauce is research. Engineers constantly seek innovation in materials, acoustics, design, production and more. When asked about recent innovations in solid-state controller technology, for example, he is unabashed about his prodigious market research.
“The interesting thing about Bose is that we’ve been an audio company for 60 years,” Synder says. “We know that we will be in competitive markets. We’ve always been in competitive markets, whether it’s headphone, home or automotive. What makes us different is that everything revolves around audio. You can be sure we experiment with everything. When we think something is ready, we advance it. “We are always looking for technology that can change the game.”
This is particularly evident when it comes to noise cancellation, which the brand pioneered for aviators (a market Snyder says Bose is proud to remain dominant in) rather than people in the main cabin of the plane.
Using the professionals
By researching what pilots needed to operate safely and comfortably in the cockpit, and by constantly asking them for improvements and ideas, Bose was able to develop and apply what remain the best noise cancellation algorithms WIRED has ever tested. This makes sense, given that the latest generation of Bose Quietcomfort headphones and earphones offer genuine pro-grade aerospace technology.
Snyder says the brand uses professionals, or semi-professionals in the case of its PA equipment for small-venue musicians, not only to improve its products but also to market to people interested in high-end audio. “He is a professional musician. They have great hearing. They know what a great sound sounds like. “Those products create a kind of halo.”