The Costco Way: Ya Gotta Eat and Ya Oughta Hear
But ya don’t gotta see an audiologist to hear better, if you do it the Costco Way. That Way is putting pressure on the traditional medical model of hearing aid dispensing, which is under siege from all quarters — Big Boxes, Internet, PSAPs, OTC legislation, Hearables — and is not likely to sustain in its…
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Costco’s Business Model: Build It and They Will Come
Costco has enthusiastically embraced hearing aids as store-in-store revenue builders in all of its burgeoning warehouse locations since the mid-90s. The rate of Costco hearing aid center growth (feature image, red) has outstripped warehouse growth (blue) in recent years. Both are on fast tracks. Last Giant Standing, Building-Wise Costco’s Big Box footprint is…
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Assessing the Validity of MarkeTrak IX Adoption Rates
Today’s post by frequent contributor Amyn Amlani, PhD, is a fitting salute to David Kirkwood, who retires this week as Editor-in-Chief of HHTM. Kirkwood was first to report MarkeTrak IX findings, a month before they became available to the public. Wayne Staab, HHTM’s new Editor-in-Chief, followed Kirkwood’s lead with two posts analyzing portions of the…
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Samsung Comes Calling on the Hearing Device Industry
It makes sense for companies like Apple and Samsung to gain competitive advantage through optimized supply chains that “lock up key product and component supplies.” (4/21/15 post) Samsung Electronics agrees, judging by recent developments in its patent activity, infrastructure, component acquisitions, and newly announced products. Moreover, Samsung Electronics thinks it makes especially good sense to focus on…
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Tech Giants Eye Hearing Device Industry as Target for Rape and Plunder
The last post described future ear-level devices as conduits for highly personalized, exquisitely targeted, near and far-field individual communication systems that work in real time. Such a vision combines past and ongoing R&D efforts in Hearables, Hearing Aids, and Augmented Reality (AR). As the media hypes it, these will not be your grandfather’s hearing aids…
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