PRS Goes Direct

Image sourced from the PRS Guitars public website

Well here I am saying that “I was wrong”. When I met with PRS back in June, they said that it was never their plan to go direct. October 12, 2023 and that changed. Customers can now buy PRS SE models, except the DGT SE direct from PRS at 20% off MAP until the end of October. Dealers have been extended the ability to sell from their inventory at the discounted price but my understanding is that there is no direct credit for the loss of margin resulting from the discount to the sell price but no refunds for the dealer purchase price. While I have no data to support my conjecture, it sounds like someone’s warehouse has too much unsold inventory.

PRS joins Fender, Gibson, Taylor and Martin in bypassing the dealer channel that made them successful. While it’s not the whole PRS line, it still disappoints me as I don’t think that any of these companies understand what is required to sell to and support end users directly.