The Crutchfield story: the 2010s (2024)

In Chapter 4 of the Crutchfield Story, we discussed the beginnings of the digital television boom, how we promoted sound quality in the age of digital music, and added some key online shopping tools to our website. We also looked at the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on our business.

2010 was an interesting year for Crutchfield and the consumer electronics industry. The economy was recovering from the turmoil created by the 2008 financial crisis. Exciting innovative technologies were rapidly evolving. Streaming over the internet started to become commonplace.

Embracing the newest technology

We responded to the streaming trend by selling some newly introduced home networking products, including a line of home routers. A limited number of our televisions were beginning to come with internal apps for the streaming services available at the time. None provided the video quality we enjoy today.

In 2010, the best televisions only had 2K HD (high definition) resolutions and few homes had high-bandwidth internet service. Although streaming had the benefits of instant gratification, Blu-ray discs offered the best video quality at the time (and still do today).

While streaming was an emerging technology that would become a dominant provider of home entertainment later in the decade, there was one emerging technology in 2010 that flopped. It was 3D TV. We introduced a few 3D television models in 2010. Although the technology worked, 3D content was limited to select Blu-ray discs. And its viewing required the use of special glasses that were relatively heavy. After a few years of disappointing sales, these products disappeared from the market.

Crutchfield expanded our product selection throughout 2010. We made a major commitment to selling and supporting professional-quality cameras, camcorders, and their accessories. We also added an emerging line of portable GPS navigation devices. These product categories have expanded tremendously over the years.

Expanding our services

In 2010, Crutchfield added some important new services. To better serve our home audio customers, we formed our Home A/V Design Group. These experts provide our shoppers with highly professional home A/V system designs. This group has expanded significantly over the years and has proven to be a tremendous benefit for our customers.

The famous Crutchfield Outlet

Another service that we added in 2010 was the Outlet portal on our website. Since Crutchfield’s beginning in 1974, we have always professionally processed the merchandise returned by our customers. Each returned item is carefully inspected and, if necessary, reconditioned.

In the early days of our business, we resold returned merchandise through semi-annual "tent sales" at our headquarters. Later, we found it more efficient to sell these items through special "Outlet" sections in our two retail stores.

Our return rates have always been lower than the industry average, thanks to our skilled Sales Advisors and Tech Support services, but as our national catalog and online sales grew, our volume of returns increased. Rather than offering these discounted products only to our local shoppers, we made them available to our national market by creating this Outlet section on our website.

Crutchfield starts creating video content

In 2010 we began offering instructional videos on our website. We started small. Over the years, this service has grown to over 4,200 Crutchfield videos. We now have a team of videographers and producers working in our four in-house professional video studios. Many of these videos are available on our website under “” on our homepage’s top navigation bar. You'll find even more of our videos on our Crutchfield YouTube channel.

A dog-friendly workplace

2010 was a wonderful year for our dog owners. We started to allow our employees to bring their dogs to work. It started out with only a few dogs hanging out with their owners. Over the years, the number of dogs coming to “work” grew. In 2016, we opened a dog park at our headquarters’ location, which we appropriately named "Woofer Park".

In February 2018, Virginia Business magazine named Crutchfield as one of the best places to work in our state, and I was featured on the cover holding two of our dachshunds. I am convinced that our dog-friendly policy contributed to this honor and our subsequent recognitions for being one of the best places to work.

A renewed interest in quality sound

Starting in 2011, there was a renewed interest in TV sound quality. As I have mentioned, the new flat-panel televisions were becoming thinner and thinner. Without room for full-range speakers, the sound quality of these new TVs suffered.

The advent of home theater

To address this problem, multiple manufacturers introduced sophisticated sound enhancement products for televisions. These products included sound bars and subwoofers, in addition to front, center, and rear-channel speakers.

Since we were actively promoting our Hi-Fi 2.0 initiative, which I explained in Chapter 4, these new products were natural additions to our business. Around this time, the industry started using “home theater” as the term for the new generation of higher-quality audio and video products.

Headphones become relevant again

Similarly, as the appreciation of quality sound returned, the demand for better headphones increased. In 2011, Crutchfield added several lines of high-quality headphones. They are still an extremely popular product category for us today.

Wireless audio solutions

Also around this time, Sonos became a major pioneer in wireless home speakers. With its products, our customers could enjoy music in multiple rooms in their homes without the complexity of running speaker wires. Since the introduction of this wonderful technology, Crutchfield has become one of the largest retailers of quality wireless home speakers.

The dawn of streaming TV services

Video viewing options were evolving as more televisions were coming with embedded streaming apps. The term “Smart TV” became commonly used by 2011. Besides televisions, some Blu-ray players were coming with built-in streaming apps. This permitted people without smart TVs to stream content through their Blu-ray players. Popular streaming sticks like Roku and Fire TV Stick were not yet available.

Crutchfield Labs — Our A/V gear playground

In 2012 we introduced an important and highly unique service, the Crutchfield Labs. We built specialized rooms in our headquarters building where our technicians could analyze our products in much greater detail.

In a 2012 catalog, we called the labs our “playground for A/V geeks.” And that is what they were and still are. Doing “deep dives” into our products ensures that we are only selling quality products to our consumers and that we are honestly promoting their features and benefits.

A year of discovery

2012 may be termed Crutchfield’s "year of discovery." As I explained in Chapter 4, we were operating two successful retail stores. I always believed that we could expand our business by opening additional stores. They provide three major benefits. First, physical stores introduce shoppers to our rich organizational culture as demonstrated by our staff. Second, they provide instant gratification — customers can walk out with their purchases. And third, our customers can have their products professionally installed.

I also mentioned that I did not feel that a traditional retail store format was sustainable. With rising occupancy and personnel costs, it was not possible to properly present our growing assortment of products. By 2012, we carried well over 10,000 different products.

Virtual speaker listening

In Chapter 4, I also mentioned that we developed our patented virtual audio technology to permit us to demonstrate our 1,000 different models of speakers in specially designed listening rooms at our retail stores. We measure our speakers in a special anechoic chamber and record their frequency response rate using a complex set of proprietary software. Using digital signal processing (DSP), we can recreate their reproduction in the stores’ special demonstration rooms.

Not only can we recreate the performance of the speakers, but we can model their response based on the listening environment. For example, bass response is better in vans than in small cars. Home listening conditions vary tremendously depending on the acoustics of the room. Rooms with hard surfaces like wood floors and exposed glass are more reflective than rooms with soft surfaces like rugs, curtains, and stuffed furniture. By 2012, our virtual audio technology was ready for deployment in a concept store.

Crutchfield's intelligent retail store concept becomes a reality

We started work on our concept store in July of 2012. Initially, we referred to this project as the Crutchfield “Discovery Store.” In addition to the virtual listening rooms, we began developing our concept of intelligent fixtures.

Each fixture would display products specific to a single category. For example, on the intelligent fixture for cameras, we would display only a limited assortment of actual cameras. There would be two high-definition computer monitors connected to computers through which our Sales Advisors could retrieve a wealth of information on every camera and camera accessory sold by Crutchfield.

These intelligent fixtures also allowed orders to be placed. If the product was in store stock, the customer could leave with it. If not, the product would be shipped to their home from one of our distribution centers.

We designed and built intelligent fixtures for car stereo, home audio, and personal audio products. For our Outlet merchandise, we designed and built a large kiosk which shoppers could use to search for and purchase their desired products.

By early 2013, we were ready to start the process of taking our Discovery Store from the conceptual to the operational phase. While still operating our 21,000-square-foot store in Charlottesville, we rented another nearby retail space (formerly a Pier 1 store). The interior construction and fixture construction were routine. However, perfecting the innovative virtual technology for auditioning speakers was rather complex.

Fortunately, by October 2013, we were able to open this revolutionary retail store. To commemorate the event, the candidate who was about to become Virginia’s next governor, Terry McAuliffe, came to the opening.

Reinventing the Crutchfield catalog

2012 was also a year of discovery for a different reason. The costs of printing and mailing our traditional large catalogs were increasing at alarming rates. There were people in our company who thought that we should stop publishing them. Their logic was sound. First, most of our sales were now being conducted through our website. Second, they projected that publishing catalogs would become unprofitable within another year.

I hated the thought of ceasing the publication of what we regarded as one of Crutchfield’s “crown jewels.” We had established an outstanding staff of catalog copywriters and graphic designers over the years. Because of their talents, Crutchfield’s catalogs had won an impressive number of national design awards over many years. I strongly felt that no longer taking advantage of this talent could be counterproductive over the long term.

After thinking about this problem, I decided that we should no longer consider our publication as a traditional catalog. Instead, we should reinvent it as a branding publication. It would highlight the excitement of using our products by educating our shoppers about the technology along with the comprehensive support which Crutchfield provides. It would highlight a limited selection of our products. But instead of promoting the sale of them, the publication would provide links to our website where the actual sales presentations would occur.

We renamed our catalog the “Discovery Book.” I am pleased to report that it has matured into a popular publication to which our customers have responded very well. We mainly send these books to our existing customers. However, if you are not a subscriber and want to be, sign up on our website. Not only can you use this link to subscribe but you can use it to access past digital editions.

Evolving our shipping practices

Operationally, 2012 was important as well. Around this time, both UPS and FedEx were getting tired of catalog and online retailers shipping boxes which were larger than they needed to be. Unnecessarily large boxes were taking up room in their trucks, airplanes, and package sorting centers. Also, this practice was creating more unnecessary environmental waste.

To incentivize shippers to pack more efficiently, both companies instituted weight and size pricing. Therefore, it became important for us to use the smallest possible box when shipping our products. Fortunately, our Chief Fulfillment Officer learned of a Swedish company that was making revolutionary machines that did this. We installed one of their early-generation machines in 2012. Today we have seven newer-generation machines, including two that are so advanced that Crutchfield was a Beta site during their development.

The packing machines work as follows. Within seconds of orders being placed online or by phone, our computers search through approximately 1,200 box size algorithms. We have created them by measuring every product we sell. That number is now over 17,000. After finding the algorithm or algorithms which correspond to the smallest possible size for the products in our customers’ orders, our computers send the information to the machines. They cut the boxes to the ideal size. Our two newest machines even fold the boxes.

Since deploying these machines in 2012, we have saved an enormous amount of packaging waste and reduced our shipping costs.

Emerging technologies of the day

In our January 2013 Discovery Book, we introduced the LG 84LM9600 television. We referred to it as “The world’s first 4K Ultra HD TV.” We explained that it had four times the resolution of all previous high-definition televisions and stated that “Ultra HD is where TV is headed.” Because of its breakthrough technology, this 84” TV sold for a hefty price, $16,999. Considering inflation, it would be far higher in today’s dollars. At the time, content was only available through the emerging Ultra HD Blu-ray players. 4K streaming would be coming soon.

In our February/March 2013 Discovery Book, we explained the benefits of HDR (High Dynamic Range) which was being introduced as a feature in some of our cameras. The book compared photos taken with and without HDR enabled. The difference in color and contrast was remarkable. Though the technology behind it is different, this was an interesting predictor of what was coming to televisions. Within a few years, HDR would become incorporated in our 4K TVs. Today, HDR is a standard feature of 4K TVs.

Advances in car stereo technology

Over our 50 years, I have seen car stereo technology progress from using 8-track cartridges to cassettes and then CDs. And during the 2010s, these products were also evolving rapidly.

By 2013, some car stereos had transitioned into media centers. They could communicate with smartphones through Bluetooth® and store digital music files. Smartphone connectivity allowed for handsfree telephone conversations and downloading apps from the internet. They also provided more entertainment choices.

Many stereos were capable of reading and storing content from USB thumb drives, streaming content from tablets through Bluetooth, and receiving HD Radio™ broadcasts. In addition, some of our car stereos were also capable of receiving SiriusXM signals by using optional tuners and antennas.

The days of in-dash CD players were ending. One of our 2013 Discovery Books had the headline “Ditch the disc with a digital media receiver.” Besides all these entertainment capabilities, some of those head units offered sophisticated GPS navigation.

When I founded Crutchfield in 1974, I could never have conceived of the technology that was becoming available in our modern car stereo products. In 1974, I remember marveling over a cassette player incorporated into a head unit with an AM/FM radio. That was the height of technology in those days.

Jumping into Pro Audio gear

In 2013, Crutchfield added an entirely new category of products, Pro Audio equipment. I made this decision for two primary reasons. First, our customers were asking for it. They wanted to buy from a retailer that offered Crutchfield’s exceptional level of customer service and technical expertise. Second, some of our manufacturers were also in this business. They encouraged us to enter it.

Our Pro Audio business has grown significantly over the years. Besides serving musicians, it has morphed into selling and supporting a wide range of commercial audio products which are used in schools, restaurants, stores, shopping centers, churches and synagogues, and government facilities. To ensure that these customers receive the most suitable products for their specialized needs, we offer an audio/video custom design service.

Helping our customers understand new tech

Late in 2014, Crutchfield introduced our customers to two innovative technologies. Pioneer introduced Apple CarPlay™ as a car stereo feature. By connecting an iPhone to the car stereo, our customers could access music from their phone and control it through their stereo’s touchscreen. A year later, Google’s Android Auto became available on some of our car stereos.

Dolby Atmos® was another innovative technology that became widely available in 2014. It provides home A/V systems with a three-dimensional listening experience. This new level of depth and realism makes movie soundtracks even more immersive and exciting.

Whenever a new technology is introduced in the world of consumer electronics, it shows up as a new feature in the products we sell. As an information company, we want to make sure our customers understand what these features and technologies do and how they work.

When game-changers like Apple CarPlay or Dolby Atmos are released, we train our Sales Advisors and Tech Support staff about them and create new articles and videos to explain how they work to customers.

The importance of community service

All of us at Crutchfield have always prided ourselves on being good citizens. In our 2017 Discovery Books, we honored some of our employee initiatives.

There was Chris’ Heart Walk. He organized a fund-raising walk in support of the American Heart Association. At the time, he was a board member of its local organization. There was Tara’s Charlottesville Area Riding Therapy program. It gave adults and children with special needs the opportunity to work with horses to develop their physical, emotional, cognitive well-being. We also called out Tommy’s Coat Drive. For seven years, he organized a coat drive during the holiday season to provide clothing for people in need. It has now been in operation for 14 years. Over this time, Tommy has collected thousands of coats.

Being dog lovers, we naturally support our local SPCA. In our Discovery Books, we have honored our employees working with various initiatives which benefit the SPCA. Many of our employees contribute to their community's success through volunteering and service efforts. These are just a few examples.

Crutchfield's SpeakerCompare™ tool brings virtual listening to our website

In the Spring 2019 Discovery Books, we launched our unique SpeakerCompare feature. As I previously explained, we developed our patented virtual audio technology to permit us to demonstrate our 1,000 different models of speakers in specially designed listening rooms at our retail stores.

With SpeakerCompare, we brought this technology to our website. Using one of a select group of headphones, our online shoppers can audition speakers just as they would in one of our retail stores. I should emphasize that this feature is ONLY available on the Crutchfield website. We have 17 patents issued or pending on this technology. As you can imagine, our customers have responded very well to SpeakerCompare. We published some of their comments in a 2019 Discovery Book. Here are a few:

• “Can’t think of a better way to audition speakers without actually being the room with them.” – Steve C.
• “I heard differences right away and they really helped to narrow my search. Thank you, Crutchfield.” – Paul K.
• “Excellent tool. Even with modest headphones, I can hear important differences between speakers.” – Hector R.

Our new, state-of-the art contact center

As our business continued to grow, we needed more space for our Sales, Customer Service, and Tech Support Advisors. I mentioned in Chapter 4 that we planned to build a 20,000-square-foot contact center above a section of our main distribution center. Due to my concerns about the growing debt bubble in 2007, I canceled those plans. In 2017, I restarted that project. The actual construction started in January 2018 and continued for the next year and a half.

By the fall of 2019, the building was complete. Since Crutchfield is in the high-tech business, it was only natural that we would make this building high-tech. And that's what we did.

Our new contact center has:

• state-of-the-art HVAC systems
• the most energy-efficient windows
• light tubes that bring natural outside light through the ceiling
• computer-controlled LED interior lighting which maintains a constant day and night lumens level
• window shades which automatically adjust by computer
• nine offices and a conference room
• a large training room acoustically controlled to recording studio standards
• numerous employee amenities: a breakroom/commissary with an outdoor rooftop patio, a lounge, a shower, a nursing room for new mothers, and more
• 13 miles of CAT 6 cabling with 300+ Ethernet terminations
• advanced security systems

The new contact center also has a large generator capable of providing standby power for the call center and for the existing 85,000 square feet of distribution facilities below and behind the building. We oversized it to accommodate future building additions.

Adapting to new sales tax laws

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1967’s National Bellas Hess v. Illinois (then reaffirmed in 1992’s Quill Corp. v. North Dakota) that companies which did not have physical presences in a state were not required to collect its sales taxes. Since Virginia is the only state where we have physical presence, we had only been collecting sales tax on purchases shipped to our Virginia customers.

This changed when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its rulings in late 2017 (South Dakota v. Wayfair). Throughout 2018, states phased in their sales tax registration and filing processes. By 2019, Crutchfield and most other direct retailers were collecting sales tax in all the states that require it.

Initially, shoppers rejected this new tax requirement and reduced their online and catalog purchases. However, they soon realized that the benefits of non-store shopping outweighed their new tax obligation. By late 2019, after a dip, our sales began to normalize, finishing an impressive decade with strong performance.

Chapter 6, coming soon

This concludes the fifth chapter of The Crutchfield Story. In chapter 6, I will chronicle the current decade of the 2020s. The beginning of this decade was highlighted by Crutchfield’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic. Chapter 6 will become available on August 1, 2024.

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