Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
The fabric out of which success is to be woven never was supplied
with such manifold ingredients of superior raw material as we com-
mand to-day. There are present all of the elements which are pri-
marily contributary to the attainment of higher things in business.
They will not, however, flow altogether through natural processes
and form a chemical compound that can be bottled, labeled and held
ready for use. Talent, enthusiasm, business tact, and perseverance
as well as a keen recognition of the present conditions must be gen-
erously mixed before substantial returns or results are manifest.
MID surroundings eminently favorable to great achievements
it should not be surprising to find a sharp contention for the
possession of the returns of commerce and industry. Catalogue
houses are but one phase which shows in our business development.
That kind of competition must be met, and simply by denying that it
exists will not remove it. Competition with ourselves, and counter-
competition with branches outside or unrelated businesses, finds as a
result a keen development. Inroads are being made on what we
regard as our legitimate trade province, and humanlike, we attribute
the absence of part of the success we should have merited to these
incursions made by trade foes rather than to acknowledge it as a
penalty paid for moments which we indulged in sleeping on our
rights.
A
I
N the piano trade there has been in many instances an abandon-
ment of sound business principles. There has been, too, an
indifference to outside competition. If dealers from the start had
given their customers a square deal, that is a full piano value and had
sold instruments at one price, and at the right price, there would not
to-day be the shadow of catalogue house competition which is visible
in every part of the country, and which threatens the dealers in
every line.
In the piano trade the piano dealer can live down catalogue
house competition better than the dealers in almost any other line.
The name and standing of pianos, the quality and appearance of
material and workmanship, must ever be conspicuous with each
individual piano sale. These must of course be commensurate with
the prices asked.
THER trades are thoroughly aroused to the danger of this
competition, and they are taking concerted action. The
National secretary of the Hardware Association recently stated em-
phatically that all parcels post legislation, no matter how innocent it
might apparently be, is dangerous to the interests of the dealers and
should be opposed. He particularly warned all members against
pending legislation, which was apparently not only harmless but a
good thing for the retailer—primarily the bill that proposed to permit
the sending of merchandise from local postoffices having no connec-
tion therewith with rural postal lines to points along those lines at
three cents a pound. This bill, he said, was only an entering wedge,
and once it was enacted the mail order houses would set up a cry that
it was class legislation and would secure other legislation that would
extend its merchandise right in the country generally.
O
I
F this were done, he warned the members that states farthest from
Chicago would suffer the most because all long hauls would be
turned over to the post office by the mail order house, the less distant
deliveries being given to the express companies. The result of this
would be of course the carriage of all this merchandise at a loss for
the government the loser being the people at large, and the gainers
the great mail order houses. He asked every member present at
the National Association to ask his Congressman to vote against such
legislation.
In this same connection he stated that his firm believed that the
rural free delivery was not to the interest of the retail" merchant.
What the small town needs is not something to keep the farmers at
home, but something that will bring them to town. The present
rural free delivery costs twenty-five millions a year more than it
earns, and it will cost fifty millions a year before long, and back of
this lies the colossal scheme of the catalogue houses.
HE costs of conducting a retail business are in many cases
extremely high, and within the past few years these costs have
increased in a marked degree. This increase is visible in more than
one direction. In these days everything about a store is far more
elaborate than was the case a few years ago, and the store itself is
larger, and merchants will not tolerate to-day the crowded conditions
T
9
which they at one time were content to put up with. Store build-
ings are also more costly. This is due rather to the greater attention
paid to fireproof construction than to the tendency to ornamentation
and gingerbread work. In fact the great stores which are now being
erected show a tendency to excessive plainness.
T
HIS, of course, applies to the great department stores many of
which carry pianos, which are now being erected in the various
cities throughout the country. The tendency to erect enormous store
structures, however, is apparent, and it is clear that the interest on
such buildings as well as on the sites must reach an enormous figure.
When we come to store fittings and equipment we find even greater
lavishness in expenditures. The importance of having beautiful as
well as convenient fittings has become so thoroughly recognized that
no merchant who solves the secret of progressiveness is content with
old-fashioned and inconvenient fixtures.
IANO merchants in common with all others are following this
trend toward increased store expenses. Pianos must be shown
in more attractive form; there must be special rooms fitted up for
the display of the various makes and there must be a generally
attractive environment which will draw and interest customers. All
of this, of course, means an additional selling cost to each piano.
There is an increased amount of floor space devoted to other pur-
poses than those of keeping stock and selling. Some piano estab-
lishments have resting rooms for ladies. Many consider these writ-
ing and reception rooms essential to the modern piano store. We
know of none which thus far has established a restaurant or tea room,
but they may come later, but it is a fact that the leading piano stores
generally throughout the land devote a larger amount of space and
costly space at that, to the retailing of their wares than ever before.
P
OMPETING merchants vie with each other in having most
attractive establishments. This competition extends as well to
the style and appointment of delivery wagons, and in many cities we
see handsomely equipped delivery wagons which are emblazoned with
the gold signs of prominent piano merchants.
The advertising appropriations have also grown, and many
piano stores which never advertised, and some which used an
occasional small ad, now take an occasional page or half page in their
local publications. Other forms of publicity, such as booklets, and
circulars have assumed a more expensive character, all this being a
direct result of the more general recognition of the fitness of things
than of the desire on the part of the merchant to have everything
connected with his store assume the best and most up-to-date appear-
ance. All this means of course increased business expansion.
C
UT these various forms of outlay have proved a profitable invest-
ment in many cases. They have not only attracted customers,
but they have imbued the public with the respect for piano selling
which never could have been gained in the old days when dark, un-
attractive rooms were the only places where pianos could be pur-
chased.
We must not measure everything from the dollar expense stand-
point if the dollar profit is desired, and the influence of splendid
piano emporiums over the country has been stimulating to the gen-
eral business. With the increase in expense it seems reasonable to
suppose that the. public should pay more for merchandise than was
asked a few years ago.
B
HIS may be the case in some other lines, but it cannot be true
of piano selling for the people are not paying more for their
instruments than they did in what some term the good old days.
Piano retailing to-day is conducted on far more scientific lines than
formerly, and while there is a large opportunity for improvement it
must be conceded that piano men in their generous wareroom
expenditures are contributing towards a trade betterment which must
tend to give the piano its rightful position in the esteem of the pur-
chasing public.
T
ECENT moves in the piano player field would seem to warrant
the belief that the piano player, external and internal, will
form a more important factor than ever in the music trade field, dur-
ing the new year. One thing is certain, the concerns which show an
aggressive spirit will win, and it is no time for the piano player man-
ufacturers to halt in the exploitation of their wares. It is a day of
activity and not of inertness.
R