Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
CLEANER METHODS IN MERCHANDISING.
(Continued front page 3.)
large trade organization which has millions of assets, and yet cannot offer a standardized article
at a less price than the small dealer who may occupy an obscure position in a great city.
If the dealer is selling unknown products under his own name he has a perfect right to set
a price; but when he is selling somebody else's goods, the name of which the owner may have
spent millions to establish, then there are other rights involved, and the owner of that name has,
by his investment, created in it certain property rights and certain guarantees to the public, and
these rights should be respected.
I have held that if price standardization were absolutely enforced
by twenty-five or thirty of the piano manufacturers of this country,
it would do much to place the business on a firmer basis than ever
before.
The Effects of the War on Business.
T
HE effects of the great European war upon American indus-
tries of every nature are far reaching. In fact, it would
be difficult to locate a single industry which is not directly or
indirectly affected by the conflict which is now raging in Europe.
So far as the war directly affects the piano business, there
is no question but that the longer it continues the greater in-
fluence it will have in many ways.
There are many piano supplies which are secured from
European factories, and with the industries shattered in the war-
torn countries, as they will be probably for an indefinite period,
it may mean that a difficult problem will confront piano manu-
facturers in the way of securing some supplies which are vital
in piano making.
Surely there is room for American inventive genius just
now, and no doubt there are many brilliant minds which are
now experimenting as to substitutes in the various lines of trade
which are directly affected by the European war.
Surely with such abundant natural resources Americans
should be able to meet in a fairly satisfactory way certain emer-
gencies which will be forced upon them by war conditions.
We have relied upon other countries to provide us with
many essentials which presumably could be created within our
national confines, and now that the emergency has arisen it is
believed that American ability will measure up to the situation.
There are all sorts of predictions regarding the effect of the
war upon American trade. There are some who feel that this j
country will be materially benefited, owing to the fact that the
European countries will need a vast amount of supplies which,!
America will be in a position to provide.
.''
Others figure that the war, which involves all of Europe,
cannot benefit this country materially, no matter what the out-
come may be.
'
One thing is certain: at the present time the war is causing
the people to be more careful of their expenditures, and the
policy of conservatism is evidenced in almost every trade.
Business men feel that Latin America will be now the most
fertile field for American trade exploitation for years to come,
and if we have the proper ships to carry our cargoes it may be i
that we shall obtain a firm trade foothold in the countries which!!
lie south of us.
|;
The reduction of the imports naturally has a depressing'*
effect upon business, more particularly in the vicinity of such
ports as New York, where there is so much capital and labor
engaged in handling the imports in various directions.
basis of the local and established merchant as to expansion.
When the piano man, or other merchant, shows that he
realiy intends to locate in the town permanently the itinerant
merchant ordinance will hold no terrors for him. The' special
sale proposition in a town lacking in a piano store is legitimate,
and should be welcomed. In other cases, however, the estab-
lished dealer, the man whd is bearing his share of the town's
burdens, is desreving of consideration.
in the small town, with his orders for perhaps only a dozen or 1
two pianos during the year, is, in the majority of cases, a mighty i
good man to tie to. With the proper support he will confine |
himself to one or maybe two lines of instruments, does most of j
the selling himself and knows personally the great majority of
his customers, which means fewer credit risks.
Dealers who sell only a score or so pianos each year, if there
are enough of them, mean good business for any manufacturer
when they have sufficient capital and business ability to stay
beyond the consignment stage of doing business. The manu-
facturers who have tried the experiment of keeping a traveler
working in a single State, and going over that State with a fine-jj
tooth comb, have been surprised at the results, especially in thejj
number of dealers doing business from their own homes, perhaps,
who have been dug up by that method.
With the usual support from the manufacturers the business!
of such small dealers can be. and is, developed at-a rate that is!
really surprising, and the advice from the traveler and his supe-
riors on selling and financing problems falls on fertile ground.
The "Pullman jumps" of the trade "Ambassador" will prob-'
ably be continued as formerly, but will not be the exclusive priv-
ilege of the majority of the traveling men. The surface crop- [
pings have been pretty well cleaned up, and now it is a case off,
digging for ore.
.!
The Europeans, with their limited territory, have long been
forced to resort to intensive development of business, which has
resulted in producing wonderful sales efficiency. The conditions'
in this country now demand the same attention to the smaller'
details, the practice of making every hamlet produce its share'
of income.
T
HE very bigness of the United States, the extent of its
acreage in proportion to the population and the growth
of the population have always had the effect of influencing the
average business man to do things in a broad way, to disregard
the many things that may lie underneath and to take only that
which has lain on the surface, for it has generally proved suffi-
cient. The idea of intensive cultivation, of getting all possible
business out of one section before passing on to the next, has
not prevailed until comparatively recent times, because there
was apparently no real need for it.
In the piano trade, for instance, the big cities and towns
provided about all the business the majority of manufacturers
cared to go after, and the little dealer in the town of two, five
or even ten thousand inhabitants, although not exactly over-
looked, was expected to place "his business unsolicited.
• Within the past couple of years there has been a noticeable
change in the business getting methods of the manufacturers.
The dealers in the big centers are still catered to in the usual
way, but the travelers are also being sent into the various States
for the purpose of digging out the interior trade.
• It has been found by actual experience that the little fellow