Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
WHAT DOES THE NEW YEAR MEAN TO YOU ?
(Continued from page 3)
The time to prepare for this is when things are in good condition. Campaigns carried on with intelligence
now will still bear fruit when the situation is not so propitious. Let the "piano in every home" idea be not
merely a slogan, but a business maxim.
Every piano sold when times are good means more sales regardless of future conditions. Not everyone
is overflowing with music, despite statements to the contrary, but everyone is possessed of a certain degree of
vanity. If the majority of a circle of friends own or purchase pianos, there is just that percentage of influence
at work to prevail upon the minority to become piano owners. It is one of those bits of psychology that help
business.
At all events, do not wait to see what 1917 is going to bring, but take time by the forelock and go out and
get what is in store. If there is something coming in the natural course of events, that something can be
increased materially by properly directed effort.
Developing Retail Trade After the Holidays
is customary in retail establishments throughout the country
I the T to ground
consider January as a dull month in the matter of sales, on
that the field has been so thoroughly worked during
the pre-holiday period that the people's requirements have been
fully supplied, and with their funds exhausted, a natural lull
should ensue after the holidays.
* This line of thought follows established precedent, but we
are now living in a time when precedents are not as popular
or as respected as they used to be. And perhaps it is just as
well. There are piano merchants to-day who maintain that the
early weeks of January can be made profitable from a sales
standpoint by a special effort. This year, for instance, millions
of dollars have been distributed in the form of bonuses—extra
money which is not all demanded for the high cost of living. A
rather liberal margin has been left for the purchase of such
necessaries to the enjoyment of life as musical instruments of all
kinds, and the dealers who have not rested on their holiday
laurels, and who are keeping after their prospects assiduously,
are being rewarded.
. During the past week some excellent sales were reported
by piano merchants throughout the country—those piano men
who were fortunate in having stock on hand, and who are not
believers in the idea that all activity ceases with the passing of the
Christmas holidays.
As a. matter of fact the idea of "seasons" in the piano trade
is fast disappearing. There are some periods of the year duller
than others, but there should be no dull time in the sales depart-
ment of business provided the manager and sales force are
year so recently closed was a record-breaker in the matter
T HE
of export trade. The official figures just issued show that the
United States, at the opening of a third war-ridden New Year,
exported and imported goods to the value of almost $8,000,000,000.
Never before has any nation rolled up such a total.
Of this trade more than two-thirds represent exports—leav-
ing a national trade balance of approximately $3,000,000,000 in the
credit column.
The export trade has apparently yet to reach its apex, accord-
ing to distinguished authorities. Jumping by leaps and bounds on
a rising scale for the last two years, exports for the last month
attained another high water mark. More than a half billion dol-
lars in commodities left American ports in the thirty days,
$17,000,000 a day.
;
Imports, however, have declined since last June, when they
reached the high level of $245,000,000.
T
HAT the path of the piano exporter is not one of roses is
indicated by the report of the United States Consul in Cape
Town, South Africa, who cites an instance where a piano costing
$81 wholesale in Massachusetts cost $197.54 when landed in
Cape Town with freight and duty paid. The freight charges
alone were $85, or more than the cost of the piano itself. In
comparison, a piano bought in England for $99.54 was sent
down to Cape Town for $167.48, Before the war American
ever on the alert to new selling methods, and fully realize the
necessity of keeping in touch with the public constantly through the
medium of advertising.
Business men who are successful understand the necessity
and the value of advertising. There is no surer or better means
of getting the individuality of one's house, and the product
handled, before the public. The piano house that recognizes
the importance and value of advertising is the house that is pro-
gressing, the house that does not complain about dull times or
off seasons. The preparation of advertising, like the inaugura-
tion of a sales campaign, or the introduction of new styles, or
a new policy, implies careful, deliberate study.
First, and foremost, there must be something to say that is
worth while when advertising is indulged in. When a concern
advertises a piano which is devoid of merit, or, in other words,
indulges in extravagant statements regarding the product—state-
ments which are not in conformity with the product itself—all
the advertising in the world will not bring lasting success. There
may be temporary success, but after a while, people will find out
the true worth of the instrument, and after they have been
"stung" they are not liable to get in the danger zone again, and
they are very sure to influence their friends, not only against
the piano, but what is more important still, against the house
that father* this kind of advertising.
An article must possess merit and must be sold at a price
which is in conformity with the values incorporated within it.
These are elementary facts in connection with publicity, but they
are so often ignored that they bear repetition.
pianos could be sent down to Cape Town at a cost averaging
75 per cent, of the value of the instrument, but now freight, duty,
etc., average 210 per cent, on home cost.
a very few weeks the piano dealers of New York will be
I local N called
upon to take final action regarding the formation of a
association. Although during the holiday rush local piano
merchants have enough to do to take care of their business with-
out worrying over association matters, the fact remains that
there is a genuine interest in the association movement, a fact
which can be attested to by the members of the committee
appointed at the preliminary meeting to sound out the trade.
The New York Piano Manufacturers' Association has sig-
nified a willingness to co-operate with the retailers along certain
lines, and there should be no reason why the local trade cannot
come to some definite understanding on the association question.
top of the higher cost of piano supplies there comes the
O N announcement
that hotel men in various sections of the
country are planning to increase their rates, ostensibly to keep
up with the high cost of living. During the coming year piano
manufacturers who keep traveling men on the road, and that
practically means all concerns, must be prepared to meet this
new price boost, which indirectly comes back to the manufactur-
ing cost of the individual instrument. Where will it all end?