Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUJICT^ADI,
VOL. LXXIV. No. 19
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Published Every Saturdaylby Edward LymanjBffl, Inc., at 373 4th Ave. ? New York. May 13, 1922 «•»]• £>£!«' « «?"»*•
ESPITE years of experience, there are still many members of the music industry who believe
that the trade problems are mostly one-sided—manufacturers who believe that it is up to the dealers
to make business lively and keep it so, and dealers who feel that much work along this line lies within
the province of the manufacturer.
In going about the country one runs across a great deal of this one-sided opinion, and yet it has been
proven over and over again that the piano business is one where co-operation between manufacturer and dis-
tributor is one of the basic factors of success.
The retailer, for instance, who finds local business is off color and who pares his stock down to the limit,
refusing to order more than his actual current requirements, is accomplishing two things, neither of which is
particularly good. In the first place, he is eliminating an inducement to put forth extraordinary selling efforts
to work off surplus stock, and secondly he is placing the manufacturer in a position where there are not suf-
ficient orders available to keep his plant operating on any really efficient basis.
The question of keeping factories running depends quite as much upon the dealer as it does upon the
manufacturer, for the reason that if the manufacturer is able to operate only a portion of his plant he is un-
able to keep his factory organization intact and finds that the overhead per instrument increases materially
instead of declines as the retailer expects and would like to have it.
Right now, perhaps, this means little to the retailer far away from the manufacturing center, for he has
little difficulty in getting the two or three pianos he desires to meet current requirements, but if the trade re-
vival promised for Fall really materializes the question of building up piano stocks on dealers' floors is likely
to be a serious one.
This is not theory, but is a fact which has been amply proven within the past year. Last Fall, for in-
stance, there was a spurt of business coming just before the holidays, and the manufacturers were forced in
numerous instances to delay shipments to a point where retailers were worried and handicapped. It is true
they had the plants and supplies, but the recruiting of skilled labor was another thing, and it was found practi-
cally impossible to wean piano workmen away from other industries with the prospects of a few weeks' work.
There is a wide difference between careful buying and over-conservative buying. The retailer is per-
fectly justified in keeping his possible requirements in view when placing orders that mean the tying up of credit
and capital, but at least he should have sufficient business courage to keep on hand a stock of instruments that
is sufficiently large to take care of any spurt that may come automatically or through special sales effort.
The manufacturer for his part can prove of material assistance in building up selling campaigns by of-
fering to the man on the firing line advertising and sales suggestions of a practical nature and based upon the
successful experiences of dozens of other dealers with whom the manufacturer and his travelers have come in
contact. We find that the manufacturers who enter seriously into this plan of dealer service are included
among those who are keeping their factory running at a fairly lively rate in the face of conditions, and this
means that they are keeping their organizations intact for the future and are consequently keeping overhead
costs within reasonable limits.
The whole thing simmers down to a question of the two divisions of the trade working in co-operation
rather than at cross purposes. There are so many problems of the day that affect both sides that it is impossi-
ble for either manufacturer or dealer to devote himself entirely to the working out of his particular salvation,
while ignoring the other side.
It remains for the manufacturer to help the dealer so far as possible in his selling problems rather than
simply demanding that he sell, but it also remains for the retailer so to arrange his business that he can share
with the manufacturer the burden of the stock problem.
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