Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
FEBRUARY 17,
1923
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
5
The Important Factor in Piano Sales
Consensus oi Dealers' Opinions Is That Woman Is the Dominant Factor in From 75 to 90 Per Cent of the Sales
Made in the Retail Warerooms and Even in Those in Which She Does Not Appear Directly
Her Influence Is Preponderant—Two Interviews With Retail Men on This Subject
Just how great a factor is woman in the de-
velopment of piano sales is somewhat of a
question, for really accurate statistics are not
available. But a score or more of successful
retail managers agree that the woman of the
house has a deciding vote in the sale of from
75 to 90 per cent of all instruments. It is pointed
out at the same time, however, that the same
proportion holds good in the sale of anything
that goes into the house, either for comfort or
entertainment.
The average piano retailer and his salesmen
take full cognizance of the importance of the
woman's opinion. An analysis of retail piano
publicity shows the effect of this viewpoint, for
the appeal is almost invariably made either on
the basis of what a piano or player means in the
home or on the basis of low price. Both argu-
ments are calculated to influence the woman
more strongly than the man, even though the
latter is directly interested.
The Player and the Reproducer
Within the last decade or so the prominence
of women in the matter of piano and player
sales has shown some changes, according to re-
tail managers who have studied the situation
carefully.
When the straight piano held the
center of the stage it was the woman who de-
sired the instrument and passed definitely on the
final purchase, for the average man looked upon
manual playing as a female accomplishment.
With the coming of the player-piano, and with
it the necessity for exertion in its operation—
and exertion is the right word, as applied to the
playing of the early models at least—the man
of the house became the dominating factor in
making the final selection, for he found in the
instrument a means for expressing his musical
ideas without resorting to the long training
necessary for ordinary playing.
The reproducing piano has in turn brought
the woman again to the front, for it removes
the objection to the player-piano that effort is
required to produce music and at the same time
makes possible manual playing when desired.
The popularity of the reproducing piano and
the straight small grand has naturally brought
woman again to the fore as a factor to be con-
sidered seriously by the salesman for the per-
centage of sales that she starts or later closes #
is mounting rapidly to the old average.
The Part Man Plays
Admitting that the final choice rests with the
woman, piano merchants, however, do not for-
get that the man of the house is going to pay
the bill and is at least entitled to the privilege
of looking over the instrument. Several con-
cerns make it a point to bring both man and
wife and perhaps one or two of the older chil-
dren to the warerooms at one time to make
the final decision, to overcome the delay and
perhaps loss of sale which sometimes follows
when each calls individually to make an inspec-
tion. This system in actual practice has been
found to work out admirably and it is rare
that a sale is lost when the whole family is on
the spot. Another distinct advantage of this
system, too, is that the man is there to attach
his signature to the contract. This is a most
important matter, for in event of trouble over
payments the man is the more responsible one
and his signature is the more binding.
Actual experience has proven that from 85
to 95 per cent of inquiries coming into piano
houses, either as a result of national or local
advertising, or unsolicited, are from women,
and approximately 75 per cent of those who
visit the warerooms for the purpose of making
an initial inspection of an instrument are of the
female sex.
One piano salesman who handled a very sub-
stantial volume gf business in the Metropolitan
District last year declared that of several score
of sales he closed during that period only four
were made to men without women figuring in
the deal somewhere, and these four instruments
were purchased as presents with the desire to
surprise the recipients. Even in those cases
the men came with some idea that the instru-
ment they selected was of the sort and type
for which their wives had a preference.
One Retail Manager's Experience
George H. Eucker, manager of the retail
division of the Story & Clark Piano Co., and
formerly manager of that firm's New York
branch, in a recent interview with The Review
summed up his experience on this point as
follows:
"We say: 'Bless the Ladies'—They are the
shoppers. 1 do not believe there would be any-
where near as many pianos in the homes of this
great country today if it were left entirely to
the men to do the buying.
"A woman lives in her house and home much
more than the man does. Her home is not
only her home, but, as a matter of fact, her
place of business, and I think I am safe in
stating that 95 per cent of the married women
average at least eighteen to twenty hours a
day in the home.
"It is the women who notice that certain bare
place in the room, it is they who notice the
absence of music, and it is they who long for
the children's musical education and know what
it means to them in later years. They also know
and feel keenly the necessity of music in keep-
ing the children at home after they have
grown up.
"With a man it is somewhat different; he has
his hour or so with his friends at the club for
lunch, or some friends at a favorite restaurant.
His dinner, his pipe and newspaper mean a
whole lot to him. The few hours that he spends
at home with his family are so well taken up
that it is only natural for him to more or less
forget or not notice the absence of music. But
it is woman who makes the greatest hour of
the evening for daddy and the children, as well
as their friends, and you will find it to be the
happiest family gathered around the piano sing-
ing and having a good time.
"These are only a few of the things that
answer the reason why fully 75 per cent of our
sales are traced directly to the women. They
shop or write for catalogs, or telephone. I
believe it is also a fact that fully 75 per cent of
the canvassed sales come through the lady of
the house entering into a conversation with the
salesman at her door. It is she who later intro-
duces this salesman to her husband and in a
number of instances sales of that kind are made
without the husband ever seeing the salesman.
Any canvasser will tell you that he does not
waste much time at the door of a home when
the 'old man' answers the bell. If he is home
in the daytime it is because he is a night
worker, is ill or out of a position, and in either
case it is not a favorable time to interview.
Men May Buy Quickly but—
"The men that come directly to a store often
buy very quickly, but in very many instances
the sale has to be 'made' all over again, because
after all the piano must please the wife. Every
piano salesman has heard these words in fully
75 per cent of his sales: 'Well, mother, it's up
to you.' Every salesman knows that it is she
who, as a rule, decides things as far as case
design, finish and tone are concerned and in
very many instances she also dominates as far
as price is concerned.
"l'ianos that are purchased on the payment
plan are kept in the home through the good
wife. There are probably times when it is an
effo*rt in some homes to pay a certain instal-
ment. But rather than to think of closing her
account or offering to return the piano she will
make certain sacrifices in the house in order
to meet that certain payment during the month
when it was a little hard to pay. She does not
look at it from the financial equity the family
has in it, but purely from a point of love that
she has for that piano, the pleasure and com-
fort it has given to her, and she knows that
movies and shows can never take the place of
music when she wants it in her home.
"Through her natural love for conversation
it is a woman who advertises your piano and
what it has done for her home. She tells the
neighbor lady and if you have sold well you
will sell again and again and again through
advertising done in no other way than the
faithful services rendered by the piano you
sold in the music-loving home and then through
the recommendation from the lady of the house.
"This would be a cold, cold business if it
were not for the women and therefore I say
again, 'May They Be Blessed!' "
Proper Environment the Secret
William A. Taylor, of the floor staff of the
Knabe Warerooms, New York, in summing up
his experience regarding the prominence of
women in average sales, stated to The Review:
"It can be conservatively said that at least
85 per cent of piano purchasers are women—
with men in the small minority. In no other
business, with, perhaps, the exception of that of
the modiste, are women so important and vital
a factor.
"The piano merchant is at last beginning to
realize that a carefully appointed store with
attractively arranged stock goes far to create the
valuable first impression. A great deal has been
written about 'atmosphere'; but what it actually
constitutes is hard to define. It is something
quite intangible and indescribable. Yet it exists
and sways women purchasers to a marked de-
gree, and, more than is realized, it makes or
breaks a sale. Who hasn't heard a conversation
between women, with one saying that she
doesn't like to go into that store and the other
replying that she doesn't either, that she would
rather go to the other, although it is more
expensive. If pinned down to facts they could
hardly give a clear reason for their opinion of
the store in question.
"Through the wide influence of women's mag-
azines, in which departments of decoration arc
read eagerly each month, women have become
more and more interested in the possibilities
of household decoration and development. This
has been in turn fostered by the prominent fur-
niture concerns. So the piano merchant who
displays his pianos in harmonious surroundings
stands a greater chance of sales volume than the
merchant who does not.
"Curiously enough, the question of tone, al-
though, of course, it is pertinent to the sale,
does not secure the name on the dotted line.
The successful consummation of the deal rests
entirely on the skillful presentation and the
proper harmonious background.
"Long technical discourses on the construc-
tion of the pin block, sounding board, etc., etc.,
seldom interest women. They are more inter-
ested in how the instrument will look in their
homes and what their friends will think of it
there. Atmosphere and proper presentation
grow more dominating in the piano business
every day, especially now, that units sell in the
thousands."