THE
VOL. LXXVII. No. 26 Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. Dec. 29, 1923
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The Field for the Medium Priced Piano
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UDGING from the opinions expressed by representative manufacturers and dealers in pianos, one of the
problems of the coming year will be that of developing a larger market for medium priced instruments-,
instrLlIl1ents that are made too well to find a place in the commercial grades and yet are not classed
among the leaders of the industry.
, There is, and probably always will be, a market for this type of instrument, but during the last year
or so it has heen squeezed considerably between the demands for the better grade grands and reproducing
instruments and the corresponding market for pianos of the low-priced types.
I n addition to the natural demand for reproducing pianos and grands, developed not alone through
advertising' but through the desire and ability of certain piano buyers to invest in the best and who are able
to afford it , a great many salesmen have contributed their share towards pushing those instruments to the front ,
for the sale of a ~3,500 reproducing grand for instance means more to them than the sales of a half-dozen or
more medium priced uprights or players.
On the other hand, the cheap pianos and players have been sold primarily on a price basis, have been
advertised extensively as features to attract trade to the warerooms, and have moved rapidly and in some cases
almost automatically because they represented an investment within the means of even the average wage
earner.
The medium priced piano has suffered between these two mill stones, for it takes a considerable amount
of sales effort to convince the ordinary buyer used to reading sensational advertising that a piano or player at
from $550 to $900 is worth the difference in price compared to the commercial and much advertised instru
ment. In short, the salesman feels that when he puts forth his effort in the interests of a medium grade in
strument he might just as well shoot high, concentrate on the reproducing grand and boost his income ac
cordingly.
The question is a more important one than appears on the surface, for it does not have to do simply
with keeping certain types of factories busy, but rather with placing instruments of the proper quality in the
homes of those who can afford them but who are hard to convince of the wisdom of buying them.
vVhether the merchant offers a special bonus for the sale of these medium grade instruments, whether
he insists upon his salesmen moving a definite proportion of them as compared to the total volume of sales or
\vhatever plan he develops for cultivating the medium grade field is a condition that deserves attention. As
a matter of fact, at the present time well over 75 per cent of the sales which should go to the medium grade
lines go to the cheaper products.
These figures must not be taken to indicate that medium grade instruments are not selling, because they
are. The thought is, however, they are not selling in quantities proportionate to the other grades, and that a
considerable number of sales that legitimately belong in the medium grades are switched to other classes of
instruments.
It is conceded that one of the fundamental reasons for the difficulty is the quantity of price advertising
run by some department stores and certain classes of dealers, which is calculated to, and for that matter does,
give a large proportion of the public an idea that pianos and players can be bought for next to nothing. It
takes real salesmanship to convince some customers that a player of definite quality is worth $400 or $500
more than an advertised "bargain"-more salesmanship, in fact, than is required to convince the same prospect
that a well-known reproducing grand is worth $3,000 more.
There isa definite place in the trade for instruments of quality offered at a moderate price-instru
ments that give to the ovvner a recognized value both musically and otherwise for his money. This middle
class field is worthy. of more attention than it is getting from many dealers at the present time .
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