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OCTOBER 18,
THE
1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
The Small Grand in the Retail Field
Country-wide Survey, Just Completed by the Premier Grand Piano Corp., New York, Shows the Remarkable
Advance in Sales of the Popular Priced Small Grand During the Past Five Years—Average
Sales of Merchants Are 20 Per Cent of Their Gross Business
T
HE position which the popular-priced
small grand occupies in the retail piano
trade at the present date is strikingly
.shown in the nation-wide survey recently con-
ducted by the Premier Grand Piano Corp., of
New York. Over 250 dealers co-operated with
the Premier Corp. in this investigation, the pur-
pose of which was to ascertain the exact status
of grand piano sales, their development, expan-
sion and the general situation in grand piano
distribution at the present day. These mer-
chants were located in communities of all sizes
and represent a cross-section of the retail piano
trade that is typical and which permits the de-
ductions drawn and information furnished by
them to apply generally to the trade.
Basis of Sales
The compilation of this information showed
that to-day in the retail trade 50 per cent of
small grand piano sales are directly traceable
to advertising and 50 per cent to the personal
solicitation of outside salesmen and to sales
closed upon the wareroom floors.
It was stated by a majority of the merchants
replying that local newspaper advertising is
probably the most effective means of creating
small grand prospects, although a number of
them laid stress on the fact that catalogs, es-
pecially those of a high-grade nature, folders,
outdoor display bulletins and special window
displays featuring this instrument are impor-
tant factors in this work.
A number of the dealers declared that the
location of their warerooms was also an ex-
tremely important factor, and these usually em-
phasize the decorative appeal inherent in this
type of instrument as an element of no little
strength in creating interest. Price appeal is
also a factor, but here the merchants generally
agree that such an appeal must not represent
the bargain type of advertising, which while
generally deprecated by those who replied to
the Premier Corp.'s questions, there was almost
an unanimous agreement that the technical ap-
peal, that is, technical details of construction, is
not desirable.
The final deduction from the information fur-
nished reasonably leads to the conclusion that a
general prestige atmosphere advertising appeal,
linked up closely with the grand itself, and the
decorative element which this type of piano
gives to the home in which it is placed, is con-
sidered the outstanding selling factor.
Percentage of Sales
The merchants reporting stated that the gen-
eral percentage of grand business in their gross
volume of sales ranged around 20 per cent, in
many cases rising to 25 per cent and 30 per cent.
Exceptional cases reported grand piano sales as
ranging from 50 per cent to 80 per cent of the
total gross. High-grade small piano business
was reported as ranging generally from 5 to 10
per cent, and the remainder was taken up by
the popular-priced small grand. The general
ratio of increase in grand piano sales during
the past five years averaged 50 per cent.
Individual Deductions
A number of individual reports revealed sig-
nificant and interesting facts, especially when
two merchants were located- in communities of
the same size and in which buying power and
general conditions were practically identical.
A dealer in a fair-sized city in Ohio reported
that his total business in grand pianos was
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Quality
divided into 75 per cent of popular-priced small
grands and 25 per cent of high-priced small
grands, and that the ratio of increase in grand
piano sales during the past five years was 200
per cent. A dealer in a medium-sized Pennsyl-
vania city stated that the percentage of small
grand piano sales traceable to advertising was
10 per cent and that 90 per cent of sales of this
type of instrument was due to personal solicita-
tion of his salesmen and to sales closed on ware-
room floors. He stated that the most important
factor from his viewpoint in grand piano sales
was the location of his warerooms and the
steady maintenance of local interest among his
prospective customers in his establishment.
A dealer in a medium-sized Maryland city
reported that 10 per cent of his business was
in grand pianos, equally divided between the
high-priced and popular-priced types of instru-
ments. His ratio of increase in five years in
grand piano sales was 100 per cent.
A very prominent California dealer stated that
his grand sales represented 10 per cent of his
gross business, 3 per cent of which was in high-
priced small grands and 7 per cent in the
popular-priced small grands. His ratio of in-
crease in this type of instrument during the
past five years was 75 per cent.
The Dealer's Attitude
According to the Premier Grand Piano Corp.
the survey conclusively proved that the para-
mount factor in increasing the small grand
business is the attitude of the dealer toward the
instrument itself. It showed that in different
cities of the same population the percentage of
popular-priced grands sold by the dealers there-
in varied greatly.
In one community a
dealer was selling from 20 per cent to 30 per
cent popular-priced small grands, while in an-
other of practically the same purchasing power
a dealer sold from 5 per cent to 10 per cent.
Nothing more clearly illustrated the fact that
the house which sold from 5 to 10 per cent
had thus far failed to realize the potential sales
volume power of popular-priced small grand
selling activity and that the business was en-
tirely dependent upon the general stimulus
which the constantly growing popularity of this
type of instrument has brought to every retail
piano merchant who sells such instruments in
the instruments he handles.
A dealer who conducts his warerooms upon
this basis distinctly fails to take advantage of
his opportunities and necessarily must suffer
not only in his gross volume of sales but in
the net profit he makes thereon. For it is
obvious that it is a proper selling policy to
concentrate to a certain degree at least upon
a type of instrument which is in the greatest
public demand and which requires neither the
lure of bargain nor consistent price advertising
to move it from the wareroom floor into the
homes of its ultimate buyers.
Large vs. Small Communities
A significant note in connection with the Pre-
mier Grand Piano Corp's survey is that there are
some remarkably high percentages of grand sales
reported by dealers in smaller communities,
which shows conclusively that the market for
this type of instrument is a universal one and
that the rural and small-town customer is as
much interested in possessing a grand piano as
is the customer of the larger community who
in the past constituted much the larger percen-
tage of the possible prospects for this type of
instrument.
The Premier national survey also showed that
in some of the larger communities where the
number of possible prospects for small grands
was obviously impressive and where the oppor-
tunity for large sales certainly existed, the retail
merchant had not as yet grasped the small
grand possibilties in the manner in which he
should, and as a result his sales were suf-
fering and were not in a proper ratio with his
possible market.
Endorse Co-operation
This work on the part of the Premier Grand
Piano Corp. is a remarkable demonstration of
the care with which the company consistently
carries out its marketing campaigns and the way
in which it co-operates fully with the dealer
who handles its instruments. A feature of the
replies made by these merchants was their
endorsement of the co-operation which the Pre-
mier Corp. gives them and the acknowledgment
of the great value which this has been in taking
advantage of the market for this type of instru-
ment. It was a remarkable endorsement of the
statement made by Walter C. Hcpperla, presi-
dent of the Premier Corp., in a recent inter-
view with The Review, in which he stated:
"The real interest of the Premier Grand Piano
Corp. begins when the Premier baby grand is
on the dealer's wareroom floor."
Sold Twenty Pianos
at Fall Fair Exhibit
Lamb's Music Store of Pottstown, Pa., Makes
Fine Record at Reading Fair With Becker
Bros. Instruments
Jacob H. Becker, president of Becker Bros.,
Inc., New York, has just returned from his
regular Fall trip in the vicinity of Reading and
Allentown, and was greatly pleased with the
results of the exhibits of Becker Bros, pianos,
which local piano dealers put on in the annual
Fall fairs held there.
One of the most successful exhibits was
shown at the Reading Fair, in which Lamb's
Music Store, of Pottstown, took a large booth
for the display of Becker Bros, pianos exclusive-
ly. More than twenty pianos were disposed of
as a result of this exhibit, all of the instruments
in the booth being sold and duplicated. Much
credit for the success of the exhibit is due Wil-
liam J. Lamb, head of Lamb's Music Store,
whose energy and far-sightedness made pos-
sible the project of exhibiting in a town twenty
miles from his store.
The feature of all Becker Bros, exhibits this
Fall has been the new style Becker Bros, small
grand, in sizes four feet, six inches and five feet,
two inches. These new grands are equipped
with a patented sounding board. "I never saw
any new style of instrument produce such an
appreciative response on the part of our dealers
as our new grand styles have this Fall," said
Mr. Becker to a representative of The Review.
"We are, of course, maintaining Becker Bros,
quality and tone in any instrument we put our
name on, and our dealers, knowing this fact, are
always anxious to try our innovations. We will
endeavor this Fall to give all purchasers of our
small grands a genuine 'grand' tone."
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