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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
DECEMBER 13,
1924
deavor to create an immediate volume of sales through sensational
methods, for according to all testimony of any value, it was in this
latter type of merchandise that fluctuations were sharpest and
created the greatest injury.
and still more attention being devoted to them by the'average retail
music merchant.
Sensational A dvertising
Conditions are not such as to create the belief, however, that this
increased demand for the grand is made entirely at the expense of
the upright. Although prominent trade authorities for several years
have not scrupled to forecast the ultimate elimination of the latter
type, the upright still continues to hold its own, not only in the
player form but in the straight piano type as well. Especially is
this true in the smaller sizes of this instrument which grew in
popularity during the past twelve months and which meet the re-
quirements of the average household due to the limited floor space
of the modern home. The small upright, originally featured by its
first manufacturers as a type of instrument largely for schools,
Summer residences, etc., has to-day become par excellence the
instrument in demand for the small city apartment, and will con-
tinue thus, so long as the present trend in apartment house con-
struction for the occupancy of small families of moderate means
continues.
Not that the trade was blameless in regard to sensational bargain
advertising during the past year. This was especially marked at
the opening of the Fall selling season, and some of the examples
which appeared in the press of the country were equal in destruc-
tive effect as those which had ever been utilized in the past history
of the industry. But the bargain advertiser in the retail piano
trade to-day is in increasing minority, and the injury he may cause
becomes less and less with every year. His sensational offers of
low terms and what appear to be impossible values are more and
more discounted by the vast majority of the buying public who
seem to have taken the entire problem within their own hands and
who are solving it by the scepticism with which they meet these
offers. Lack of faith on the part of the ultimate buyer is the per-
manent solution for the sensational and bargain type advertising.
Better Terms and Collections
One of the big merchandising achievements of the year was the
universal betterment found in the selling terms maintained by the
average music merchant and the increase of efficiency in his collec-
tion methods. A survey conducted by the Music Trade Review
developed the fact that to-day the average terms upon which pianos
are sold at retail range well below thirty months, and the average
maximum terms well below thirty-six. It is remarkable to find
that in over 400 replies received from every type of merchant in
the retail piano trade only one reported that he sold instruments
on a basis of more than thirty-six months, and this is all the more
remarkable when the answers to such questions which would have
been given a decade or so ago are taken into consideration.
Retail Salesmanship
Retail salesmanship and its increase in efficiency still remain one
of the dominant problems of the retail music trade. But, like all
problems which are realized and appreciated, it is now upon the
way to ultimate elimination. The Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce is giving due consideration to this condition and such
work as is being accomplished by the American Piano Co. through
its course in retail salesmanship for the Ampico is likewise having
a most beneficial effect. The merchant to-day seems to have real-
ized that it is quite impossible to make good salesmen without train-
ing them in the fundamentals of good selling as it applies to all
types of pianos, and that, to turn a new man loose without proper
instruction in piano selling, is a means of radical waste which far
overtops the expense involved in some minimum degree of training
at least. The standards of retail salesmanship are growing increas-
ingly better, and with it the efficiency with which the dealers' terri-
tory is being covered, a condition which is reflected in the ultimate
volume of sales which is drawn from each locality. Pianos and
players of varying types by no means confront a point of satura-
tion in their potential market, and the selling efficiency of the retail
trade has a long way to go as yet before that end can be brought
about.
The Demand for Grands
The past year has seen a still further increase in the demand for
the grand type of piano. Figures obtained through nation-wide
surveys have shown that to-day some merchants are doing a busi-
ness which includes from 25 to 50 per cent of grands in its total
volume. Nor has this increase been entirely confined to the popular-
priced grand which heretofore has largely predominated in this
change in the public's desire. The past year has seen a sharp ad-
vance in the demand for the grands of medium size and higher
grades due no doubt to the intensive propaganda for the grand
type which has been carried on, both by manufacturers of popular-
priced small grands and the dealers who have given these instru-
ments a prominent place in the exploitation of their lines. The
next year will probably see, for there is every indication on which
to base this prophecy, a still wider demand for both of these types,
The Upright and Player
The Period Type Case
Another development that was marked during the past year has
been that of the period type piano. The retail merchant, encour-
aged by the manufacturer in making these period cases regular
parts of his lines, is losing the attitude which heretofore has made
him consider the period grand as something more or less of a
specialty to be sold only under a set of peculiar circumstances
and scarcely to be considered as a regular instrument to be carried
on his wareroom floors. Public taste, which has made such tre-
mendous strides during the past ten or fifteen years and which has
made the average woman familiar with decorative harmonies and
periods, is fundamentally responsible for this change. At the pres-
ent moment no end is to be seen to it and, while it continues, the
period style grand will be a regular part of the .industry's output
and also expand in numbers.
The Reproducing Piano
The reproducing piano has made important strides, chief of which
perhaps is in its still wider acceptance by the music teachers of
the country as an ideal means of giving their piano pupils courses
in interpretation. No year in the history of this instrument perhaps
has ever seen a greater amount of appreciation expressed for it
on this score. Nor has any year seen a wider growth in its use
for pedigogical purposes. The teacher has finally realized that,
with the modern reproducing piano, he has at his command the
world's piano literature in its surpassing interpretations, something
which, up to the present time, had never been available to the pupil
even in the largest of cities visited regularly by the foremost piano
virtuosi.
The Radio Receiver
One of the most startling developments in retail merchandising
has been the advent of the radio in the retail music store. In this
development the music merchant has brought more to the radio
than the radio has brought to the music merchant. In the retail
merchandising of this product he has introduced an element of
stability which, due to the newness of the industry itself, had up
to this time been lacking. He has adapted tried merchandising
methods of musical instruments to the radio receiver, and the re-
sponse has been gratifying. In many cities throughout the country
to-day the sale of radio receivers, that is, of standard, complete
and name-value sets, is practically in the hands of the local music
trade, a condition which no doubt will continue. The retail mer-
chandising experience of the music merchant is steadily surmount-
ing the merchandising difficulties confronted by this new product,
and unquestionably, when the period of stabilization sets in and
when a greater degree of sales resistance exists than is the present
case, he will constitute its main distributive outlet. Already he
has been destructive to the "gyp" element in this trade which worked
deep injury to its standards and which at one time created almost
a chaotic condition in its retail distribution. Throughout the year
the number of radio departments in retail music stores has steadily
increased, and it is very likely that this will continue until radio