Music Trade Review

Issue: 1932 Vol. 91 N. 8

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
GANGWAY for the LADIES
SAYS THIS W O M A N DEALER
"This slogan is realized by the tobacco people. Make it
AKE your music store an "It" establishment—an
institution with a pleasing personality—and watch the music store slogan. Gain the trade of the women by
trade grow. This is the motto of Mrs. Ethel featuring women at your institution. Housewives, mothers—
Olin, president and manager of the Utah Music the real budget keepers of the family—will patronize your
Co., Salt Lake City, only woman music merchant chief in the store.
State and one of the few in the West.
"And the men will come, too. Show them that your assist-
"Put women in your music store and you have 'It'—not ants are capable and efficient, but above all that 'It' pre-
only women clerks, but women salesmen and department dominates the institution. Sheet music, orchestral instruments,
band instruments, pianos and all—sales may be made by
heads. Being a woman helps—that is my secret of success.
"This is tough on the men, but they helped to give us women.
"This is the era for women. Give them a chance to boom
equal rights and it's a free country nowadays and women
should take advantage of it—bless their hearts. We're men's trade, and win increased business with the feminine angle.
biggest weakness.
"Certain it is that they arc better qualified to approach
"I find that women are just as efficient as men in their wives and mothers on a basis of mutual understanding than
lines of work. Not only this, but they, attract more trade. are a majority of the men whose main object, frequently, is to
Women patronize women
get the sale over by high
managers and sales force—
^
„ „
pressure methods.
the weaker sex sticks to-
"It is also found that the
gether better than the men.
woman
can make a stronger
Feminine charm puts personality and "It" into the
"And not only do the
appeal to the men on the im-
Music store, declares Mrs. Ethel Olin, head of the
women patronize music shops
portant question of having
managed by women, but the
their children trained, in mu-
Utah Music Co., Salt Lake City, who has tried it
men do, too; especially if
sic because they can be more
the store has 'It.' A store
or less sentimental in the
with great success. If her ideas become general
may develop a pleasing per-
matter without hurting their
it is going to be just too bad for the men.
sonality just the same as a
pride, as is often the case
person can cultivate 'It.' By
with male salesmen.
training the feminine sales
"In the matter of making
force to be pleasant, courte-
social contacts a woman has
ous and efficient; by keeping the interior of the store charming a particular advantage over a man, for at various gatherings
she is able to refer to her business activities without being
and agreeable; and by giving service and satisfaction."
Mrs. Olin has been in the music business for twenty years. accused, as would a man, of bringing business into the draw-
She moved the business in her present location on East ing room. In fact I have found many, both men and women,
South Temple street over twelve years ago. She has watched who have evinced much interest in the fact that a woman is
the men music store dealers come and go, and has survived a music merchant and have turned business my way as a
matter of encouragement."
the low trends as well as any of them.
Mrs. Olin, although strong for the feminine element in
"I remember when the player pianos came into style," she
says. "And then the radio. Nobody dreamed that it would music selling, nevertheless has associated with her own son,
amount to the tremendous industry that it is today. Now- Allen Olin, who provides the masculine touch that is found
adays we are pushing our radio sales in great shape, not for- desirable on numerous occasions. He has worked consistently
with his mother in the development of the business.
getting, however, our piano sales and musical instruments.
Throughout her career, Mrs. Olin has insisted, upon
"When we want sales increased—we let the women do it.
"When we want radios explained—we let the women do it. handling only products of quality and for years has featured
"When we want pianos demonstrated—we let the women the Hardman piano among other lines. She has also handled
do it. And it helps to let the women take charge. A woman the RCA Victor and Sparton radio lines and insisted upon
sales lady has a way to a man's heart. And she also has a quality products in such other musical merchandise as she has
seen fit to sell.
way to the women's hearts.
Whatever the value of feminine "it" in the music business
"Women nowadays are the guardians of the purse strings.
They are the bankers of the family. When you have a woman consideration must be given to the fact that in Mrs. Olin's
in charge of an institution the women support her. And case it is coupled with good sound business sense evidenced
with the women's support—the store has the support of the by the fact that she has continued in business and made
progress when other music concerns in Salt Lake City saw fit
moneyed class.
to give up the struggle.
"Appeal to the women!
M
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
October, 1932
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING
PIANO manufacturer in the East had a real
grievance recently when he displayed an order from
a successful dealer for the immediate shipment of
a particular style of grand. Within the month the
dealer had ordered seven grands of that style, each order being
by telegraph and demanding prompt delivery, because no
other instruments of the style were left on the wareroom
floor. The manufacturer had urged on several occasions that
the dealer order two or three of the model in order to have
one available after a sale had been made. "Can't afford to
stock up," was the dealer's answer, yet in a few days there
would come another rush order.
This case is not as uncommon as it would seem and the
situation works to the disadvantage of the dealer as well as
the manufacturer. In the first place the dealer is without
a sample of his best selling model between factory deliveries
and the manufacturer is forced to upset his schedule fre-
quently in order to render special service. In this case it
would be just as logical for the dealer to carry a spare piano
as it is for him to carry a spare tire on his car. It repre-
sents insurance against a lost sale and the dangers that arise
when a piano is rushed through the factory.
To talk of a shortage of pianos this Fall may sound funny
to some dealers yet a survey of the comparatively few fac-
tories now operating indicates that even a ten per cent increase
in current orders would result in delayed deliveries and con-
sequent losses. For every piano that is sold from catalog
there are fifty sold as the result of having the instrument on
hand for actual inspection. It does not mean that the retailer
need carry a burdensome stock but it is to his interest to
have on hand a representative line that can stand the strain
of one or two sales without requiring a call for help to the
factory.
Pianos are not built overnight. It takes time and plenty
of it to produce an instrument that will prove of credit to
the man who makes it and the man who sells it. The retailer
who is not willing to carry a representative stock and in
addition make known his requirements for the immediate
future is a mighty poor merchant.
and a proper one, that bargains have long since been cleaned
out of the stores and that low-priced merchandise today is
generally trashy and has been made especially for the low-
priced market.
This tendency towards establishing higher price levels is one
that should be encouraged by the music trade and particularly
by the piano man, for certain it is that prospects have, through
bargain advertising, developed an entirely false idea of piano
values. They must be educated to the fact that there is a
minimum price at which good grands can be bought at
retail, excepting the small quantity of real distressed mer-
chandise, and that this minimum figure is certainly not
under $300.
Manufacturers of quality pianos have, without exception,
made radical price adjustments warranted in a certain mea-
sure by lower prices of raw materials but, nevertheless, in a
large part as a concession to the trend of the times. It is
significant, however, that not only these sensible price adjust-
ments but likewise the general price slashing by certain types
of dealers have not served to increase unit sales to any
appreciable degree.
There are people in this country who still have enough
money to buy good pianos and who will buy them today.
Juggling prices will not serve to stimulate these sales to any
extent but will, on the contrary, simply reduce the potential
profit of both dealer and manufacturer. The piano is not
seasonal in the sense that instruments not sold this year can
be sold next, therefore there is no real excuse for wild un-
loading to make room for current styles. The trading-up
movement, in fact, is more evident in seasonal goods than in
stable commodities. Clothing prices, for instance, are ex-
periencing a distinct upward movement and to a certain
extent so are general furniture prices. Why not pianos?
The persistent advertiser of piano bargains will always be
with us but his tactics should not prevent the merchandisers
of quality instruments at fair prices from maintaining theii
stand and carrying on the fight to impress the public with
the fact that a good piano is worth a fair price, consistent
with the efforts put into its production as well as its perma-
nent character. If the volume of business is bound to be
limited for the present, why not, at least, handle it at a
profit rather than a loss?
THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF
SOUND PRICE LEVELS
WHAT IS THE DEALER GOING
TO DO ABOUT SHEET MUSIC?
G
H
OVER-CAREFUL ORDERING
THAT MEANS LOST BUSINESS
A
E T T I N G under the smoke" screens now being
thrown about with abandon by the major political
parties, one in an endeavor to prove that its policies
have already brought about improved conditions
and the other outlining situations that they promise to cure,
it is quite evident to the casual observer that there is a defi-
nite move toward price adjustments to a higher level. In
short, the bargain atmosphere is being dissipated to a large
extent, probably in realization of the fact that the public is
buying according to its needs and not simply because of price
appeal. Moreover, there seems to be a general impression,
O W is the bulk of standard and teaching music go-
ing to be distributed in your territory during the
season just opened, through your store or by the
publishers direct? This is the question that every
music dealer should be in a position to answer right now if
he is honest with himself and the answer lies not so much in
what the publishers might do as in what the dealer himself is
doing to take care of that local business.
You have heard much discussion between publishers and
dealers during the past iew years on the subject of competi-
tion, the result being the drawing up and adoption by both the
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW, October, 1932

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