Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, PIANOS ONLY, DECEMBER, 1941
This will give the industry the 1939 produc-
tion of 114,000 instruments—unless some-
thing else enters the picture. It is possible
to get the same money in 1942 for this
clipped production as we did in 1941 for the
1941 output for material and labor costs have
advanced perceptably therefor necessitating
legitimate price increases both wholesale
and retail. Also it will be necessary to do so
with the various new claims for money via
taxes, defense bonds, costs of selling, and
such .
I
T is probable that dealers are over-
loaded on inventories, for reports show
that the public has not consumed
pianos as fast as the production this
year. With dealers coming into the new
year with too much inventory, it is probable
that the industry might be normally, forced
to make less pianos, inasmuch as there is
nothing "eatable" about pianos. Likewise,
with the public squeezed between two
forces, on top via taxes and more expense,
and underneath with the same incomes to
handle more living costs, plus rules on in-
stallments, it is evident that dealers will
have to re-vitalize their selling to cope with
the new conditions of 1942.
D
EALERS are not prepared to handle
the new conditions, and they'll
have to learn. Factories will have to
take more interest in dealers—far
beyond this year's selling and collecting. A
course of education must be featured so that
the retail man power can cope with the trib-
ulations to come. Many dealers have been
getting soft a c of the ease of selling this
year. With all this, they'll have to get more
money, for the factories must now demand
higher wholesale prices. We can get thru
next year nicely, simply by putting two let-
ters before the " i l l " that appears foreboding
—the letters "sk" to give us our "skill." In
other words, we are being forced to do some-
thing now that the Review has been talk-
ing about for years — getting proper piano
prices by the use of more intensive sales-
manship. It is all very simple — our kicks
now on recognizing that the ease of other
days are gone, and the fact that we must
work better and harder is temporarily dis-
turbing, only.
S
O let us all get down to fighting trim,
with the ambition that obstacles are
only made to be licked. We all must
remember, under any circumstances,
that there is no over-production of good-
will. No concern has so much good-will that
this important factor cannot be enhanced.
Devoting part of the time to the preserva-
tion and expansion of good-will, which is
needed now more than in "good times"
is the vital lifeline in the courageous
handling of one's business. In the medi-
cine business, there are only 4 specifics
- in pianos, just one . . . Good-Will.
W
E do not expect to see the
efforts of styling curtailed, but
it wouldn't be surprising to
see half of the models elim-
inated - the border line ones that aid a
line presentation but do not add much to
the profits. Higher priced models will
have factory and dealer concentration, it
standing to reason that with limited sup-
plies, our unit of sale will be treated with
respect.
D
EALERS will have plenty of work
to keep themselves busy, for the
tuning and servicing of instru-
ments will gain extra impetus.
Likewise, the re-built piano market will
be handled more as a business rather
than considering it a "trade evil" with
its contingent effort. Renting of the latter
is a "live" market, altho it* hasn't really
been tried out right yet. In Washington,
D. C , for example, it is probable that 900
pianos could be rented next month. We
have few facts on the renting of pianos,
hence our lack of ideas on "how to rent."
T
HERE must be 200 dealers main-
taining a display of a minimum of
100 pianos, which alone is a trade
inventory of 20,000 new instru-
ments, with a turnover of 3 times a year, it
means that the other 3,000 dealers have the
other 20,000. Whittle in Dallas features
"the largest piano selection in the city" cov-
ering 9 makes: Steinway, Hardman, Had-
dorff, Everett, Mathushek, Story & Clark,
Cable-Nelson, Minipiano and Estey, and it
must have over 100 in stock.