Music Trade Review
Issue: 1925 Vol. 80 N. 14 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
APRIL 4, 1925
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
5
Fighting the "Fre<^Gift" Advertiser
Frederick Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., Which Makes No So-called "Gifts" With Any Piano or Player-
Piano Sale, Boldly Makes This Policy a Feature of Its Piano Advertising, and Finds,
as a Result, That Competitive Offers Have No Effect Upon Its Sales Volume
• N the good old days in the trade when
I pianos and accessories, such as stools,
scarfs, etc., did not bring present-day prices,
certain big-hearted piano dealers could not over-
come the generous impulse to do something
more for the customer than simply sell him the
instrument and started to give him a stool,
then a scarf, and other little articles, to gladden
his heart and keep him friendly.
Naturally, competitors took cognizance of this
A Piano from Loeser's
Is Worth What It Costs
Here, no one is ever tempted with a piano scarf.
A lamp is never thrown in as an inducement.
Fvcn the piano bench comes is an extra item.
The price we place upon any instrument is what that
Loe&r'n gives the purchaser the worth of his money
in the Pinno he buys, ami the makes we indorse, bv
nccm-di"^ thorn a place in our stock, are such as re-
quire no catchpenny methods to sell them.
First Among
Them Is the Exquisite
Kranich & Bach
The Estey
The Bradbury
The Schumann
The Brambach The Chopin TieKroeger
The Bush 4 Lane
W. P. Haines & Co.
All of these Wcll-knnwn qisliK maU* are h v e in Bal>y Orandi and larjer tilf.
Soiie of them are al-o here jn Upright "lylos. alto in combination with the famoui
Welle-Mijrnon reprodjeinir action. PrL- n vary frpm so little as S'I25 for an Up-
right to S4000 for a Weile-Micno.i tqjipped Kranich I Bach Grand of auperb
design.
A Piano of Great Distinction and Value Is
The Brambach Baby Grand Piano at
$
635
[C«llcncc of t r t Bntmbach t
ano, its rounriir 1 ? board, is
•imply a promise \o r*f>lac
> Brambach sound.n& board _
ill
sample of the aftindard of o'( Pianos
1 rgainst splittln* for a lifttjnL
ndboard that split*. It is aieuranct
split!
That is Brambach quality. It
r
L
throw-iti practice, are much worried by it and rug or radio set is included the price of the
maintain that unless they follow suit to a cer- instrument is raised to a point sufficient to
tain degree at least the competitor will get all cover the additional cost of the article or arti-
the trade. Yet, there are piano concerns who cles.
have refused consistently to include a single
Appeal to Business Sense
free article with the piano sale, insisting that
The Loeser department has found that ap-
the customer pay even for the bench, and, in pealing to the good business sense of the pros-
the case of the player-piano, the rolls.
pect pays in more ways than one. For instance,
Loeser's Declares Itself
some years ago the department advertised
One of the concerns that has followed this "Your own terms within reason," and those
practice is the piano department of Frederick dealers who advertise fixed terms predicted dire
Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., which for years disaster in the belief that the customer would
has refused to make any concessions in the mat- accept low advertised terms as his standard and
ter of throw-ins, quoting its prices for the seek to cut under them in his dealings with
pianos alone, and insisting that everything else, Loeser's.
including the bench, must be bought and paid
In actual practice the result was exactly con-
for separately by the customer. The Loeser de- trary to the prophecies, for in practically every
partment is in a highly competitive section and case the down payment offered by the customer
surrounded by dealers who advertise throw-ins himself without urging was very substantially
to the queen's taste. Yet it continues to do a higher than the minimum terms formerly held
great volume of business and has apparently by the house. As a matter of fact, when a
suffered no loss in sales as a result of its customer selected a $500 instrument, for in-
policy.
stance, and under ordinary circumstances would
A recent advertisement of the Loeser depart- have offered the minimum down payment of
ment, combating in a dignified and impressive from $25 to $50 accepted by many dealers, he
way competitive throw-in advertising, is repro- realized under the Loeser plan that such a down
duced herewith, and the arguments presented in payment was not within reason, with the result
the copy are those that have been and are that initial deposits of 20 per cent and up were,
being used successfully by members of the sales and have been, the rule.
staff in their personal contact with prospects.
It all goes to prove that it is not always
The Loeser department management, as well proper to meet competition with its own weap-
as other piano merchants, has discovered that a ons and that the average customer has a suf-
worth-while piano prospect has sufficient busi- ficient amount of good business sense to realize
ness sense to appreciate the fact that he is pay- that he can get so much for his money even in
ing directly or indirectly for every article in- pianos and that everything added in the guise
cluded in the piano sale, and that if a lamp, of a gift is being paid for by him.
Duo-Art Lecture Recitals
Borough Music Contests
Being Given in London
Being Held This Week
Annual Music Contest Among Pupils of New Percy Scholes Conducting Series of Recitals
York City Schools Is Progressing Rapidly to
for Children Under Auspices of Special Com-
the Point Where Interborough Tests Will
mittee Headed by Sir Alexander Mackenzie
gift-giving spirit and added to the number of
Come
articles given free with each piano or player
until at the present time in certain localities
On March 14 the first of a series of Duo-Art
The final district music contest in New York lecture recitals for children by Percy Scholes
there is genuine competition among piano re-
tailers as to who can offer the most articles City schools and the opening of the borough con- at Aeolian Hall in London marked an impor-
tests in Bronx and Queens, in which medal win- tant forward step in musical educational prog-
"free" with the instrument itself.
Perhaps the profit in the piano business is so ners from the district contests will play, fea- ress recently started in England under the aus-
large that some dealers feel a cringe of con- tured Music Week activities this week. The pices of an advisory committee of prominent
science when they take the money from the cus- initial tournaments in the forty-eight school dis- musical authorities. Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
tomer and so seek to ease their minds by giv- tricts of the city have yielded an unusually former principal of the Royal Academy of Mu-
ing back to him $25 or $50 worth of merchan- large number of contestants eligible for the sic, is the chairman, and Percy Scholes the
dise. But ask them that, and they reply with borough competition. Bronx has 121 entrants honorable secretary.
an emphatic negative. Nor is this merchandise for the borough contests and Queens 106 con-
The importance of the Duo-Art as an educa-
essential to the proper enjoyment of the instru- testants. Victory in the borough contests will tional factor has been accorded wide recogni-
ment, but rather is calculated to lend charm to mean eligibility to the interborough finals, tion in England largely through its work at the
the home and a fit setting for the piano, a rug which will take place during Music Week, May Royal Academy of Music, and to further in-
here, a parlor lamp there, or perhaps an easy 3 to 9.
crease the scope of its activities is the purpose
chair, all presented to the customer with the
The Bronx borough contest will take place of the advisory committee of eminent educators
dealer's compliments. Surely the spirit of gen- in Public School 57, 180th street, Belmont and headed by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who made
erosity is rampant.
Crotona avenues, and the Queens borough con- arrangements with Mr. Scholes to conduct a
test in the Jamaica Training School. Because series of lecture recitals with the Duo-Art for
Extremes and Excesses
Naturally, competition in giving away free ar- of the large number of contestants, the borough the children for four consecutive Saturday
ticles with pianos has led to extremes and ex- competitions will last through the entire week mornings at Aeolian Hall, London—during
cesses. One dealer offers a free bench and a and overlap into the following week. From the March.
Mr. Scholes is a master demonstrator of the
dozen rolls. Another includes a music book; division of entries it seems that the wishful
still another adds a scarf, and eventually a rug, longing of the great majority of young New structural method of music-appreciation, outlin-
lamp, or chair, or perhaps all three are offered Yorkers is to be piano virtuosi, but vocalists, ing in a fascinating way the manner in which
to the prospect who seeks primarily to purchase orchestras and players of string instruments are the Duo-Art is able to educate children and
also on the increase. Bronx has 107 claimants grown-ups to a keener and more intelligent en-
a musical instrument for his home.
There are dealers who, while decrying the for piano honors in the borough competition. joyment of music.
Highest
Quality
Highest
Quality
THE
APRIL 4, 1925
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
5
Fighting the "Fre<^Gift" Advertiser
Frederick Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., Which Makes No So-called "Gifts" With Any Piano or Player-
Piano Sale, Boldly Makes This Policy a Feature of Its Piano Advertising, and Finds,
as a Result, That Competitive Offers Have No Effect Upon Its Sales Volume
• N the good old days in the trade when
I pianos and accessories, such as stools,
scarfs, etc., did not bring present-day prices,
certain big-hearted piano dealers could not over-
come the generous impulse to do something
more for the customer than simply sell him the
instrument and started to give him a stool,
then a scarf, and other little articles, to gladden
his heart and keep him friendly.
Naturally, competitors took cognizance of this
A Piano from Loeser's
Is Worth What It Costs
Here, no one is ever tempted with a piano scarf.
A lamp is never thrown in as an inducement.
Fvcn the piano bench comes is an extra item.
The price we place upon any instrument is what that
Loe&r'n gives the purchaser the worth of his money
in the Pinno he buys, ami the makes we indorse, bv
nccm-di"^ thorn a place in our stock, are such as re-
quire no catchpenny methods to sell them.
First Among
Them Is the Exquisite
Kranich & Bach
The Estey
The Bradbury
The Schumann
The Brambach The Chopin TieKroeger
The Bush 4 Lane
W. P. Haines & Co.
All of these Wcll-knnwn qisliK maU* are h v e in Bal>y Orandi and larjer tilf.
Soiie of them are al-o here jn Upright "lylos. alto in combination with the famoui
Welle-Mijrnon reprodjeinir action. PrL- n vary frpm so little as S'I25 for an Up-
right to S4000 for a Weile-Micno.i tqjipped Kranich I Bach Grand of auperb
design.
A Piano of Great Distinction and Value Is
The Brambach Baby Grand Piano at
$
635
[C«llcncc of t r t Bntmbach t
ano, its rounriir 1 ? board, is
•imply a promise \o r*f>lac
> Brambach sound.n& board _
ill
sample of the aftindard of o'( Pianos
1 rgainst splittln* for a lifttjnL
ndboard that split*. It is aieuranct
split!
That is Brambach quality. It
r
L
throw-iti practice, are much worried by it and rug or radio set is included the price of the
maintain that unless they follow suit to a cer- instrument is raised to a point sufficient to
tain degree at least the competitor will get all cover the additional cost of the article or arti-
the trade. Yet, there are piano concerns who cles.
have refused consistently to include a single
Appeal to Business Sense
free article with the piano sale, insisting that
The Loeser department has found that ap-
the customer pay even for the bench, and, in pealing to the good business sense of the pros-
the case of the player-piano, the rolls.
pect pays in more ways than one. For instance,
Loeser's Declares Itself
some years ago the department advertised
One of the concerns that has followed this "Your own terms within reason," and those
practice is the piano department of Frederick dealers who advertise fixed terms predicted dire
Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., which for years disaster in the belief that the customer would
has refused to make any concessions in the mat- accept low advertised terms as his standard and
ter of throw-ins, quoting its prices for the seek to cut under them in his dealings with
pianos alone, and insisting that everything else, Loeser's.
including the bench, must be bought and paid
In actual practice the result was exactly con-
for separately by the customer. The Loeser de- trary to the prophecies, for in practically every
partment is in a highly competitive section and case the down payment offered by the customer
surrounded by dealers who advertise throw-ins himself without urging was very substantially
to the queen's taste. Yet it continues to do a higher than the minimum terms formerly held
great volume of business and has apparently by the house. As a matter of fact, when a
suffered no loss in sales as a result of its customer selected a $500 instrument, for in-
policy.
stance, and under ordinary circumstances would
A recent advertisement of the Loeser depart- have offered the minimum down payment of
ment, combating in a dignified and impressive from $25 to $50 accepted by many dealers, he
way competitive throw-in advertising, is repro- realized under the Loeser plan that such a down
duced herewith, and the arguments presented in payment was not within reason, with the result
the copy are those that have been and are that initial deposits of 20 per cent and up were,
being used successfully by members of the sales and have been, the rule.
staff in their personal contact with prospects.
It all goes to prove that it is not always
The Loeser department management, as well proper to meet competition with its own weap-
as other piano merchants, has discovered that a ons and that the average customer has a suf-
worth-while piano prospect has sufficient busi- ficient amount of good business sense to realize
ness sense to appreciate the fact that he is pay- that he can get so much for his money even in
ing directly or indirectly for every article in- pianos and that everything added in the guise
cluded in the piano sale, and that if a lamp, of a gift is being paid for by him.
Duo-Art Lecture Recitals
Borough Music Contests
Being Given in London
Being Held This Week
Annual Music Contest Among Pupils of New Percy Scholes Conducting Series of Recitals
York City Schools Is Progressing Rapidly to
for Children Under Auspices of Special Com-
the Point Where Interborough Tests Will
mittee Headed by Sir Alexander Mackenzie
gift-giving spirit and added to the number of
Come
articles given free with each piano or player
until at the present time in certain localities
On March 14 the first of a series of Duo-Art
The final district music contest in New York lecture recitals for children by Percy Scholes
there is genuine competition among piano re-
tailers as to who can offer the most articles City schools and the opening of the borough con- at Aeolian Hall in London marked an impor-
tests in Bronx and Queens, in which medal win- tant forward step in musical educational prog-
"free" with the instrument itself.
Perhaps the profit in the piano business is so ners from the district contests will play, fea- ress recently started in England under the aus-
large that some dealers feel a cringe of con- tured Music Week activities this week. The pices of an advisory committee of prominent
science when they take the money from the cus- initial tournaments in the forty-eight school dis- musical authorities. Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
tomer and so seek to ease their minds by giv- tricts of the city have yielded an unusually former principal of the Royal Academy of Mu-
ing back to him $25 or $50 worth of merchan- large number of contestants eligible for the sic, is the chairman, and Percy Scholes the
dise. But ask them that, and they reply with borough competition. Bronx has 121 entrants honorable secretary.
an emphatic negative. Nor is this merchandise for the borough contests and Queens 106 con-
The importance of the Duo-Art as an educa-
essential to the proper enjoyment of the instru- testants. Victory in the borough contests will tional factor has been accorded wide recogni-
ment, but rather is calculated to lend charm to mean eligibility to the interborough finals, tion in England largely through its work at the
the home and a fit setting for the piano, a rug which will take place during Music Week, May Royal Academy of Music, and to further in-
here, a parlor lamp there, or perhaps an easy 3 to 9.
crease the scope of its activities is the purpose
chair, all presented to the customer with the
The Bronx borough contest will take place of the advisory committee of eminent educators
dealer's compliments. Surely the spirit of gen- in Public School 57, 180th street, Belmont and headed by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who made
erosity is rampant.
Crotona avenues, and the Queens borough con- arrangements with Mr. Scholes to conduct a
test in the Jamaica Training School. Because series of lecture recitals with the Duo-Art for
Extremes and Excesses
Naturally, competition in giving away free ar- of the large number of contestants, the borough the children for four consecutive Saturday
ticles with pianos has led to extremes and ex- competitions will last through the entire week mornings at Aeolian Hall, London—during
cesses. One dealer offers a free bench and a and overlap into the following week. From the March.
Mr. Scholes is a master demonstrator of the
dozen rolls. Another includes a music book; division of entries it seems that the wishful
still another adds a scarf, and eventually a rug, longing of the great majority of young New structural method of music-appreciation, outlin-
lamp, or chair, or perhaps all three are offered Yorkers is to be piano virtuosi, but vocalists, ing in a fascinating way the manner in which
to the prospect who seeks primarily to purchase orchestras and players of string instruments are the Duo-Art is able to educate children and
also on the increase. Bronx has 107 claimants grown-ups to a keener and more intelligent en-
a musical instrument for his home.
There are dealers who, while decrying the for piano honors in the borough competition. joyment of music.
Highest
Quality
Highest
Quality
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