Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, AUGUST, 19U0
S
O if it is true that the case looks
hopeless for getting nearer to
perfection in piano retailing
and wholesaling, then the next
best thing and the only substitute, is to
do more of what we are now doing. And
this advice can be used by everyone—
even ourselves for more ad pages—for
even our most skilled are the first to
reflect on past performance and spot
the errors of omission or commission.
So a foregoing mentioned idea of a
concerted and concentrated campaign
by all dealers, with vigorous adver-
tising on a go-to-town basis, begin-
ning September 16 for a 2 week 1941
model piano presentation, plus price
saving prior to the October price raises
a/c 40-hour week, etc., could result
nationally in a real piano promotion.
Aiding in this, would be for the piano
public relations board to tell this idea
to the newspapers, and let their space
salesmen loose on piano dealers to aid
and abet such a good industry cause.
W
HILE we are doing well,
compared to 1933, the
public orange has only
been hand squeezed. While
we are selling 130,000 pianos or so
this year, the refrigerator sales will
total 2,000,000 with a unit of $150.
Furniture sales will be a billion and a
half in dollars. Radio set sales will
exceed 9,000,000, in which will be over
500,000 automatic combinations with
a minimum unit of $125. 500,000
homes will be erected, and if all pianos
were sold only for new homes, we'd
only hit about 1 out of 4. And only a
whisper about the 4,500,000 motor
cars. Someday we'll hit on a piano
selling theme that will cover the neces-
sity of piano ownership. There are
millions of homes with children from
9 to 12 years of age still without pianos,
where the old man thinks nothing of
buying $5 worth of booze a week, with
the old lady losing another $5 weekly
on bridge or horses . . . and the $2 a
week necessary to buy a piano would
be a cinch when some piano man
meanders in for a social call. Every
comb has 2 sets of teeth, the large and
the fine—piano men are still combing
their sales hair with the large teeth.
RE you friendly with your local
broadcasting studios? What
i kind of piano do they use,
' and aren't they ripe for a
better one? Perhaps you can make a
deal, to include a 5 minute program a
few days weekly. Those who have used
broadcasting term it "profitable."
A
I
M A G I N E , 10,000 pianos a month
since January first—a production
that makes the heart glow with
an optimism that can only change
via war news. Means a marked growth
over 1939, and if sustained, means
140,000 pianos for 1940, a tribute to
numerology. Met. N. Y. not holding up
to the increase in the U. S. so there
must be many dealers ahead from 30%
to 50% around the country. With things
perking well with live mfrs. and sort
of squeezes on the sonambulistic, we
fear that the price angle is coming into
the picture used as a force to get sales
regardless of profit. We don't hanker
much for sales growth unless it is ac-
companied by substantial black figures.
It is encouraging to see continued sales
growth, but if the unit of sale is to be
vitiated so there is no money gain, it
won't speak well for letting production
figures spoil the cash book.