Music Trade Review

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Price Conscious Public Having Field Day
y j f ^ H E price conscious public is certainly having a
II field day, which is a very good reason why busi-
ness is not exactly up to par. We have heard in-
stances where people have gone in to look at pianos and
when the price was quoted, have told the salesman that
they would give so much for the piano. This, of course,
is something that has not happened for a great many
moons, and just shows that people have come to the con-
clusion that prices are too high and they are going to
shop for price as well as quality. Everywhere one looks
today one can see bargain prices advertised, which of
course is a sign that merchants are endeavoring to move
stock which previously was moving very swiftly with-
out much effort. One of the best piano advertisements
we have seen recently was inserted in one of the largest
tabloid papers in the country, Sunday edition, a couple
of weeks ago, in which nothing but reconditioned pianos
were advertised. A long list of reconditioned upright
spinets and grands was given with the prices freely
printed against each name. There was some reference
to down payments and terms, but the only thing that
suggested that this company handled new pianos was
the fact that it stated in the advertisement that new
pianos could be had at moderate prices.
enticed people into the store, after which the salesmen
went to work on them and sold some of them new in-
stead of used and reconditioned pianos. The average
piano buyer today is looking for pianos which sell for
not over $500. There are some groups who will buy at
higher prices and they are probably being followed up,
but the masses which constitute the bulk of the piano
business are now in the $500 humor and this should
be borne in mind when advertising and promotion cam-
paigns are inaugurated.
Is American Home Life Changing?
I
N addition to all these factors, the life in the Ameri-
can home is changing. A great deal of this can be
traced to the popularity of television which is now
being used in the homes of several million people. It is
also keeping them in the homes. They are getting very
interesting entertainment as well as liberal educational
features which are going to benefit all types of business
in the future, if not at the present time. We predict
that it will not be long before we have instrumental
lessons over television, showing people how they can
easily learn to play musical instruments, and in this
group the piano will be prominently displayed. As we
said in the past, there is really nothing to fear from
television, although its present popularity perhaps is
Moderate Prices Brought Business
causing people to spend money for television sets in-
E investigated what results were obtained from stead of other musical instruments. We think, however,
this ad and found that it had proved very suc- that if a survey were made it would be found that the
cessful, and that through the publicity, not only largest percentage of television buyers are people who
several used and reconditioned pianos had been sold, already have pianos. We, naturally, have no figures
but also several new pianos, both spinets and grands, upon which to base our opinion but we have seen this
had been disposed of. This to us proves one thing, and
happen in several instances in our own social circle
that is that the public is recognizing the fact that price
and these people that we know would not be buying
is a factor today and they will go into a store where
a piano at the present time anyway and the television
they see something which they think is good value at
set is in addition ot the other forms of amusement which
the price they think it should be purchased for. The lull
they have in the home.
in business really doesn't mean that there is not money
around to be spent, because the savings banks reports
for the months of January and February show that there
was more money deposited in savings accounts than
there was during the same period last year. Certainly
people have money, but there has been considerable
talk and many news items and articles about recession,
depression, etc., as well as facts which have been printed
about prices of commodities coming down. The result
is that people are cautious. Undoubtedly when they feel
that prices are getting down to a point where they can
EDITOR
buy value and their confidence has returned, much of
the money that is now being put into the savings banks
will be drawn out to buy merchandise. In the mean-
time, music merchants as well as other merchants must
devise ways and means of attracting the public to the
point that they can get them to circulate some of this
money. In our opinion, one way to do it is just as the
music merchant in the metropolitan city did when he
advertised musical instruments at moderate prices, and
W
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, MARCH, 1949
II