On the Pacific Road…
The one thing that stays the same in business is that it is always changing. In the few years that I’ve been involved, the retail music dealer was first under siege from mail order mavens who were selling at 40% discounts, then it was big-box retailers with whom no one could compete because of their massive buying power and now we have the online phenomenon which is combining both characteristics along with a new era of information flow. The business landscape seems to be shaking like a Quonset hut on the San Andreas Fault!
If your store has not changed much in the past ten years, you could be in trouble. Not only have display styles changed but also the product mix. Commodity items are the most vulnerable items for the retailer who does not have a strong online presence. Think about it: What is the difference between a set of strings selling for 60% off on Amazon and 20% off in a music store?…well…? If commodity items are your bread and butter you may soon be eating your bread with water!
Saga is not a supplier of commodity products and so it just might be that the solutions to some of your difficulties are right here in the pages of The Retail Music News. Stop by and see us at the NAMM Show in Anaheim. We are at Stand 5760.
Here are some of the new innovative products that you will see in our display:
Seven NEW Blueridge Guitar Models!
The NEW Gold Star J.D. Crowe Model Bluegrass Album Banjo!
Seven NEW Kentucky F-Model Mandolins!
The BEST Violin Bow selection at NAMM!
Fifteen NEW Best-selling Diamond Head Ukuleles!
Your oversized competitors have a disadvantage that you might have missed. Because of their size, the decision making process is always slower and implementation is often weak. You have a BIG advantage in agility… use it at NAMM. Stop by and pick one with us or give us a call at 1-800-289-7242!
Richard Keldsen
San Francisco
January 2017