The talking machine world (Jan-June 1925)

26 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD January 15, 1925 Are You Overlooking Accessories Profits? Handling Accessories Can Be Made Profitable Investment — Sell by Suggestion — Displays Create Sales — Quick Turnover Possible Most retail talking machine dealers handle accessories, but they do not merchandise them. Considering the investment involved in securing and displaying an adequate stock of these small necessities to talking machine owners and the ease with which they can be sold from time to time when customers drop into the store to purchase records, etc., accessories of all kinds — needles, record cleaners, tone arms, sound boxes, record repeaters and novelties, oil, and the various other items that come under this category — are worth while pushing in a systematic manner. Every sale means a profit and every mite added to the profits of the dealer is worth going after. Accessories probably can not be sold in large enough quantities to make it worth while to launch a sales promotion campaign or expend a great deal of money to create a demand, but they can and should be sold by suggestion. Every Machine Owner a Prospect The tremendous profit enjoyed by the Woolworth five-and-ten-cent stores is built on the sale of small items and quick turnover, and although the talking machine dealer is concerned principally with the merchandising of instruments and records the small items of his stock should not be overlooked. If salesmen and saleswomen suggest to each record customer these needed accessories they can easily enough be sold in sufficient volume to net the dealer a tidy profit over a period of a year. At the time a talking machine is sold an attempt should also be made to sell the accessories which go with the machine. Certain of these small items are really necessary for the complete enjoyment of the instrument, and as in the case of needles, it is necessary to replenish the supply from time to time, so that the dealer can look forward to doing a steady business in certain accessories. Display Accessories It is noticeable that those dealers who sell a fair volume of accessories are the ones who have them displayed on the counters and in the show cases where the customers who visit the talking machine department cannot fail to see them. This is the best kind of suggestive selling because each time the customer visits the establishment he or she is forcibly reminded of these items. A needle display which is selling thousands of packages of needles consists of a small case which is placed on top of the service counter or show case. The case has a glass front and in it are all kinds of needles. Another retailer has a small glass show case in which he stocks all kinds of accessories. He literally displays them and in the most attractive manner possible. The wrong way to sell accessories is to hide them behind the counter or place them on a shelf where they cannot be seen. Usually a record customer pays little or no thought to needles, record brushes, etc., unless they are brought to his or her attention either verbally by a salesman or through the medium of a display. Hiding the accessories will not sell them. Therefore, they must be displayed and exhibited in an attractive manner. Profiting Through Album Sales As a vital necessity to the talking machine owner and as a product which it pays the dealer to push vigorously, the record album cannot be surpassed. Every owner of a talking machine needs albums. In some cases a few albums go with the instrument, but should the talking machine owner's record collection be sufficiently large to fill these albums newrecords purchased must be put some place and the record album is the safest and best place for them. On the other hand, many instruments, including those with radio installations, are sold without albums, and here is a golden opportunity for the live retailer to get busy and cash in on this not inconsiderable potential business. Then, too, as has been mentioned before in the columns of The World, there is a big field for dealers to stimulate the sale of records and at the same time bring up the volume of album business by featuring complete sets of records in albums and selling them on the "group" plan. The World advocated this plan several years ago and since that time several of the larger record manufacturing companies have placed on the market albums filled with special sets of records which dealers are finding very much worth-while to get behind with some real sales promotion. There is no limit to the development of the record business in combination with the sale of albums, and dealers who realize this and get busy will find that they sell at all times and especially are they suitable as gifts. Start Now! The beginning of the present year is an ideal time to start merchandising accessories along intelligent and profitable lines. Many people have just purchased talking machines, others contemplate doing so and many more have all of their available album space filled. The new owners of instruments as well as the old customers need accessories of the kind the dealer has to offer and these people will buy, provided the dealer does his share and brings these products to their attention. So, get busy and take the small profits as well as the large ones in 1925. Watkins Bros.' One Day Drive Brings in $50,000 Dealers With Music Stores in Hartford and Bristol and Furniture Store in So. Manchester, Conn., Celebrate Anniversary Hartford, Conn., January 7.— Watkins Bros., successful music dealers of this city and who also operate a store in Bristol and a large furniture store in South Manchester, recently celebrated their fiftieth anniversary by making a one-day drive for business, the object being to do a $50,000 business in one day— $1,000 for each year the firm has been in existence. Direct-mail announcement of the event was made to a selected group of people numbering 10,000. This was followed by large advertisements in various newspapers throughout the section of the State in'which the company operates its stores and from which it secures business. Special booklets were printed outlining the progress of the business during the fifty years of its existence and these also were distributed to the people whose names appeared on the mailing list of the firm's various stores. The result of this intensive effort was evident as soon as the doors of the store were thrown open to the public on the day of the drive. It was unquestionably one of the busiest days in the history of the business and when the last order had been taken in the evening the mark set for the day had been passed by a comfortable margin. D0BHUB ill ( ft 1 1 ' ' H I I'1' J . ' .. • < 1 . •'I'IjIiII Performance is the supreme test of a machine or of a machine part. And since purchase must always precede performance, buying is largely a matter of faith in the ability and responsibility of the producer. Doehler Die-Castings are found to be incorporated in machines of extremely diverse character and purpose, but all alike in the fact that they are known for their high-class performance. This fact should bear substantial weight with those who, in considering the purchase of die-castings, are seeking grounds for faith in the producer from whom they will buy. BROOKLYN . N.T. POTTSTOWN. PA TOLEDO. OHIO. BATAVIA. N.Y.