The talking machine world (Jan-June 1928)

34b The Talking Machine World, New York, April, 1928 'cffy d — » N o^or dealers' wholesalers^manufacturers of phonograph" pradioproducts. (Registered in the U. S. Patent Office) FEDERATED BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS, Inc. President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, J. B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secretary and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Assistant Secretary, L. B. McDonald; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low. RAYMOND BILL, Editor B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors C. R. TIGHE, Managing Editor LEE ROBINSON, Business Manager FRANK L. AVERY, Circulation Manager Trade Representatives : E. B. Munch, 1 Victor C. Gardner, V. E. MoYNAHAN, ROYCI CODY, A. J. NlCKLIN Western Division : Republic Building, 209 So. State Street, Chicago, 111. Telephone, Wabash 5242. Leonard P. Canty, Manager. Boston : John H. Wilson, 324 Washington Street. London, Eng., Representative: 24 Daylands Rd., Church End N. 8. The Talking Machine World has regular correspondents located in all of the principal cities throughout America. Published the 15th of every month at 420 Lexington Ave., New York SUBSCRIPTION (including postage): United States, Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.00; all other countries, $4.00. Single copies, 25 cents. ADVERTISEMENTS: $6.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. Advertising pages, $172.00. On yearly contracts for display space a special discount is allowed. REMITTANCES should be made payable to The Talking Machine World by check or Post Office Money Order. NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS — Advertising copy should reach this office before the first of each month. By following this rule clients will greatly facilitate work at the publication headquarters. Long Distance Telephone — Number 1760 Lexington Cable Address: "Elbill," New York NEW YORK, APRIL, 1928 New Interpretation of Competition RECENTLY there have been organized in various cities clubs and associations of dealers and clerks more often competitors in selling the same line of goods, but who realize that by getting together at regular intervals and discussing common problems they are in a better position to present a united front to the public and to competing industries, and thus profit individually. In one city dealers in a well-known line of radio gather around the luncheon table at monthly intervals and discuss trade affairs from various angles. They exchange selling and promotion ideas, talk over the new products as introduced, consider the sales arguments best calculated to get results, and on the whole develop a co-operative spirit that is evidenced in the greatly increased business that is being realized. In another city the clerks of the various establishments handling a certain make of record get together upon the issuance of each new list, play over the sample records, discuss them and their fine points at length, and go away prepared to stage their attack upon the pocketbook of the public with vim and enthusiasm. Here, too, the results have been made evident in a concrete manner in increased record sals. Organized gatherings such as those cited and others reflect the appreciation of a new interpretation of business competition. It has come to be realized that competitors in business are not those selling similar products and striving to the same end, but rather retailers selling any of the hundred and one other products that are offered in exchange for the public's dollar. There are many dealers in talking machines and radio apparatus who have won a full measure of success, but even the most successful of these does not in any sense know it all. He may be smarter than some of his fellow dealers in a given territory, but nine chances out of ten even the humblest of his confreres will have a thought or an idea that the big man might adopt with profit to himself and his business. It would be well for dealers and their clerks in every community of any substantial size to get together at regular intervals and talk over those matters that are distinctly pertinent to their own particular lines of business. By this means it would be possible to organize more imposing and effective campaigns calculated to help all parties and to solve those problems that, though perhaps troublesome to the individual, may be dissipated in conference. In union there is strength, particularly when it comes to meeting an organized, even though diversified, opposition. The dealer who plays a lone hand faces this opposition without the comfort that lies in the experiences and ideas of others who are facing the same problems that he is. The Phonograph Industry Moves Ahead ANY man inside or outside of the industry who questions the comeback of the phonograph, or rather the ability of that comeback, has but to go over the records of the New York StockExchange activities during the past few weeks and watch what has happened to Victor, and then take cognizance of the fact that the Columbia Phonograph Co. has placed its common stock on a $4.00 annual basis. During the hectic days on the Exchange, Victor has vied with General Motors and the Radio Corp. of America in making sensational rises, and although the cynic may have something to say about market manipulations, no stock can show such a substantial gain unless it is backed by public confidence and has intrinsic merit that is readily recognized by big investors. The optimistic report issued, too, by President Shumaker, of the Victor Co., who is to be regarded as a plain-spoken conservative, served to emphasize the remarkable rejuvenation of that company's affairs. The record-breaking business last year, the first quarter showing a gain and orders on hand to insure a tremendous volume of output for months to come, all go to prove the wide public acceptance of the new Victor product in its various forms, including radio combinations. Under the leadership of Louis Sterling, Columbia progress has been steady and imposing, though hardly sensational. The declaration of a substantial dividend on the common stock, however, tells more than many printed words of how substantial the progress of the company has been. The dividend has been declared on the premise that the future will see even further advancement, a matter of encouragement for those who cast their lot in the field years ago and hung on courageously for better times, as well as for those who more recently have seen the opportunity for tying up with a live industry and have grasped it. A Practice That Should Be Stopped HERE is a friend of a friend of mine who knows a wholesale salesman who can get a discount on phonographs and radios." This is a sample statement of the sort that is actually taking perhaps thousands of dollars out of the pockets of legitimate dealers who realize that it is only by obtaining the proper list price for instruments that they can enjoy a decent profit. The statement is no idle boast, for any member of the trade can find among his friends and neighbors thosel who have come to believe through hearsay or by personal experience that the list prices of talking machines and radio are put up simply for the purpose of providing something to shoot at, and that the private individual who pays the full price without argument is simply an easy mark. The average citizen is not to be condemned for holding this view, and endeavoring to profit by his direct or indirect knowledge. The fault lies with the wholesaler or his representative who is inclined to be a good fellow, and the retailer who is more concerned about the sale and the turnover involved than he is with the profit that should normally result. How many dealers are here who have had customers come into the store, apparently make a final decision on a phonograph or radio receiver, and then start haggling over the price. There is always the friend in the offing who can get 15 or 20 per cent, or more, off list. The average dealer holds out against the plea for a time, but when the sale seems to be slipping he is often inclined to compromise and allow at least a small discount that results in putting the sale over, but cuts seriously into the profit to which he is entitled. The fact that the customer's stand is often bluff, and he is simply playing