These Items Are Helping Savvy Retailers Rake In Revenue

Ed Intagliata, Owner of Cassell’s Music in San Fernando CA, describes an accessory as something that “fills a need, solves a problem or makes it easier for the musician to use their instrument.” From that simple definition emerges a powerful proposition for maximizing your profits.

In recent years, The Retailer has been told by many musical instrument dealers that accessories—strings, picks, sticks, straps, bags, cases, tuners, capos, pedals and other miscellanies—have become their bread-and-butter sales and one of their biggest in-store profit generators. Because dealers are raking in profits by selling accessories, we decided to explore the phenomenon here, in our November issue, by interviewing three prominent, successful retailers to glean their insights.

Our experts include Intagliata, along with Michael and Leslie Faltin, Owners of Instrumental Music Center in Tucson AZ, and Donald Tegeler, CEO and President of Tegeler Music in Clinton IA.

Testing Our Idea

When asked if accessories are in ascendance as a retail product category, our experts were able to confirm the idea, albeit with a few caveats. Leslie Faltin pointed to an overall uptick in sales at Instrumental Music Center, sharing, “Our total items sold per day are up this year, and a large part of that is due to our accessory sales.”

“There’s no doubt that accessories in our store offer a bigger profit potential than larger, serialized items,” Tegeler declared. However, he added, “Accessory sales at Tegeler Music have been consistent over the last few years. Unless there’s a hot new item on our shelves, accessories’ sales performance is directly tied to how many music makers exist in the market.”

‘Our total items sold per day are up this
year, and a large part of that is due to
our accessory sales.’

Building on Tegeler’s market insights, Leslie Faltin credited the improved economy, as well as customers’ propensity to rely on retail therapy, as a driver of increased sales at Instrumental Music Center. “Buying accessories makes customers feel good,” she affirmed.

Intagliata shared that Cassell’s Music makes “decent profit margins” on the accessories it sells, but it’s seeing a decline in buyers for select accessories. He perceives a big problem that’s centered on “the Internet eroding what were once large margins.” He lamented, “Nearly every accessory we carry can now be found online at cost or for near-cost.”

Tegeler offered a different view about the Internet serving to diminish accessory profits. He commented, “We tend to view ourselves as a convenience store when it comes to accessories. Tegeler Music may not be the cheapest place to get what you need, but you can get it in your hands today.” Tegeler continued, “In most cases, customers don’t shop around as much for the smaller items, so it gives us a segment of our inventory that retains decent margins.”

Manufacturers, Models & Product Categories

What’s selling best in our interviewees’ stores? Instrumental Music Center imports its own private-label clip-on tuners from China, manufactured by a company named Rowan. Leslie Faltin gushed about how huge of a success the tuners have been, saying, “We buy the tuners for less than $4 and we sell them for $18.” She continued, “We also assemble our own cleaning kits filled with supplies that band and orchestra kids need—we call them ‘Spiffy Kits’—and they sell at a huge margin.”

On-Stage music stands have also been a huge seller for Instrumental Music Center, with help from the private-labeled SM7022BB music stands sporting its logo. Leslie Faltin continued, saying, “Amps and products that connect to your guitar as well as your digital media device are becoming more streamlined and affordable. We love the ID:Core BEAM 20-watt amp from Blackstar.”

When pressed for bestsellers at Cassell’s Music, Intagliata pointed to clip-on tuners, Kyser and “Kyser-style” capos, low-cost leather straps, cables, care kits and reeds. Tegeler noted that reeds sell well at Tegeler Music during band season, and he also mentioned clip-on guitar tuners—in particular, Crafter tuners—flying off the shelves, alongside D’Addario guitar strings.

What, on the other hand, is selling poorly for our retailer interviewees? “Our number-one reduction in sales at Cassell’s Music comes from smartphone apps for tuners and metronomes,” Intagliata declared. “Tuners, metronomes, software upgrades, print music and lessons are available as digital downloads now,” said Michael Faltin. “These are great, innovative new products, but they can leave the local music store out of the loop.”

Similarly, Tegeler mentioned that some of his biggest changes have come from items related to the tech industry. “Accessories like iPad holders were very big at first,” he said, “but those sales have died off recently.”
Michael Faltin mentioned a decline in overall drum and electric guitar accessory sales over the last few years, with Intagliata adding, “I’d like to see the major drum stick manufacturers adopt a MAP [Minimum Advertised Price] policy that allows for a larger profit margin than what street prices are generating today.”

Tegeler also had opinions on MAP for accessories. He noted, “Companies need to realize that when an item is no longer profitable for their dealers, it’s very easy—especially with accessories—to find a suitable replacement.”

Accessory Bundling

Circling back to the concerns voiced earlier by Intagliata, it’s safe to say that we live in a time when competing successfully against online retailers, principal among them Amazon, has become paramount for the survival of many brick-and-mortar retailers.

To maximize their chances for success, many retailers now bundle accessories with big-ticket items, such as expensive electric guitars, to help entice people to buy from them. Leslie Faltin explained, “Instrumental Music Center bundles accessories as a convenience to the customer.” She continued, saying, “This is a strategy to actually help the customer, not just to tempt them to buy from us. Personalized service—someone actually caring about the customer’s success—is not something that can be experienced online.”

‘When an accessory is no longer
profitable, it’s very easy to find a
suitable replacement.’

“We don’t bundle at Cassell’s Music,” Intagliata said, “but, in order to help close a sale, we will often throw in accessories for free with big-ticket items. This includes things like gig bags, straps, cables, strings and the like.”

Tegeler offered a similar response regarding bundles and their ability to assist in the sale of big-ticket items. “We don’t maintain specific bundles at Tegeler Music,” he said, “but we do offer special pricing on some accessory items when customers are purchasing big-ticket items, such as half-priced cases or an affordable maintenance plan for an instrument.”

When bundling at Instrumental Music Center, Leslie Faltin mentioned acoustic guitar, bass, ukulele and electric guitar accessory packages for a discounted price. And, because Instrumental Music Center creates the packages itself, the store allows customers the unlimited freedom to customize. “Want a bigger amp?” Faltin asked rhetorically. “No problem! Want a hard case instead of a bag? Sure thing!”

Accessory Pricing

Next, The Retailer asked our expert dealers how retailers should approach pricing bundles, if they are offered. Intagliata responded, “If we are selling a guitar at MAP, then including accessories means that we are coming in less than MAP. So, we don’t advertise that practice.”

Michael Faltin had strong opinions about retailers that charge less than MAP, a practice he considers a poor business decision. “People who charge MAP or below are leaving money on the table,” he stressed. Faltin continued, “Our staff understands that sales are not generated by pricing alone.”

Tegeler and Intagliata didn’t specify any sales strategies or tactics specifically aimed at boosting accessory sales, although they did refer to price drops on overstock or specialty items. Instrumental Music Center, apart from bundling, asks staff to strive for a three-items-per-transaction threshold. Many of those add-on sales come from accessories. The store also conducts occasional contests among salespeople to see who can generate the highest number of average items sold.

The Future

When asked about the future, Tegeler amplified his earlier points. “Accessories sales,” he said, “are consistently tied to the overall economy. No one really needs another guitar. When they have the extra cash, though, they want it—and the related accessories that go along with it.” Michael Faltin added, “People buy more accessories as they continue to have disposable income.”

Intagliata and the Faltins agreed that the ascendance of accessories as a profit-generating product category would continue to persist, rather than petering out. According to Intagliata, “Sales will continue due to the fact that a lot of folks buy instruments online—whether new or used—and, most of the time, accessories are not included with that online purchase.”

That might not be a recipe for record-busting revenue generation, but it just might ensure sufficient profits to keep your brick-and-mortar music store in business and serving your local community.