Paul,
According to most of the major arranger companys here in the USA, I'm a part of a very small group of music stores in this country that choose to sell many high end arranger keyboards. I've been told for years, that most stores have little or no interest in stocking high end pro style arranger keybaords. There are so many reasons why so many choose not to carry these products. First and most importantly I think it has nothing to do with the small Italian companys vs the big Japanese companys, but rather music store owners or sales people who have little or know interest and knowledge in putting so much effort to learn, demonstrate and sell these types of keyboards. It has been told to me over and over again, that when Guitar Center or Sam Ash stock a Tyros or PA80 on their floors, very few are actually being sold because someone has come into the store and a sales person has sold a keyboard. I've been told by customers of these forums that when they do walk into a chain store which do carry these products, they usually are met with someone with basically no knowledge of how these keyboards work and therfore give the shopper either no information, wrong information or an attempt to move the customer to a different type of product, one which the saleperson knows something about. The decesion to sell products in a particular store is not made at the individual store level but rather at the corportate leve. Some models are ordered and some are not, without the store manager even knowing what will be sold or not. When choosing to carry the Korg PA80 or the Yamaha Tyros, again, this is often part of a "master" order and thus you see these keybaords at some of the locations but not at all. Sometimes I beleive that because the buyer meets with the representative of a large company, purchasing decesions are made more because of the name rather than if the product mix is correct for their type of store or location. I congradulate Ketron and Generalmusic for putting their keyboards mostly in stores that care to learn and show their products along side of Yamaha, Korg and Roland products. I find the mind set that all arranger keyboards are more like low end entry level "box" store keyboards not worth spending time showing, the more common feeling in chain stores. For this reason, I think this might be why you will see some Yamaha and Korg products in some chain stores. With so many different types of keyboads, having a few Tyros or maybe a Korg PA80 is easy enough to have around. Sure, it's easy to say "everyone knows Yamaha because of it's high visibility" but I love the opportunity to display in my store what the other keybord brands can offer. It has nothing to do with selling a Generalmusic or Ketron at higher prices because of less competition because I price my products all the same and don't charge a higher profit percentage for any keyboard I sell. I enjoy showing the different features each keyboard has to offer. Of course,feeling a bit selfish, I like that I'm one of just a few dealers that people have to drive to in order to see all the models and get what I think is a very good demo, but I also appreciate that Generalmusic and Ketron support me by giving me a large area to sell their keyboads and by taking care of any problems I might have with a repair in a very timely manner. Most times, I get the sale, both in person and via the internet, but sometimes if a customer is only looking for the lowest price, the sale goes to the internet store. I do want to say though that the amount of time and effort that goes into dealing with a good dealer does offer benefits in both support, technically and if problems arrive. I'm trying not to sound like I'm comlaining here, because it is very rewarding when the customer comes back after making the decesion to buy from me, or a phone call comes in from Florida or New York and I get the opportunity to help that customer who put their confidence in a small store like mine. Dan O., myself and a handful of others put in a lot of effort to make our businesses work and survive. I thank the comapanys that support my store and my customers and hope that they continue to support those dealers that support them. I hope that in the future, more small dealers will realize from customers and forums like this that there is a market for these keybaords and that you will be able to vist local store and lay your hands and hear with your ears how good all these new keyboards are.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California