The more things change the more they stay the same. Local merchants face the same upside potential and downside effect from the internet that they faced by the mail-order businesses.

Simply stated there are a certain percentage of customers who buy strictly based upon price.

The irony is today’s consumer is better educated than ever before and expects the highest level of service in all aspects of their lives. We have all grown accustom to liberal exchange policies, frequent buyers bonuses and many other perks that are associated with being a consumer today.

Local music merchants should represent the consumers best source for information and technical assistance. If the local shop isn’t doing the job, then people like Bebop should throw their hat in the ring and fill the void.

Many people choose the local music shop over the big-box chain stores because they know they will receive a higher level of service. In the purchasing equation the only components that count are: 1. Price 2. Quality 3. Service in most transactions you can only have the best of two of the three components. Choose your two carefully.

Further irony: there are more posts on this forum discussing quality than service and price together. Obviously as musicians we want the ‘best’ sound we can find. That being said the trade off is either price or service.

It seems as though many forum participants forgo the service for the price and then use the forum for their service. Over the years I have read a good number of complaints written in hopes the manufacturers would listen and respond to you in this venue to resolve some issue you have.

Well here’s your epiphany: your local dealer is your liaison to the manufacturer.

Your local dealer has built a relationship with the manufacturer over a number of years that involves the sale of countless unit sales of the latest, greatest instrument and also the obligatory sales of less desirable models. Just like in song for every hit there are countless flops. So goes the relationship between the dealer and the manufacturer.

Local merchants take service issues to heart and spend a fair amount of time resolving these issues. When you as their customer have a problem, they have a problem. Local dealers are built one unit sale at a time. Manufacturers market based on trends they have a goal for unit sales. They expect a certain percentage of product failure. They bring products to market ahead of schedule and sometimes behind schedule. Surely they innovate, spend lots of money on R & D, but when push comes to shove the success of a manufacturer is measured in containers full of product. Please ponder that thought for a moment…

The music industry faced an awakening this month with the bankruptcy of MARS. Since it’s inception MARS was touted as the future of the music business. A lot of local dealers were dealt a rough ride when MARS, Sam Ash and Guitar Center all decided their local market would be the latest marketing war zone. Many musicians frequented the big-box stores only to find the level of service was unacceptable. When they returned to the local dealer they wanted the high service they had grown accustom to and the price they got from the big-box retailer.

Thanks to MARS a lot of manufacturers are taking a direct hit in their profit and loss statements. Ironically many of these manufacturers will be forced to revisit the local dealer they abandoned not so long ago in hopes of maintaining some market share in some specific market.

Even more ironically the big-box store that saves the consumer a few bucks on purchase will now cost the consumer money because of their demise. Surely the manufacturers will pass their losses to their supply chain. Now cables go up a few cents here and cases go up a buck or two. We all pay in the end.

1. Price
2. Quality
3. Service

Choose your two carefully.