Dealer buying consortium - GuitarGuitar/Andertons/PMT

guitars4you

StefB said:

Anyone know if this buying consortium between the big 3 still exists three years on?

Never heard much mention of it since and G&L (the most talked about aspect at the time) stocks at all three retailers are very depleted nowadays.  Did it come to anything meaningful long term, or was it just a big wet fart?

Andertons seemed to continue singularly ploughing their own furrow in pursuit of online dominance, GG have carried on solidly as they were, and PMT's website is perpetually among the worst I've ever experienced for an outfit of their size and clout.

Not heard anything either way about it and not spent anytime looking recently at either of those stores stock listings

However, the success of any such buying group will depend on the sales/demand/profit of the products it brings to the table - G&L at best is a token gesture to your overall guitar sales - Plus what it offers on the display wall, or the web site - It is not  a poor product, be it the USA/Far East lines, but it does not have the appeal of many other guitar lines, that are outside of the big established brands

The advantage G&L should have, with such a route to market, was no middle man/distributor, so a more advantageous price for the customer and potentially more margin for the stores - win win 

I would imagine, in the grand scheme of things, for all 3 businesses, then at best it is a token gesture to the overall plans, profit and turnover , so maybe try it and see how it goes, if not then move on 

Also G&L is somewhat stuck in the middle - It is not a boutique brand from the USA, like say Suhr, Anderson, Trussart, Fano, K-Line, Rivolta etc, yet neither is it a big box shifting product that competes with Fender, Yamaha etc - You can see why Coda/Peach and indeed GG, acquire a few tasty boutique lines to add to their stock profile - But Andertons IMO are not as into the 'boutique' custom models in the same way that Peach and Coda are - Andertons tend to play their shots with a straight bat and far more 'main stream' as far as their guitar selection goes

Ref PMT and their web site - Agree it is nothing special - But I believe they still favour a bricks 'n' mortar showroom as their route to market - Saw some of the Andertons video/interview the other day, and Lee speaking that the showroom accounts for only something like 10% of their revenue and he concentrates his day to day tasks etc on the e-commerce side of the business - PMT IMO are like a Primark, in that the shop is their business - Remember that back in the day, PMT acquired Soho Soundhouse who at the time had the 'bible' of that 'catalogue' advert that was in all the mags and a big say in the mail order side of the industry - Granted around 2000 time and the WWW was still at infant school - They then acquired Dolphin who were trying to establish a big mail order business and seen, at the time, as a major player - Yet neither operation that they acquired now is part of their day to day trading - So my comments are based on observation 

guitars4you

^^^^^^^^^^^  - sorry - I should add that I don't mean PMT is a 'low end' priced business like Primark - I just meant that it doesn't need a website to run its business, as per Primark

jeztone2

If G&L redesigned their headstock. They’d sell far more guitars anyway. I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s not that difficult to do. 

I guess this is the future of retail. What I find strange is that if you go to Germany there are loads of small mom & pop guitar shops. Yet they are the home of Thomann. I was in Leipzig in Oct 19 and the tiny guitar shop next to my hotel was super busy. I sort of the problem in the U.K. a declining middle class that are more price conscious? Or is it business rates? Or something else?

Rocky1991

Guitar is one of the few industries that will (as a whole) survive the death of the high street. Assuming demand stays pretty much the same. 

Funkfingers

mbe said:

Bridgehouse said:

darthed1981 said:

Can someone tell me where to get my cheap Gibson, please?

About 1958

Directions, please 

Fire up the DeLorean.

It will take over sixty years to arrive anywhere! 

jeztone2

Rocky1991 said:

Guitar is one of the few industries that will (as a whole) survive the death of the high street. Assuming demand stays pretty much the same. 

I beg to differ loads of smaller stores closed after the 2008 recession. When I had my PRS stolen, the lack of these smaller stores made it easier to recover. 

Rocky1991

jeztone2 said:

Rocky1991 said:

Guitar is one of the few industries that will (as a whole) survive the death of the high street. Assuming demand stays pretty much the same. 

I beg to differ loads of smaller stores closed after the 2008 recession. When I had my PRS stolen, the lack of these smaller stores made it easier to recover. 

In fairness this is what I meant by (as a whole).