I don't understand the business model (local guitar shop rant!)

[Twinfan]

Although it shouldn't do, this is really bugging me!   :lol:

A guitar shop near me has a guitar in stock that I'd be tempted to pick up if the price was right.  It's a brand new guitar, and the shop has had it nearly two years.  Yes, TWO YEARS!  :o

In that time, the guitar has not moved from its original sticker price of £2399.  This is a bit more than other shops were selling this limited edition model for, and one shop recently sold the same model for £1799.  I know of one other that sold a while ago for £1899.

So, ever the opportunist, I called into the shop at the weekend to see if there was a deal to be had.  I offered my PRS McCarty Korina as a trade-in and was told they weren't interested in it even though they are a PRS dealer.  Fair enough if they didn't think they could sell it quickly, but the guitar I was interested in has been there for two years remember....

So I asked if I could raise the cash instead, what's the best price they can do given that it's been there so long.  What did they say?

We'll do it for £2299  :?

OK, I know it's business and they need to make money.  But the shop in question has let go half of its sales workforce over the last 12 months or so, and it seems to be doing a LOT less business than it once did.  In these times, with stock that's been sat there so long, would it not make sense to shift it and have some sort of turnover?

Rant over   :P

[shobet]

Soundsgreat? I've never had much luck getting them to move on prices. What were you after?

[MDV]

Part of it is psychology, not just business methodology.

People arent very good at evaluating loss Vs gain. That goes for when they're in business as well. In the case that you have something thats basically worthless (a guitar thats been on the shelf for 2 years that your competition are selling at a much lower price) then you see what you previously invested in that thing as value held, and dont tend to choose to 'lose' that for an immediate gain that doesnt measure up to your percieved value of it (and therefore what you would hope to get for it). i.e. some people wont go for the purely practical and rational 'a couple of hundred profit is better than it never selling and just being dead cash tied up in a bit of wood' because they see that as a loss of what they think that they could/should get for it.

[Ian Price]

Is that the top bound CS esquire Dave?

[Andrew W]

I wonder if some of it isn't also down to some shop owners failing to move with the times and not realising that consumers have much closer to "perfect knowledge" than they did in the pre-internet days. 

In days of yore if a guitar shop owner told me that a Squier Strat was £250 then I'd have to assume that it was so since finding out where other guitar shops close to me was next to impossible as there was only the one in Yellow Pages.  Most of the guitar mags had ads with "£Call" next to all the prices too which didn't help. 

Nowadays there's no way I'd buy a new non-specialist guitar on Denmark Street because 30 seconds of Google shows me that a twenty minute train ride gets me to Guildford and Anderton's who thrash any of them on price.  I suspect that there are some guitar shop owners who haven't figured this out yet and thus think that eventually someone gullible enough will wander in, assume their price is a fair one, and cough up the money.  Which won't happen.

[Philly Q]

Is that the top bound CS esquire Dave?

Yeah, cut to the chase!  I was wondering what guitar it was too.

(Have you started working for a merchant bank, by the way, Dave?  :P )

[Ian Price]

Yeah, cut to the chase!

 :D

It is a bit of an odd way to do business. I really don't understand why some shops insist on charging the RRP - is it just laziness? If it is the guitar I think it is GV sold me mine (now Dave's) for £1899. I assume they still made a profit on it as well! Very bad form for a retailer to only offer £100 off! GV gave a £100 discount to me when I bought mine (now Dave's!) even though it had only been in stock a few weeks and they had a potential buyer coming back in to look at it again.

[Twinfan]

You guys know me too well  :lol:

Yep, it's the black Top Bound Esquire that's the sister guitar to the Lake Placid Blue model I bought from Ian.  If that makes sense!

Mine really works for me as a live guitar, so if I could find another from the run of 100 at a reasonable price I'd pick it up.......

[ToneMonkey]

If I had a guitar shop near Twinfan, I'd have a photo of him behind the desk and the staff would be ordered to roll out a red carpet, have a bit of a fanfare and make him a cup of tea.

He could single handedly keep me in business for 6 months   :D

[Philly Q]

I suspect that there are some guitar shop owners who haven't figured this out yet and thus think that eventually someone gullible enough will wander in, assume their price is a fair one, and cough up the money.  Which won't happen.

There is an element of "a bird in the hand..." though, if you try a guitar and it feels like "the one" you may be prepared to pay a premium.

But basically I agree, I don't even go to Denmark Street (except maybe to window-shop), I get on a train and go to Guitar Village or Andertons or somewhere.

[hunter]

Well it's a free market. Probably they are fed up by people wanting the price from somewhere they had seen on the internet. Maybe he likes the guitar himself and made a vow that IF he let it go then not below RRP?

Maybe he thinks of it like a stock option. He has already held it for 2 years, so he invested not only his purchase price, but also 2 years of shop space, so it's even more expensive to him :)

But hey, Dave, you have enough guitars, why not just stop buying any?  :D

[MrBump]

(Have you started working for a merchant bank, by the way, Dave?  :P )

Hmmm... I work for a merchant bank, and there are no expensive guitars for me...

:(

[Philly Q]

(Have you started working for a merchant bank, by the way, Dave?  :P )

Hmmm... I work for a merchant bank, and there are no expensive guitars for me...

:(

Yeah,  I do appreciate that not everyone who works in banking is rolling in dough.  My brother works for RBS...

[shobet]

Is't there one hanging in PMT in Manchester as well? I could have sworn I saw an top bound esquire there, however it may have been a custom, my old memory is not what it used to be.

[Twinfan]

But hey, Dave, you have enough guitars, why not just stop buying any?  :D

I tried, but I can't.  I enjoy exploring the options!

I've narrowed it down a lot though. There are smaller and smaller numbers of guitars I would actually buy.