VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine

8 I MUSIC INC. I JULY 2011
PERSPECTIVE I BY ZACH PHILLIPS
NICHE 2.0
How do small brick-and-mortar retailers make waves on the Web?
Same way they make waves locally: by thinking big, then focusing
like crazy.
For evidence, look no further than this issue of Music Inc. The
following pages feature one case study after another of music retailers
embracing niche Internet opportunities. Some, namely our cover subject,
ProGuitarShop, have built all-out e-commerce powerhouses.
But even more featured dealers have found
online success with small victories that yield big results.
Reno’s Music in Fishers, Ind., for example, found
its victory with ukulelehotline.com. This uke specialty
shop, which the company recently relaunched, feeds
off of Reno’s main website, guitarhotline.com. And
according to Scott Maxwell, store manager, ukulelehotline.com
has not only spurred local traffic but also
served as a steady revenue producer during slow times.
“That’s the beauty of Internet sales: It stays consistent,”
Maxwell said. “[Our business] has ups and
downs, but I think the ups and downs have more to
do with what’s going on in the community — local
traffic. And it seems the Internet balances that out.”
He also pointed out that customers usually can’t
tell the difference between a small online boutique
and an e-commerce giant. “So it levels the playing field a little bit.” (Maxwell’s
one of many retailers who contributed to our trend story on rising guitar
brands, “Unsung Heroes,” starting on page 70.)
Speaking of a level playing field, Facebook’s an online resource where large
pocketbooks don’t mean squat. Instead, creativity is your greatest capital. In
“Social Media Coup,” guest columnist Cris Behrens of Summerhays Music
Center reveals how he got 615 Facebook fans (i.e. “likes”) with less than 5
minutes of work. (See page 44.) How long would it take you to gather 615
new customer e-mail addresses?
Don’t discount the opportunity in paid advertising, though. In their contributions
this month, retailers Leslie Faltin and Myrna Sislen look at the
power of Google AdWords and Groupon, respectively, in expanding their local
brick-and-mortar business. They’re not alone. Joe Caruso, co-owner of The
Music Emporium in Lexington, Mass., (profiled on page 15) said he’s constantly
surprised by how much traffic his company gets from small banner ads
at mandolincafe.com and acousticguitar.com. “It’s a pretty strong response.”
The bottom line? Our cover subject, ProGuitarShop, got off the ground
with a basic idea: Produce short, feature-rich product demo videos. It sounds
painfully simple now, but it wasn’t seven years ago. (The story begins on page
56.) So what niche Internet opportunities are right in front of your face?
They can be as grand as launching a specialty site or as simple as writing up
a more focused Google ad. I’ll bet there are many that your business is in a
unique position to seize. MI