Running a successful retail music business demands creativity.
Simply placing products on shelves and opening your doors isn’t enough for your music store to make waves — to gain customers and increase sales, you need to implement a variety of retail strategies to set your store apart from the competition.
And as the owner of a music retail store, you know your customers are looking for more than just an instrument. They’re looking for a wide selection, expertise, and all the materials they need to improve as a musician. And when you go the extra mile, your customers will recognize this added value and choose your store.
In this blog, we’ll explore nine music store ideas to help you rise above the competition, give your customers a great experience, and see a significant increase in sales.
Our first music store idea is to create a store exterior that catches the eyes of people passing by. To do this, you first need to make decisions about your visual brand — choose a few colors, find an appropriate font, and determine how your music store will look. Then, keep this style consistent across your entire business so your store can always be recognized.
Your business’ exterior should make it clear it’s a music store. Use relevant colors, set up large signage with your store’s name, and create window displays to showcase your instruments. Highlight new arrivals and bestsellers to generate the greatest amount of interest from customers.
Before your music store ever opens its doors, you need to decide what you’re going to sell. Your store may specialize in a specific instrument or be a one-stop shop for a variety of different instruments and brands.
Here are a few common music store specialties:
Pro audio stores sell audio equipment like amps, speakers, and microphones. Your music store might be in one of these categories, combine multiple categories, or be in another category entirely.
Whatever you choose for your business, emphasize what makes it stand out. Display your unique blend of offerings in window displays and in displays throughout your music store. Create sections for a specific instrument or instrument type, and use decorations to tell your story.
To further embrace your music store’s unique focus, host events that match your brand. Invite musicians who play the instruments you sell to perform. If you sell guitars, you could hire a rock band to play. If you sell basic instruments for students, invite a school band to perform.
Events like these help you communicate your music store’s unique selling point (USP), and those who attend your events may be more likely to make purchases.
Interesting product displays throughout your music store inspire customers and may motivate them to purchase an accessory, upgrade their current instrument, or try out a new one. Use these displays to highlight bestsellers and promote new arrivals.
Create themed displays of products frequently purchased together to encourage customers to buy more — you can display a guitar with accessories like a carrying case, a strap, picks, capo, and a tuner. Display similar products together to give a customer options. You might display various brands of saxophones to highlight the unique qualities of each.
Displays give your customers a glimpse of your best products — and when something catches their eye, they can look through your inventory to learn more.
Related Read: Upselling and Cross-Selling: 8 Tips for Music Stores
Sales, promotions, and discounts motivate customers to buy more than they otherwise would. Create and advertise limited-time discounts to create a sense of urgency. When customers know prices will soon go back up, they’re more motivated to make a purchase quickly.
Creating discounted bundles is another strategy to prompt more purchases. If you sell a lot of instruments to students and other beginners, create a bundle with a carrying case, beginner sheet music books, and maintenance supplies — this gives new musicians everything they need to learn and take care of their instrument.
When you have a sale or discount, be sure to advertise it properly. Post signage outside your store and inside your store to let customers know. Use digital means like social media and email marketing to make sure customers are informed about new promotions.
Related Read: 15 Music Store Marketing Strategies You Haven’t Tried Yet
Set up your music store so customers can easily find what they need. Start by arranging your products logically. In a music store, arrange instruments in groups of similar types — including brass, string, woodwind, and percussion.
Use displays and signage to increase visibility throughout your music store, too. Wall displays help you save space on the sales floor and make products more visible from across the room.
Be sure aisles are wide enough that multiple customers can shop comfortably, and make sure your store is ADA-compliant. Creating an intuitive and convenient shopping experience helps you retain customers and sell more instruments.
Ideally, your business becomes more than just a place to buy music supplies — it becomes a place musicians go to meet other musicians, network, enjoy performances, and learn new skills. You can create this environment by hosting events.
Host events, live performances, classes, and workshops in your music store to build a sense of community among your customers. You’re likely to attract new customers when you host these events — they’ll get a chance to see your inventory and may make purchases. When customers have a good experience at these events, they’re more likely to return and to tell their friends about your store.
But to accommodate these events, you need space. Look into modular furniture and displays that can be easily moved around to make space for an event if needed.
Collaborating with local individuals and organizations can help you expand the reach of your music store. Look for collaborators with an interest in music — these might include local musicians, other music businesses, and schools with music programs.
Showcase these collaborations on social media. You can promote the organization you’ve partnered with (and they can promote you), increasing brand awareness for each organization. You can create a contest, product giveaway, or sponsor an event with a collaborator.
If your music store is close to a school with a music program, you might also offer a sponsorship. The school would advertise your store and direct students who need instruments to you, increasing sales.
All of these music store ideas hinge on your ability to supply enough instruments and accessories to meet demand. Inventory management is an essential consideration of any retail business owner, and to keep track of all of your inventory counts, you need a digital inventory management system.
Point of sale (POS) systems offer robust inventory management features, automatically adjusting your inventory counts when products are ordered and purchases are made.
POS systems record important sales metrics, allowing you to identify top performers and underperforming items. This helps you make decisions about which items to order more of or less of.
Plus, some systems allow you to set an automatic reorder point for an item. When that item dips below a certain threshold, the system orders a set amount to bring it back to an optimal stock level. This way, you never run out of your bestselling items.
Related Read: Manage Your Musical Instrument Inventory With These 7 Tips
A loyalty program encourages repeat visits to your music store by saving customers money. When customers make purchases, they accumulate points, punches, a dollar amount, or another unit — and these can eventually be exchanged for rewards. These usually include discounted or free products. For example, a customer might get a discount that can be used on any purchase, or receive a free accessory like a guitar strap or a set of violin strings.
You can add a referral program to gain more customers, too. If a customer brings in a friend or family member who makes a purchase, you can offer the referrer a discount on their next purchase.
As part of a loyalty program, you can send your customers custom communications with discounts on their birthday or after a purchase. These email or text messages keep your music store top of mind for your customers.
Related Read: 10 Music Shop Customer Loyalty Program Ideas To Keep Customers Coming Back
In order for your business to succeed, you need to create a great experience for your customers. And to improve your customers’ experience, you need to pay attention to the details. This includes optimizing your music store’s design and layout, hosting events, working with collaborations, and more.
Keep these music store ideas in mind, and continuously adapt your music store’s strategy to best serve your customers and compete in the industry. Pay attention to trends in the industry to see which new products and strategies are popular and will help you succeed.
But to implement these strategies, you need a POS system. Music Shop 360 is an all-in-one POS solution that equips you with the features you need to run your entire music store. The system includes tools for inventory management, payment processing, marketing, loyalty programs, and more. Specifically designed for music stores, the system can also help you with instrument rentals, music lessons, and other music-specific tasks.
To see what Music Shop 360 can do for your music store, schedule a demo today!