Guitar Accessories: All the Small Things

Guitar and bass accessory suppliers chime in on market trends.

Accessory sales tend to do well even when other product is moving slowly — largely because of price. 

Can’t pull the trigger on a new guitar? Odds are you can afford a few sets of strings for your old one, though. Or a strap, or a cable — maybe one of each! Heck, grab some picks and a clip-on tuner while you’re at it.

Significantly, these types of sales do drive other purchases, which keeps that register ringing. That customer who just walked in your store may have done so because she needed to buy some new strings, but seeing that guitar polish and capo on the counter display made her realize she could use that stuff, too, and that it’s within her budget — go figure!

We recently spoke with representatives from some of the biggest names in guitar & bass accessories to get a read on how this very important market segment is faring in 2016.

What’s your take on the overall “health” of the bass & guitar accessories market? 

Peter D’Addario: Great question. The accessories market has been a bit soft to start out 2016, after a pretty strong fourth quarter of 2015. We have seen this in all of our sales channels and our data shows us that the fretted instrument strings market has declined in total over the last year. However, we have been very fortunate. Bringing our core wire manufacturing in-house and creating NY Steel has enabled us to release a series of ground breaking new products over the last three years: NYXL Guitar Strings, Nickel Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings and NYXL Bass Strings. These lines have helped us grow our string business in the U.S. and our market share at a time when the market as a whole has not grown.

Brian Ball: The health of the accessory and string market is strong, so long as you have unique and compelling products to market and launch with retailers to customers. It’s been a big priority of ours to expand our product offering, but we just didn’t want to do another capo, delrin picks, or something that wasn’t uniquely ours. Retailers love having a story to tell, and to me its always easier to tell a story when it’s something that nobodyelse offers. Our new Pick Buddy adhesive-free pick holder, and CradleTune (neck cradle with built in tuner) are great examples of that. Products that people say, “Why hasn’t that been done before.” I think many of the pedal, string, and accessory companies are responding to that, as there’s a ton of new and innovative products that have launched recently. Sales are up mainly through new product offerings, and our marketing efforts have helped grow sales online and at retail. 

Max Lintner: The market seems quite healthy from our perspective. Our sales are up, our distributors’ business is up, and our customers are happy. Regardless of whether more NEW guitars and basses are sold, or more USED guitars and basses are sold, folks are always going to want/need new accessories. There were significant changes occurring last year in terms of our distributorship. This year, business seems to be more predictable while also growing.  

Mark Blasko: Sales are up. We seem to have a lot more momentum going into summer than usual. Where sales trends were more “spikey” last year, this year we’re seeing more consistency in growth among segments.

Anthony Perri: Here at Perri’s Leathers we have definitely found this year tougher than 2015, business is pretty much level in comparison. This year has required more assertive promotions and greater effort to make new sales. We continue to work very hard, to be creative and supply customers with what they need through these challenging times.

Have you noticed any trends in the market in terms new products, materials being used, demographic of players purchasing these items, price points, et cetera? 

AP: In 2016 we have noticed an increased interest in garment leather, suede and woven guitar straps. Plus, our licensed straps and picks sold very strongly in Q1 2016 and we have found that the $29.99 to $39.99 price point is definitely up this year. Here at Perri’s we believe we are experiencing the greatest increase in sales with 25 to 50 year-old males, playing acoustic guitar.

MB: More sales in the mid to higher price points. The Internet is flooded with product that competes solely on price. While price will always be important, we see successful dealers purchasing based on total value for their customers in order to differentiate themselves. Uniqueness, quality, selection, and design, as well as price allplay a part in the customer experience. Successful dealers are parlaying this strategy into not only capturing the initial sale, but as part of an overall plan to build a long-lasting customer relationship.

BB: Trends in the marketplace have continued to shift a little more online. While that’s happened we’ve made a concerted effort to reinvest in brick and mortar stores even more. We have a new road rep sales team that’s been extremely active and successful at creating new opportunities that help brick and mortar drive traffic, and most importantly create an experience that you can’t get shopping online. It’s tougher for brick and mortar stores to compete on convenience but they can through experience, exclusives, and physical merchandising. We’ve definitely seen a market reaction to some of the new material advancements Ernie Ball has launched with strings, and the price point on new strings have continued to trend up. I think its great that string and accessory companies are bringing new opportunities to the market that allow retailers to profit more, and accumulate more gross margin dollars. In addition, and most importantly – the customer gets a new playing experience whether its tone, feel, durability, or tuning stability. 

PD: I am continually studying U.S. market trends, not only in the MI industry; I love to study other industries to see how’s it’s done on a largerscale. Innovations in guitar accessories has definitely accelerated, there are more new products than ever. We have new product launches nearly every quarter now.

We have spent a lot of time studying price point and we have been one of the first to roll out a pricing policy on our new premium lines of strings, as well as a few other accessories. Pricing studies have shown that consumers are willing to spend more for quality products that fit their lifestyle.

ML: One trend we continue to notice is that customers prefer options, especially when it comes to accessories. We feel that the more options we have for a particular product, the better. Customers want accessories that speak to their unique taste and we try to accommodate that trend by always having something new and cool. This can be as simple as a different color of our Quick-Change capo (like rosewood or tie-dye). Another continuing accessory trend is the customer’s desire to have the latest and greatest. By striving to innovate and branch out within this market, we keep things exciting and fresh (like with our brand new portable care product cleaning wipes).   

What’s selling best for your brand, specifically?

ML: So far this year, our new rosewood Quick-Change capo is really taking off. Capos have always been hot, and now, since we’ve made our Quick-Change look as classy as polished rosewood, big things are happening.

AP: Perri’s Italian Garment Leather Guitar Straps are selling very well. They come in several different colors in the brown/tan family, which we find work well for acoustic players. The straps are backed with super soft natural color suede and are finished with a contrast stitch to add a touch of class. Retailing from $29.99 they are very affordable for all level of players.

PD: The aforementioned NYXL and Nickel Bronze lines have been hot since we introduced them and the sell through has been really strong in all sales channels. The NS Micro Soundhole Tuner that we introduced at Winter NAMM has been an instant hit, the reviews have been fantastic. And the entire line of D’Addario Planet Waves Capos has really taken off; we have some really innovative capo designs on the market today.

MB: Bullet Cables were just re-released, and we can’t keep them in stock. The new vintage line of Henry Heller straps is doing very well. Also, Rotosound just had its best U.S. sales year in the past five years, and that’s after growing the previous four. To my earlier point, there are many alternative items in the marketplace that cost less. However, if you look at overall value for the consumer, these products are hard to beat. Considering overall margin is much higher on a value sale as opposed to one based on price alone. It makes sense why these products are doing well with successful dealers.

BB: On the string side, Cobalt Slinkys, Aluminum Bronze, M-Steel, and Earthwood have all grown the last three years, which really supports the benchmark Slinky line. Slinky market share has to continued to hold a dominant position, but the other products really compliment the line and give retailers the opportunity to present a good, better, best strategy. On the accessory side the feedback on our new Expression Effects pedal series has been overwhelmingly positive. We haven’t started shipping to stores but we’re looking at selling out of the inventory we had pre-ordered. The Pick Buddy, Polylock, FlexTune, Cradletune, and new Slinky Cable line are also generating a lot of excitement.

Finally, what’s your expectation for this market segment in the coming months?

BB: It’s definitely not an easy market to compete in or grow in now, but I’m bullish on the future of where string and accessory companies can go. I really like how many advancements have been made on the pedal side of things, and overall I think accessories, strings, and pedals are the key drivers for retailers moving forward. Especially at a time where driving traffic is at such a premium. On the product side, we’ve collaborated with CAP technologies to develop NeverRust technology, the world’s first rust proof string technology. We believe so strongly in the technology, that NeverRust will launch on many of our core string offerings and be available in stores this summer. On the marketing side, we’ve been very proactive in revamping our strategy, and believe it’s our role to not just create innovative products but also develop marketing and content efforts to support sell through at retail. We’ve recently launched a new nationally broadcasted television series with our partners at DirecTV and AT&T, new immersive websites, and online content programming to help differentiate the brand. It’s a cluttered and noisy environment, but we think we have some unique stories to tell to help drive traffic and sales with our retail partners.

ML: We expect the rest of 2016 to continue as is has to date. It could get better exponentially considering the products we have in line for the future. Accessory manufacturers are in the midst of a unique time. Expanding options, tapping in to new technology or just addressing needs based on other technologies, can boost our market to new levels. 

MB: 2016 is shaping up to be a year of solid growth for us. We’re expanding our Noblesville, Indiana facility and will continue to invest in what we feel will be a very important and profitable category for dealers both short and long term. 

AP: We expect to see growth in Q3 and Q4 of 2016 and to finish the year ahead of 2015. We will achieve this by continuing to be unique and understanding our customer’s specific needs.

PD: My crystal ball tells me that 2016 will improve after a slow first quarter. We have seen our sales in the U.S. grow more seasonal each year, with Back to School and the November/December Holiday period growing several years in a row. I do worry about the guitar industry and music products industry in the long term. People will always make music, it’s in our fabric as human beings. How that music is made continues to evolve, as does this industry. Change is constant and fascinating to be a part of. We are looking to the future every day at D’Addario. It’s great to be a part of such a forward thinking organization.