Banbury shop branches out with tips site

Banbury-based dealer One Man Band, has launched its own site dedicated to providing tips for Yamaha Tyros keyboard owners and has notched up 500,000 views on YouTube.

Owner David Cooper and manager, Chris Hammond launched the online channel called www.tyrostipsters.co.uk  as a way of demonstrating how to get the best out of the Yamaha keyboards and also helped broaden its sales across the UK.

Hammond said: “In our industry, a lot of people are quite negative about the internet taking away sales but it gives you a window for the whole world. We’ve gone from a radius of 25 miles around the shop, to selling all over the UK.”

“Our customers are mostly retired, so we aim for middle-of-the-road style entertainment. It’s mainly based around tips and tricks to get the most out of the instrument. When we started, we asked ourselves if our customers would be online and it quickly became obvious they are.” 

The videos are also turned into DVDs, which are sold through the website, along with mugs and T-shirts.

The store will personally deliver anywhere in the country from the Oxfordshire shop.

Hammond added: “We have been up to Fife in Scotland, down to Cornwall and across to Great Yarmouth, Surrey and Kent. We spend a couple of hours at the customer’s house setting up the keyboard and showing them how to use it.

“We match everyone else’s prices but some internet-only firms just post a keyboard in a box. This is an old-fashioned style service, which is part of the charm.”

The store also has two other sites, its own store site at www.ombmusic.co.uk and www.epianos.co.uk, with videos comparing brands, demonstrations and live question-and-answer sessions.

www.tyrostipsters.co.uk