Have a Seat: Benches and Stools for Keyboards

Accessories may not be as “sexy” or immediately compelling as instruments or other music-related products out there, but they’re essential – for both players and MI retailers. In the case of benches and stools for piano and keyboard we’re talking an absolute necessity, unless it’s the late ‘50s and your name is either Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard.

When reviewing the results of this survey, sent out to just over 250 dealers, this would appear to be a stable market segment (78.4 percent report sales are either up or level) that is dominated by relatively few brands (see graph below). While there’s not a heck of a lot in the way of design or material innovation reported by retailers – think about it: how many ways can you make a seat, really? – many did point to increased consumer interest in hydraulic and/or collapsible stools, while the storage afforded by traditional benches continues to be a strong selling point.

“Many customers use one of the many online platforms to establish a price ceiling. While we can show the quality and value difference in some of the established brands, the end result is lowering margins at the point of sale.”

Robert Schaeffer,

Rice Music House

“Customers are often surprised at how expensive benches are. Also, we find that low-cost benches last a very short amount of time before falling apart.”

Peter Stevenson,

P.S. Pianos

“The keyboard accessories have been an important add-on sale to create packages and increase the short MAP margins. By creating ‘exclusive’ [packages] it creates an incentive to shop local and makes it possible to shop apples-to-apples when competing online pricing.”

Tim Paul,

Piano Trends Music Company

“The digital piano benches have the come-aparts. Our clients typically call two years after purchase of a digital bench to go to a traditional piano bench replacement. That’s our market!”

Matt Hirschfelder

NW Piano Service LLC

Salem, Oregon

What trends have you been noticing in terms of keyboard benches and stools – materials used, end-user preferences, design and features, et cetera?

“Albeit not high turnover products for us, collapsible benches are our biggest seller followed by solid benches with storage. Hydraulic stools with back rests do OK too, as we see some crossover sales of these items in the drum/percussion department.”

Jerry Vesely

Vesely Music

Parowan, Utah

“Most of our clientele prefer the adjustable models compared to the traditional piano bench.”

David St. John

Music & Arts

Glendora, California

“Buyers want less complicated keyboards. The more involved it is to operate, the less interested they are. The ‘smart phone and laptop culture’ has trained today’s buyers to expect great technical performance with limited technical know-how.”

Allen McBroom

Backstage Music

Starkville, Mississippi

“Customers are often surprised at how expensive benches are. Also, we find that low-cost benches last a very short amount of time before falling apart.”

Peter Stevenson

P.S. Pianos

Prince George, British Columbia

Canada

“The keyboard accessories have been an important add-on sale to create packages and increase the short MAP margins. By creating ‘exclusive’ [packages] it creates an incentive to shop local and makes it possible to shop apples-to-apples when competing online pricing. By the way, you still have to be online, yourself, to make this work.”

Tim Paul

Piano Trends Music Company

Crystal Lake, Illinois

“Customers are expecting more features such as being easily adjustable, as the price for these styles have gone down.”

Rich Colbert

Dunkley Music

Meridian, Idaho

“Customers want storage space in the seat like old fashioned piano benches.”

Steve Zampino

Jupiter Music

Jupiter, Florida

“Schools, universities, and private teachers like ease of use, practicality, and comfort of the hydraulic mechanism in the benches by Hidrau Model.”

Derek Vann

PianoWorks

Duluth, Georgia

“Higher quality benches with better features such as height adjustability and music storage have replaced the X-Style benches.”

Darrin Wittkopp

Music City Spokane

Spokane, Washington

“Many customers use one of the many online platforms to establish a price ceiling. While we can show the quality and value difference in some of the established brands, the end result is lowering margins at the point of sale.”

Robert Schaeffer

Rice Music House

Columbia, South Carolina

“They are still made well, but are lighter in weight.”

Mark Bolos

Big Apple Music

Clinton, New York