POLL RESULTS: How are sales compared with last year?

As we’re just past the halfway point of the year, we asked our growing international retail readership how sales were compared with this time 12 months ago?

One of the musical instrument market’s perennial problems is the lack of any hard retail data, especially in the UK, which means that we are instead reliant on scuttlebutt and word of mouth to form any idea of the kind of shape the market is in.

Individual retailers will know how their business is currently faring, of course, but trying to form a picture of the prevailing trend and whether the market is still flat or has moved into genuine growth is difficult. Our polls are nothing more than a snapshot, of course, rather than any kind of comprehensive survey, but they provide an interesting insight into the attitudes of some dealers. We hope. 

Last week’s poll asked whether sales were up, down or about the same as this time last year. The good news is that some 33 per cent said that sales were up on last year, while a bigger chunk (56 per cent) said they remained the same. So, if we can draw anything from that, we can see that there is at least no overall trend towards decline. Although 11 per cent did say sales were less than last year. Our rather loaded fourth choice asked retailers if things were so bad they were thinking of giving up. Thankfully, no-one ticked that box.