Sweetwater has announced another record year in total sales and job creation.
Total sales in 2017 were $619 million, up 22% from $507 million in 2016, which was also a record-breaking year. December 2017 sales were $71 million, up 22% from December 2016. Black Friday and Cyber Monday both shattered all previous records.
Sweetwater’s annual total sales increases have ranged from 17.5% to 28% every year since 2010.
The company sold more than 106,000 guitars in 2017, up from 87,000 in 2016. There was significant growth across all product categories, with the biggest percentage increases being in guitars, drums, and keyboards.
Sweetwater founder and president Chuck Surack said, “Our amazing team helped more than 360,000 brand-new, first-time customers purchase the gear to help them achieve their musical dreams. Everyone at Sweetwater is committed to always doing the right thing, whatever that might be, for each customer.”
In all, Sweetwater employees, primarily the sales force, handled more than 4.3 million phone calls.
Employment growth is ongoing at Sweetwater as the company aggressively continues to hire the best-qualified men and women in the business. On January 1 of 2017, Sweetwater had 1,100 employees. As of January 1 of 2018, the number had increased by 14% to 1,255 employees and is steadily growing.
On November 3rd, Sweetwater opened its fourth warehouse, 43,500 square feet in size, and received almost 500 tractor-trailer loads in that same month.
Sweetwater added a full-time family doctor and RN in an on-site medical clinic and they saw over 1,600 employees and family members at over 2,900 visits in 2017. This has become one of the company’s most popular employee benefits and free visits are available to every employee and family member.
The company also expanded its campus by purchasing 55 adjacent acres of land, for a total of 166 acres. New roads for greater access and safety have been completed. Significant new building projects will begin in mid-2018 and be completed in 2019.
Sweetwater’s extremely popular GearFest, the national music industry’s largest free trade show open to the general public, continued to grow in 2017. Attendance was record breaking, with more than 14,000 participants, up 20% over 2016, and with sales up by more than 44% over the previous year. Attendees traveled to Fort Wayne from 45 different states, in addition to many coming from countries around the world.
Sweetwater founder and president Chuck Surack concluded, “2017 was an exciting year of growth throughout our company. I am so grateful to our customers, vendor partners and especially our amazing employees for their friendship and loyalty. I am looking forward to a wonderful 2018.”
