Do you guys really want these music stores to change in the Philippines? Mag budget kayo lahat ng P100,000 and above for an electric guitar.
I just want to correct the expectation that Guitar Stores should be like the Garden of Eden. They ain't and are probably the worst place to buy good sounding guitars from. Most of the good sounding stuff don't end up in these guitar stores. Sure there is the one in 100 lucky pick but really the state of the retail industry is a reflection of the state of our standards and our budget. Why do I say that? Ask them if they have the right to send back inventory that does not sound good. Given the cost of freight pabalik, hindi na rin gagawin ng JB, Yamaha, at Audiophile iyan. Some USA dealers have this privilege because they control a huge amount of sales. To be a Gibson dealer, at least US$100,000 a year dapat ang order mo. So parang dapat may fifty (50) Pinoy customers ang bumili every year ng isang Historic for the same base of customers. Remember, expectation ng Gibson ay palaki ang negosyo mo. Ilan ba dito sa forum na ito ang may historic or VOS?
Right now, I am not anymore impressed with the stores here (NO EXCEPTION) and that includes Tom Lee in Hong Kong. A great majority of them -- in realms of 90% -- sound dead. So it is also in New York for me. Its simple, the guys I buy from -- the actual guys making the guitar just tell me if it sounds good or not. These guitars usually have lifetime warranties and are made of the best parts and the best woods by the best craftsmen or people with years and years of experience making guitars. And parts, halos the best parts na rin ang kabit nila. So, what parts are we talking about here? They are already standard.
A lot of comments have been made about lack of choice... Ok lets be realistic. Suppose Fender USA has a 1 in 20 chance to get a good sounding guitar. Assuming that each Fender USA Guitar is about P60k in retail and cost of goods sold is 50%, thats about P600k in inventory for some guy to make a choice and put P540k in obsolete inventory. What would you guys do with P540k? Probably buy a Soldano SLO and Diezel Herbert. Tapos marami pang magsasabi na kapantay ng Fender USA ang mga gawa ng local luthier na mas mura. So bakit ka tataya ng P540 k for one type of guitar pa lang -- strat pa lang iyon. Paano ang Tele? Paano ang charvel? Paano ang Jackson? Paano ang Gretsch? etc...
Can I try maski na wala akong pambili? Kung 100 daan kayong susubok ng PRS USA at isa lang may perang bibili, palagay niyo bibilin pa ba niya pagkatapos subukan ng 99 na hindi bibili? Kahit papaano may obligation rin ang mga stores dito sa mga taong may pang bili. How would you feel if you saved up money only to find out that the expensive guitar you wanted was man handled by 99 other people and 99 times by the salesman/men (Kasi papalit palit sila). I don't even believe that testing in local conditions is recommended dahil 1) hindi naman set up mo, 2) Ang bulok rin ng quality ng ibang kailangan mo i-test na kasama e.g. bad sounding amps, bad effects, bad signal cables, un regulated and un-grounded power supplies, etc. Pati ako mismo bumili pa ng Lovepedal COT50 para maka test lang ng gitara dito sa pinas dahil panay solid state na ang sama ng tunog ang pang testing. Mas mahal pa nga ang pedal kaysa sa mga amp na itong gawang china. Magpalagay ng Sound room? -- magkaka affair lang ang salesman at kahera at mabubuntis ang kahera. Kukuha siya ng leave at si salesman forced to resign dahil unethical ang ginawa niya. So, kulang na naman ng tao sa store para bigyan ka ng tamang attention sa bisita mo. Kaya aborido sila kung peak hours.
Parts? Sounds like some kind of right. But how many parts are we talking about here? The number of SKUs are bewildering and the number of manpower required to track that much inventory is astounding and amount of working capital (cash) required for all these parts including spares. Baka sa dami ng parts na kailangan, makaka assemble na ng mga gitara sa store. And the problem is that part suppliers have minimum order quantities that are big. Kung mag-order ka naman ng less than minimum order quantity, lahat ng fixed costs ay kailangan i-spread out sa smaller number of pieces kaya mas mataas. Tapos, sana cheap lang? Huwag kalimutan na may 12% output VAT pa.
Expensive? May fixed costs na binabayaran ang store. Rent and Utilities alone will reach up to 20% of their sales. Kailangan may air con di ba? Gastos pa iyon. Kung hindi, pumunta na lang kayo sa pier. I mean who would buy a P35k-P60k guitar in a rundown non-airconditioned shack na panay alikabok ng truck? Mag-dududa ka di ba? May working capital cost pa -- utang na binabayaran nila sa banko para masubukan mo ang 20 pieces ng Fender USA. The Philippines has one of the highest cost of money in the world. Prime rates are at 8-10%, sa Japan 0.5-1% lang. And of course, the much beloved labor which are paid at governed rates by law that have nothing do at all with efficiency or output. We have one of the lowest output per unit of money spent. May SSS pa iyon at mga leaves. May kaltas pa ang gobyerno sa income ng mga salesmen na ito. What do you expect? Most of the day they just stare at the store and test new gear and harang or nakikipag harutan sa girls... at least for some of them.
Dapat kasing presyo ng USA online price or less... ang problema kailangan itawid ang produkto across 8,000 miles ng dagat at rail. Wala naman tayong volume dahil karamihan ay bumibili sa santa mesa at raon. Hindi di naman pwede air freight dahil mahal sa pinoy kung aabot ng 20-30% ng value ng korean or china na gitara ang freight. Kung forty foot container van ang gamitin, kailangan ipuno. Kaso hindi naman mapuno dahil gumagawa pa ng gitara sina jun, elegee at mang max. Pwedeng less than container load, pero kasama mo ang mga ibang pasalubong na contraband at mercedes at BMW. Mahal pa rin aabutin per cubic meter dahil less than container and subject pa to the custom inspector's whim dahil alam niya maraming pinoy na smugglers na gumagamit ng Less Than Container load. Hihingi na lang ng lagay kaya mahal pa rin.
Wait a minute... did you know that a majority of Filipinos who will buy from these stores are actually kids with their moms and dads who will probably try out a musical instrument for one summer or a teenager in angst who does not care about tone in the long run. Siguro para sa kanila, ang p5000 ay mahal na para sa isang electric guitar at amp. Sasabihin pa nila mas cheap sa Cebu as if the best sounding guitars in the world come from Cebu. For them, a strat is a strat as long as it looks like a strat. A Gibson is a Gibson because it looks like a Gibson even if it is made in japan. Tingnan mo naman si Ramon Jacinto at Les Pu guitar niya na ka presyo lang ng isang buffet sa hotel -- sabi niya iyon. Marami na raw siyang nabenta. Tingin niyo, ilan lang ang bumili ng Taylor niya na gawang mexico?
In fact somebody once told me that the sales from the PA division and sound reinforcement keep the local big 3 dealers alive. If you look at it from a per product line basis, lugi ang gitara tapos ang arte pa kausapin dahil ang daming alma sa gitara. Ang PA mukhang boring kaya walang complaints. Sa tingin ko, masuwerte pa nga tayo may nagbebenta pa ng guitar stuff sa mall kundi lahat tayo ay pupuntang santa mesa and we have to deal with those air heads in those shops.
Nope... the number one frustration in music stores in the Philippines is the customer themselves. We get what we pay for.
