I was put in charge of the musical instruments department despite being ignorant.
Thank you for joining me last time as I introduced myself and shared my musical history.
This time, I would like to talk about why I started selling used musical instruments.
Last time, I talked about my time in a band. Alongside my band activities, I started working part-time at an online general reuse company (a recycle shop) located about a 5-minute walk from the house I had just moved into, simply because it was close to my house.
On my first day at work, I was told, "If you can play the guitar, we'll leave it to you to evaluate the instruments and check their operation!" and I felt a sense of unease.
As I mentioned last time, I was only interested in Kotaro Oshio, and I had no knowledge of electric guitars, only knowing things like "What's the difference between a Stratocaster and a Telecaster?" and "The one that looks like a stag beetle is called an SG."
Despite being so ignorant, I was put in charge of the musical instruments department.
As expected, it was difficult at first because I was put in charge of the job in this way (or was put in charge of it in this way?).
I didn't know that there were different models of guitars and basses based on the year, or that custom shops existed, and I had no idea about relic processing, so I would casually say to customers, "It looks like it's been used a lot." I feel very sorry for the company and our customers that our musical instrument staff is at this level.
However, perhaps my ignorance worked to my advantage. When I studied instruments and actually played them, everything was new to me, and I became fascinated by them. Then, after I had gained a certain amount of knowledge and experience, a certain thought welled up in me.
This general reuse company is a venture company with nationwide operations, so they are constantly pressed to meet quotas for the number of items they can sell, and "efficiency" has become a top priority. When emphasizing efficiency, it becomes necessary to draw a line between "profitable items" and "unprofitable items" when selecting products.
In short, it's a matter of sorting into "what you need" and "what you don't need." Since the only way to sell the items was online, it took the following man-hours (labor costs) to list them.
1. Check the product condition
2. Assessment
3. Taking photos for online posting
4. Product description
5. Storage and management in warehouse
6. Packaging and shipping procedures
After all this work, the "sales price" of the items we judged to be so-called "junk" did not balance with the "labor and material costs." (Of course, we listed junk items that had a price tag as being in junk condition.) And, we just stuffed the instruments we judged to be unsuitable into cardboard boxes and sold them to collection companies for next to nothing.
A certain thought that I had in mind
This was an inevitable way of working for a large company, but I had a feeling that if I could fix it properly, it would definitely reach someone who wanted it.
This is the "certain thought" I mentioned earlier. So, having accumulated experience in appraisals, I started to study repairs, and as a first attempt at the company, I tried to "repair" something.
As a result, the instruments that had previously been collected for next to nothing could be sold at a profitable price, and a system was created in which "companies wanting to make a profit" and "customers who were looking for those instruments" were connected, creating a win-win relationship for both parties.
In addition, we have also started cleaning and maintaining instruments, which we had not done before, by replacing strings, polishing bodies and frets, adjusting string height, etc., and now we are able to offer instruments for sale with a quality close to that of a music store.
As a result, the musical instrument division achieved sales that were 1.8 times higher than usual. This was exactly the experience of seeing the "idea" I had envisioned come to fruition.
For example, when I hand over a found pet to its foster parent, I don't hand it over in its current condition, but rather I give it a bath, brush it, and clip its nails before I hand it over. It's a similar feeling. You might say, "Don't put things and pets together," but for me, it's the same with musical instruments. I don't hand over worn-out instruments as they are, but I worked with a sense of mission to hand them over in the best possible condition (well, it's just a part-time job lol).
With this confidence, I decided to take the next step and move from the musical instrument department of a general reuse store to work at a musical instrument specialty store. I learned knowledge and repair techniques at the musical instrument store that I would not have been able to learn by studying on my own, and every day was fulfilling.
As a next step, I wanted to create a shop that would directly reflect my thoughts and actions, so I launched PURPOSE Music Store.
This has become a long blog, but I wanted to let you know about the thoughts and feelings I put into this shop. Thank you for reading to the end.
