Points of difference aiding in lockdown
LAUNCHING a music store in the Geelong CBD last year, Deniel Bee and Kitty Chesson knew Tourbus Entertainment needed strong points of difference.
There were already longestablished players in the market, and their plans included selling vinyl records despite a major national retailer barely a stone’s throw away.
Opening in Yarra St in late September, Tourbus Entertainment’s business pillars were heritage brand instruments, clothing and musical lifestyle items such as the records.
“To come into this shop, you don’t have to play,” Mr Bee said.
Nevertheless, before the coronavirus, it was envisaged the instruments and a focus on longstanding but lesserknown brands such as G&L, Grain and Musicman would be the key driver of the business.
“These are companies that have been around for a really long time that are not particularly well represented in Australia,” he said.
“But they are a really good product and there’s still a market for that.”
Mr Bee said it quickly became apparent the lifestyle offerings with a music bent were the most popular and their sales online have been critical to surviving the coronavirus.
And vinyl has been leading the way. Mr Bee said record sales were up from 20-30 units a week before the coronavirus to about 120 a week.
“We tried with the vinyl to focus us much as we can on Australian artists,” he said.
Opening its website to the international market as the pandemic struck, Tourbus Entertainment has welcomed a surge of interest from overseas in Australian music.
“We probably had a 200 per cent growth in online trade over that first month (of the coronavirus lockdowns),” he said,
Ms Chesson, who has a background in clothing retail, has sourced some quirky music lifestyle offerings, such as guitar string jewellery, and it is the only Australian retailer for UK apparel brand Straight to Hell.
Mr Bee said he was trying to have a long-term approach to the current investment in e-commerce.
“There’s definitely a sustainable online model for us, to the point we will continue to expand that side of the business,” he said.
But having a bricks and mortar store and complementary offerings remain part of the business plan as Australia emerges from the lockdown.
Mr Bee said buying an instrument was a very personal choice that involved a tangible “touch and feel’ experience”.
“We don’t want to be making significant changes to our model, because we still have trust and faith in that,” he said.
While margins are tight for clothing, the offering is also intended to drive traffic to the store. As things return closer to normal, Tourbus Entertainment will revisit its plan to be a booking agent and promoter for artists in Geelong, having signed deals earlier in the year with a couple of venues.
It is envisioned that will tie everything together, from selling a band’s merchandise and vinyl to bringing them to Geelong to perform, perhaps with in-store product releases.
The final plank in the business vision is for a real tour bus to sell merchandise and music lifestyle offerings at music festivals.
Mr Bee said the coronavirus had presented the most challenging circumstances he had seen in business, when a market commonly thought to be there was taken away.
“I haven’t had sleepless nights but I have had stressful days,” he said.
“We were just fortunate that we had geared ourselves to e-commerce from the start.”