Background:

Marty's Music has been a music store in downtown Pocatello for the last 35 years. Marty's mostly focuses on selling guitars but they have a wide variety of instruments, amps, and guitar accessories. Marty, owner of Marty's Music, has been struggling to keep the business alive for the last few years and has been considering closing up shop. After a catastrophically bad 2019, Marty decided that if business didn't turn around in 2020, it would be the last year his doors would be open Sales continued to be slow during the first months of 2020. Then, Marty witnessed a miracle: people were purchasing guitars more than ever during the coronavirus shutdowns. Marty found that people were getting bored with mindlessly scrolling through social media and watching Netflix all day, so they were trying to pick up a new hobby in guitar to help pass the time. This observation was not unique to Marty: Fender, one of the world's biggest guitar manufacturers, had declining sales throughout the 2010's but 2020 has helped them tremendously. The CEO of Fender, Andy Mooney, said "we've broken so many records... it will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history" (Williams). Additionally, Fender's guitar-training app Fender Play saw its user base grow from 150,000 in late March to 930,000 by late June (Beinstock).

Dilemma:

It's now September, the coronavirus shutdowns have eased up, and Marty has noticed that his sales are starting to decline back towards pre-coronavirus levels. Originally, Marty hoped that the many new beginner guitarists would keep coming back to his store looking for strings, an amp, pedals, or other accessories to go with their new hobby. However, those sales aren't coming in and Marty theorizes that the beginner guitarists have either given up and lost interest, or are purchasing their accessories elsewhere. Marty made enough money in 2020 that he could keep the business open for another year if he wanted to. He even considered putting some of the profit back into the company to try to improve it. Bill, one of Marty's friends, recommends closing up shop and cashing out his profits from the year. Marty is unsure of what she should do and has turned to you, a business consultant, for advice.

Questions:

Q1. Summarize Marty's dilemma (within 100 words)

Q2. Why might new guitarists be purchasing their accessories elsewhere?