Peach Guitars - opinions wanted!

dindude

I think it’s a good idea - I’ve bought a few guitars form you online and the experience has always been good. Most recently I bought a LP Special, a mid range guitar but I had the choice of about half a dozen, all individually photographed and weighed - I love this, nothing worse than picking it out of its case and having a boat anchor! 

If you go this route, I’d consider weighing and individually photographing anything from say Vintera sort of price point upwards, this would really differentiate you and take away that feeling of commodity box-shifting that can go with on-line retail. 

Snags

Bucking the early trend, but conceptually one of the things I value in "normal running" is the ability to walk into somewhere that's well set out, with a good selection of stock, and just "have a look".

An appointment system would put me off doing that, as I wouldn't want to "waste" store/staff time if I was just having a casual browse, so I'd only make an appointment if I was already pretty convinced I was going to part with readies. I suspect that's quite a common position. If so, obviously in one sense it's good for the shop, because it means there will be a much higher percentage of footfall-to-sale conversions. If you can sustain those at a level that more than compensates for the casual/impulse/unexpected purchases then in business terms it makes sense, but it feels like the world is a bit sadder for it

All of that said, I have never set foot in Peach. I nearly did, but our client with a Colchester office closed it just as I discovered Peach existed. As I'm about an hour away, my opportunity for a casual drop-in vanished, although I have thought seriously about bringing the wife for a day out (she was born near Colchester, so it was going to be a loving nostalgia trip that just happened to include a guitar shop ).

RaymondLin

There are 2 main reasons why I buy from Amazon for almost everything.

1 - Custom Service.  For a company so big, you’d think they don’t care, they probably don’t in reality but when you have to return something. They don’t fight you and they make the process quite easy.  I’ve only ever had 1 difficulty in 21 years of using them and that was resolved too, over online chat no less.

2 - Quick and flexible delivery.  

If you can make delivery and returns seamless then you will retain customers over the competition.  I honestly don’t check prices for things that I buy on Amazon most of the time.  I’m happy to just buy it knowing the delivery and return are good.

Fishboy7

Given that the store is located a bit out of town, I assume most customers' visits are planned in advance rather than casual drop-ins anyway. 

Onpar

You cannot ever replace the feeling of just walking into a guitar shop and seeing all the amazing instruments. I remember the special feeling I got as a 10 year old looking at guitars in a store for the first time and still get that feeling when going in store. I have purchased from Peach and the service was excellent BUT I only started buying as I just popped in one day when travelling past and was amazed by the store. I then made a specific journey back the following week. If it was appointment only I may have never visited the store. And its a cracking store! Especially upstairs  

drpbier

RandallFlagg said:

pics of the shop floor traveller

This is a great idea. I'd be happy with an appointment system as long as I could try a variety of products during my visit and not have to pre-nominate every individual one in advance - I'd want to know that if I tried a guitar and found the neck too chunky then the sales person could suggest another model with a neck profile they thought I'd prefer etc etc

TheBigDipper

I don't buy guitars or amps online. I do like browsing through shops and looking at the stock on display, but I'm unlikely to want to play anything unless I'm actually looking for something.

I think it would be a mistake to convert to "appointments only". The 20-year old me would never have made an appointment at Peach or anywhere else. A mature retail business should be looking at running a showroom as a business development expense if nothing else. 

Nerine

Whenever I travel to Peach, it’s almost like a bit of a pilgrimage. I can literally spend hours (and ££££’s) in there. 

Sometimes, I just fancy something new and like to walk in without any preconceptions of what that might be. 

The problem I have, is that I usually know within about 1-2 mins of picking up a guitar whether it’s for me or not. 

I could easily get through 30 guitars in an hour or so but I’d appear to be the fussiest person in the world. 

I did do the appointment thing with you a while back. Me and my buddy came down and we left armed with £6k’s worth of Suhrs between us. 

It was a good experience, but if I had have had more time, I may have been convinced by a different guitar. I didn’t even get round to the CS Les Pauls and I also really wanted to try out the SLO100. If I had have liked it, I would have bought that too. 

So whilst the appointment thing is fine, it can be quite limiting. If I’m buying, I’ll buy. If I’m trying to find something that fits me, I’ll usually want to try out literally as many guitars as I can. 

I can only imagine having a room with a revolving door of guitars is quite tedious. As I say, I could easily spend 3-4 hours in there and try out 100 guitars. 

There’d be a purchase at the end, but the experience for the sales guys would be very annoying. 

So long as an appointment never becomes rushed or limiting, it’s fine. Personally I don’t think an hour is long enough. Especially if you’re just looking to burn a bit of folding and you fancy trying a few curveball choices. 

Obviously things will hopefully improve so the amount of anti-bac on everything will reduce all being well (because that’s a sure fire way to not be able to get around the guitar neck very easily due to how sticky everything is) and presenting lots of options to the customer will be far less drenched in bureaucracy and regulations and tedious cleaning. 

All in all, keep doing what you’re doing. Maybe have set days for appointments and then have the weekends (or vice versa) set aside as an open to all. 

As long as I don’t feel rushed or that’s it’s an annoyance when I ask to seemingly try endless guitars, then appointments will work. 

Maybe have a system where the customer can specify how much time they’d like to book. 

That will give you an idea of their intentions straight away. 

Someone booking for 30 mins is only likely probably checking out a guitar or amp or buying strings/accessories. 

Someone booking three hours is likely to be a bit more serious and likely to make a purchase I would say. 

Obviously some may abuse that, but no harm in some small customer vetting beforehand. 

normula1

I'm afraid I'm an in store buyer when it comes to guitars, I can't count the number of times I've gone in to purchase a specific guitar and come out with a different one (of the same model) as it's just better (to me at least). 
Electronics I'm happy enough to buy on-line, heart of hearts I'd like to try those too, but realistically there's way too much choice there for any retailer to keep all of them in store just in case someone wants to try them.
I wouldn't (and indeed haven't been) be put off by making appointments first.

BBBlues

1. You're going to a get skewed set of opinions from an online forum like this - generally those here are going to be more interested in higher end gear than you're average walk in. Those buying higher end gear are more likely to have a good idea of what they want, so might say they'd be fine with appointment only...

However, plenty of times have I gone in somewhere looking for one thing and have come out with another - how will you cater for this, or will you just accept this will no longer happen?

2. Is it a good idea to make large business decisions during a pandemic - customer behaviour and demand may look very different in a year or two. Why not keep things appointment only for now without making it perminant?

3. Your brand is built on fantastic customer service, and really friendly staff - try and keep this up whatever happens!

PeachGuitarsRyan

Thanks guys, this feedback is brilliant. Some really useful ideas and thoughts here, we certainly appreciate your input.

Just to offer some further detail to a few of the points raised.

We've got big plans for the individual product listings, we've already started individually photographing every variant with a weight shot, not just the high end guitars but the factory run stuff too, pretty much everything over £300. There are a few design features that we'd like to introduce to make it even easier to distinguish between the variants too. We also have the facility to add some quite detailed filtering to the site, it's all set up and ready to go it just requires an investment of time from us but it's coming I promise! This would tie in with including a copy of the floor traveller on higher end models, we know our listings can be a bit repetitive and sometimes a little superficial. The reality is we only really have 1 person handling every single listing, if we keep to appointments only we can re-distribute some hours to focus on this.

The appointment system currently works in 1 hour blocks which are bookable via the website. That starts a line of comms with one of our sales team where we discuss the particular items you are hoping to try. We then get everything ready for you in one of our demo rooms, set you up with an amp and then offer as much or as little advice and guidance as you want. By default our guys will set you up, offer you a drink and then retreat until occasionally popping there head in the room to make sure everything is ok! We hate the super pushy sales pitch too. 

Somebody mentioned Sweetwater, and this is the level we are aspiring too. They have such a comprehensive and responsive website, we don't think we're a million miles away and with a little more investment and time, we hope to be able to offer a similar service. They really raised the bar with their customer service and I think us, and everybody is playing catch up.

Thanks again for your input, and keep it coming, your opinions are very much appreciated!

Blackbooks

You're reasonably local to me (30 mins away) but all of my purchases with you to date have been via mail order as they have been pedals or amps.  If I were to buy a guitar from you (very likely!) I would prefer to visit the store to try it out and I would have no problem with making an appointment although I would like the option to try out other "similar" guitars at the same time to make sure I get the right one.  Also it's been mentioned above about "chat" support - I find waiting days for an email response to be frustrating especially if you're about to make a purchase and have a quick question.  I guess the negative side of making appointments will impact those customers who pop in for strings, etc at short notice - would you provide a "click and collect" for such items? 

rich75

I live close enough to the store that I do pop in a few times a year. Sometimes that will be to browse (albeit in a fairly targeted way) and sometime there is something very specific I want to try and possibly buy. I don't think I would buy an expensive guitar without trying it in person first.

Whilst I don't have a problem with the appointment system in principle, for me I think it depends how long it takes to get an appointment. I booked an appointment back in the summer to try out some Les Pauls and had to wait about 3 weeks. During that time I could see the stock I was interested in gradually disappearing from the website so I couldn't actually get the exact guitar I wanted by the time the appointment came round. I didn't want to take a punt on one while waiting for the appointment and risk having to return it. I guess this will become less of an issue, as stock should be more readily available once everything is eventually back to some kind of normal post-pandemic.

That all being said, I was very well looked after and Peach were able to get me the Les Paul I wanted a few weeks later. Typically, it was the one I expected to like the least, which I guess demonstrates the value of being able to go to the store to try before buying.

The customer service was faultless throughout though (both in-store and by email when I bought the guitar) so it was a very positive experience in the end. I just wonder whether the appointment system may deter anyone who struggles a bit with being patient! 

Philly_Q

Nothing much to add, some very good points made already.

You already have an excellent website and online shopping experience, probably the best of all the UK guitar shops.  But I agree that more detailed product descriptions - boring (to some) stuff like neck dimensions etc - would be good.  And another vote in support of "weight shots".

In terms of walk-in shopping, I'm going to be like all those people who moan about the decline of local high streets but never actually shop in local high streets... it's a shame to lose it, but from a personal point of view a visit to Peach would be a relatively long-distance day trip, so I might as well make an appointment anyway.

chotu495

I’m a fairly local Peach customer.

Firstly, I’m happy to hear that you are able to function well via online sales.

That said I’m an advocate of keeping walk-in trade as close to pre-covid as safely possible.

I see Peach as something of a “destination” store, and it is clear that massive effort has gone in to presenting the shopfront as you have. It is a really cool place.

I know for a fact that i’ve bought stuff on days when i’ve just dropped in for a look around. I have visited once since lockdown for an appointment (with a friend who i’d recommended Peach to). Obviously, we blew his budget, and he came in wanting an Epiphone SG Custom, and left with a Reverend Double Agent, which he absolutely loves.

Appointments are kinda specific though, and they carry a degree of pressure on the customer, whether the business intends it to or not. As also already mentioned, not everyone is comfortable playing in guitar shops.

There is what i’m guessing is a very nice guitar shop near a relatives of mine, yet i’ve never been in because it looks a bit posh (no shopfront / idea what they have in stock) and is appointment only. Kinda puts me off bothering. 

I also know for a fact that I have developed a love for Suhr through playing one in your pedal room whilst I was trying something that I then went on to buy. Things like that leave an impression. The first time i’d picked up a guitar, started playing and then stopped, thinking “Wow, what is this? It feels amazing”. I couldn’t justify buying it then, but one day soon, i may. Stuff like this could be missed if you went fully “appointment only”, and i’d still think everything plays like a Squier or Epiphone if i’d not tried that pedal on that Suhr on that fateful day. It was quite an eye-opener.

Still not tried a CS 

Me and the Mrs came to see Chris Buck at Peach. My first intro to a Fender Tone Master, and now one sits in my lounge, again bought from you guys. Another example of how being in the shop for one reason, lead on to the purchase of for me a significant item. I even paid a higher price through you guys because I wanted to support you in 2020 and not go with the exact same amp for 10% less elsewhere.

All of this said, If “appointment only” means I get to wander around the whole shop, then select stuff to try, then that’s cool.

If “appointment only” means I have to select what i want to try, then get ushered into a room where the stuff i want to try is, and dont get to look around the shop, then that would reduce the fun for me, and likely completely reduce the chances of an impulse buy for you.

Before we all know it, we’ll be through Christmas and large amounts of the population will hopefully have been vaccinated, and will be wanting to visit their favourite shops again. 

Would be cool to try some nice guitars 

SPECTRUM001

I haven’t been to Peach, though regularly check the website and demos.

My most immediate thoughts are -

1. If the store went to appointment only, is it going to be frustrated by attendees that do not happen to purchase ? With normal footfall, there is an expected mixture of sales results including casual or unpredictable sales. I would hate to feel pressured if taking up valuable appointment time

2. Relating to the above, is there going to be prioritisation for someone booking to try out eg a £4K Custom Shop vs an £800 Vintera ? It would be horrible to feel like you are not allowed in cos someone else is more affluent 

3. I think most would agree that the volume and variety of product available now is immense, which is both a blessing and a curse (when you cannot find ‘that’ model !). So online shopping is inevitable. Companies like G4M and PMT offer a returns service whereby they arrange the courier and deduct from a customer refund (G4M - only £6.50 for a guitar). If this isn’t offered already by Peach, I think it would certainly attract more custom

4. If you arrange to try some guitars, would they be placed on hold pending the appointment - or could they be purchased online by someone else whilst you are en route ? Paying a casual visit is usually based on the unknown - hence how easy it is to buy something unexpected - always a pleasant experience 

Presumably, nothing is set in stone. I welcome change, as it is refreshing. If Peach’s plans didn’t work, then I would imagine they would evolve their direction. And they may become a shop aimed more at the wealthy - who knows ? But if that happened, then there will be other shops picking up the lower end - which could have its merits...

shaunk26

SPECTRUM001 said:

2. Relating to the above, is there going to be prioritisation for someone booking to try out eg a £4K Custom Shop vs an £800 Vintera ? It would be horrible to feel like you are not allowed in cos someone else is more affluent.

You beat me to it Spectrum001. It is my worry that peach will eventually ask what your budget is when making an appointment and decide how soon you can get an appointment. Second class citizens created potentially.

toescantalk

Video calls are cool for remote folk to see / hear equipment and ask stuff. Not the same as playing something, but better than a few photos.

LordOxygen

FWVLIW... once Covid is behind us I’d still be happy to make an appointment (with a 80 mile drive each way it makes sense to do that), but I would still like to have a walk around and browse rather than just try 1 or 2 guitars I preselected from your website - the attraction of a big guitar shop for me is to see things I didn't know I wanted – and then buy one.

RaymondLin

LordOxygen said:

FWVLIW... once Covid is behind us I’d still be happy to make an appointment (with a 80 mile drive each way it makes sense to do that), but I would still like to have a walk around and browse rather than just try 1 or 2 guitars I preselected from your website - the attraction of a big guitar shop for me is to see things I didn't know I wanted – and then buy one.

I am pretty confident you could, it wouldn't make business sense to stop a customer trying and buying a product.  I would only presume that the appointment is to limit the number of customers in store, during covid would mean social distancing, post-covid would mean less staff required (cost-saving). But in terms of, seeing another guitar you hadn't thought of when booking and trying it, I can't imagine a store, any store would deny a customer that unless it's already spoken for.