REFOCUS - Music Inc. Magazine

STEVE WEISS MUSIC I TECHNOLOGY
Steve Weiss Gets
Boost With Mobile Site
Steve Weiss Music has bolstered its online business
via the power of mobile websites. According
to Dan Sullivan, general manager of the Willow
Grove, Pa., dealership, the company’s number
of mobile transactions is up 150 percent since it
launched a dedicated mobile site in September 2011.
The site, which uses the same underlying structure
as its desktop counterpart, was built completely
in-house by Sullivan and Kurt Gawinowicz,
Steve Weiss Music’s Web designer. Sullivan
added that there were no costs in developing the
“We weren’t sure it would be worth the investment,”
Sullivan said. “Any doubt we had quickly disappeared.
“This approach reduces maintenance, as we
only need to maintain one set of code. All of our
pages have the same address, regardless of whether
you’re on a phone or a laptop. And because it’s a
website and not an app, our customers don’t need
Since September, the company’s mobile conversion rate is
also up 40 percent over the same prior length of time (March
through August). The average mobile order is up 3.4 percent.
“We’ve always been known for having a cutting-edge website, so the
mobile site has been on our radar for quite some time,” Sullivan said.
on this opportunity when we did — it has been paying off tenfold.”
With the closure of Manchester, N.H.based
Daddy’s Junky Music late last
year, many of the company’s repair techs
were out of work. Not so anymore. Joe
Lacerda, owner of local dealership Manchester
Music Mill, recently opened The
Music Techs, an instrument and electronics
repair facility. For talent, he hired several
of Daddy’s Manchester-area techs.
From left: The Music Techs’
new hires Doug MacCormack,
Russell Magnuson and Mark
Huzar with Joe Lacerda
THE MUSIC TECHS I OPENING
DADDY’S TECHS GO BACK TO WORK
“Manchester has been really fortunate
to be such a hotbed of talented musicians,
quality gear and unmatched technical expertise
— I just couldn’t let that slip away,”
Lacerda said. “These guys are way too talented
to do anything else, or nothing at all.
“Having a professional with the aptitude,
acumen, attention to detail that these
technicians have is invaluable.”
MARCH/APRIL 2012 I MUSIC INC. I 19