Big hitters: Percussion Plus
Alex Stevens
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Founded in 1987, Percussion Plus is one of the most recognisable brands in music classrooms. Last year the company was bought by the company behind Chamberlain Music, Frederick Hyde. Managing director John Hughes-Chamberlain spoke to Alex Stevens about the process of taking over, and his plans for the business.
When and how did you acquire Percussion Plus?
I started Chamberlain Music in 1990, just a few years after Percussion Plus was founded and they quickly became our go-to source for all educational percussion instruments. We've had a close working relationship since then and we've sold most Percussion Plus products in pretty large quantities over the years. I had my eye on the company for some time and almost made them an offer a few years earlier, so when the opportunity presented itself in April 2017, I jumped!
What was it about the business that made it an attractive proposition?
Percussion Plus products have sold consistently well for decades and are still the first choice for school music departments. Those fantastic bright red xylophones for example, which anyone under the age of 45 will remember from their schooldays – they haven't changed in 30 years and we still sell loads of them. Staying power like that is very attractive to businessmen like me! The brand has a fabulous heritage, and many of the staff that worked for the company in the early days worked previously in the Premier Percussion factory close by. Indeed, our two main production staff today, Steve and Paul, have fifty years’ service between them. We are so lucky to have persuaded them both to join us when we took over the company.
Anyway, it was a perfect match for our company; we already had all the backend order fulfilment processes in place and a team of staff who knew all about Percussion Plus products. Tom & Will, our distribution arm, also already had trading relationships with many of Percussion Plus's biggest customers, so the transition has been very smooth.
What have been the main challenges facing you since acquiring Percussion Plus?
We acquired the company at a tricky time and our immediate challenges were logistical: we had to oversee the closure of the costly factory in Market Harborough and move the workshops a few miles up the road in Leicestershire, where we are still making all our world-famous beaters (including those amazing hand-spun timpani mallets), the wonderful Wak-a-Tubes, music frames, storage trolleys, and a selection of other popular products. We even made some Zebraphones earlier in the year!
Once we'd transferred all the existing stock to the huge Chamberlain Music warehouse in Haslemere, Surrey – which was no mean feat – we had to establish a good supply of the bestselling instruments to meet the massive demand. We decided to slim down the total number of items being offered and concentrate on stepping up production with the help of our partners in Taiwan.
What do you think the brand stands for with teachers and other consumers?
Amazon and eBay have an incredible selection of cheap percussion, but it is jolly hard to know whether you are looking at something that is great value or just cheap. Percussion Plus has always been synonymous with high quality, and with the infrastructure that Chamberlain Music has provided we have been able to maintain and even reduce prices on masses of the best-selling products – through bigger production runs, sharper purchasing, and efficient distribution.
It's more than just a trustworthy manufacturing brand – each instrument and accessory is beautifully and musically designed, and the flagship products like the red box mallet instruments and chime bars have a sort of timeless aura that no classroom would be complete without.
Do you have plans to change the business and what is your strategy for developing Percussion Plus?
As I mentioned earlier, we've scaled down some of the UK production, retaining what needs to be made in the UK and moving the rest to the team in our Taiwanese factory. They now produce our hand bells and chime bars among other things – in fact it was our Taiwanese manager's father who first introduced colour coded bells to music education. They've been copied all over the world now of course, but our factory is the original and best!
We exhibited at the Frankfurt Musikmesse this year, where we picked up a number of new export customers and rekindled a few good relationships. There's an increasing demand in America too, so we'll probably go and exhibit at a few conventions out there. We're always thinking about general marketing and particularly looking at the online presence at the moment, but I can't imagine we'll change much about the brand as it's so recognisable and well-loved.
What is particularly important for the business in the future?
Holding good stocks of everything is essential. When we took over, the company was short of cash and that had impacted on its ability to stock enough of the really popular stuff. It has taken us a little time to get to grips with demand, but we think we are pretty much there now and if a music dealer was to place a large order today I would expect to be able to ship everything the next day.
Apart from that, the most important thing is getting the word out and growing the Percussion Plus customer base. We're so proud to be in charge of such an iconic brand!