How Thomann and Harley Benton provide a 360-degree user experience
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Since its founding by Hans Thomann Sr. in 1954, Thomann has gone from a small music shop in Treppendorf to Europe’s largest musical equipment warehouse. The retailer has developed a reputation as a reliable and affordable place to go for basically any piece of music gear you could think of.
Thomann owes a lot of this development to its extensive range of in-house brands. In 1985, Thomann began importing products directly from manufacturers – allowing it to pass the savings on to the customer. As of now, there are 32 Thomann brands in total, offering everything from drum equipment, hardcases, gigbags, cables and microphones – but, of course, there’s one that stands out as the most successful and well-known.
The flagship – Harley Benton
Harley Benton was founded in 1998, and initially began as a way to provide more options to players starting out. The goal was to let players on a budget dive into the world of guitar far deeper than just standard starter-packs would allow.
Harley Benton brand manager Benedikt Schlereth explains: “Back in the 1990s – when I was starting playing guitar – the choice was not that wide for beginners. If you wanted to have a variety of instruments that were actually playable, there weren’t many options. So there was a call to create something that could serve every guitar player out there. That was, and still is, the spirit of Harley Benton: making instruments that are accessible, so that your budget should never stifle your creativity.”
But since its founding more than 25 years ago, Harley Benton has transcended what a retailer’s house brand can be. It’s now known worldwide, not just in Europe, with a particularly impressive audience in the USA, where it now sells direct. Its reputation has gone from a maker of beginner instruments to something with a lot more prestige, but still with an awesome price-to-performance ratio – a lot of its instruments can go toe-to-toe with offerings from the biggest guitar brands on the planet.
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This growth, Benedikt explains, is down to a vibrant community of fans – and the way in which Harley Benton will listen to fan feedback. “We do get tons of emails, tons of DMs on Instagram and Facebook and so on,” he says, “but we take every little input very seriously.”
“And due to the fact that it’s a family-driven business, our team is actually quite compact. Therefore making decisions can be quick – getting something new out on the market that maybe certain customers were craving for, we can do that very fast. And I think that’s one part of the success – that we’re listening to the community, and we can have a quick turnaround time when we do.”
This approach has also helped the brand expand its scope beyond just those beginner instruments. Harley Benton’s library of guitars now spans everything from beautiful dreadnought acoustics to vintage-inspired baritone electric guitars and fanned-fret seven strings.
And the fan communication has to be a two-way street, too – Harley Benton puts a lot of stock in how it communicates with its fans over social media, in part with its own content and product demos, but also in the way it will actively participate in fan groups. “We have a great team behind us – we can really push things out there with videos, social media content and so on. It’s very important nowadays especially, if you want to be successful as a guitar brand.”
Thomann’s guitar department
A 360-degree experience
Harley Benton’s diversity of product is a reflection of just how wide-reaching it and Thomann’s audiences have become. With such a range of guitars, effects and amplifiers available from Harley Benton, Thomann is able to supply all kinds of players – but in some ways, Harley Benton is just the beginning.
Because no matter if you’re looking for a parlour acoustic or a seven-string, you still need cables, cases, microphones and stands. And so Thomann house brands such as Millenium, Pro Snake, Thon and the t.bone all supply the kinds of equipment that all levels of musician will need. It’s totally possible to put together a single order from Thomann spanning only its house brands to set yourself up with a complete recording studio or touring rig.
A Thomann warehouse
And if you need to know what your gear is going to sound, Thomann’s wide range of media channels across YouTube and the wider internet have you covered – and rather than just a library of product demos, the many channels under the Thomann umbrella offer in-depth guides on how to use your equipment. For Thomann’s director of sales Florian Rittweger, this expertise in the field is what helps Thomann go toe-to-toe with other e-commerce behemoths. “The biggest competitors are not other music shops like they were 20 years ago. They are Temu, Amazon and so on – but the difference with us is that we are the experts here.”
So, while Thomann obviously exemplifies a lot of the best practices within modern e-commerce and direct distribution, it’s a passion for instruments and music that keeps its customer base coming back. “We not only have a good platform with all of the information, but you know, if you want some consulting, just ring us up,” Florian says. “Or write us an email – or come to Treppendorf!”
Thomann has changed a lot over the last 70 years, and has done so in response to a lot of different things – demand for lower prices, the introduction of the internet, and the growth of e-commerce giants like Amazon. As for how it’s going to keep on providing for customers for another 70, Florian echoes what Benedikt says about Harley Benton – “people will still be doing music in 70 years, I think, but it will definitely sound different. We don’t know what AI will be doing then, and so on – we have to prepare for this. And I’m not afraid, because we’ve acted the same way for the last 70 years: we’re fast. And if someone says something like, ‘okay, we need a guitar with just one string’, then we will have a guitar with just one string!”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
