February 03, 2025 I Retail

GC Reports Holiday 2024 Sales Results

Guitar Center has announced preliminary sales results for the November and December 2024 holiday season and progress towards strategic initiatives.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with our results during the holiday season, with a strong 6.6% sales growth at our Guitar Center business,” said Gabe Dalporto, Guitar Center CEO. “We’ve been gaining momentum all year, with each quarter better than the last, culminating with our strongest holiday in years. This performance was the result of the strategy we put in place to reinvigorate our brand by focusing on the serious musician.”

“While we have a lot of work to do, our customers are seeing the transformation happen in real-time, they’re talking about it, they’re experiencing it, and ultimately they are preferring it,” Dalporto said. “The amount of time customers spend in store is up over 20% in the fourth quarter. They’re playing more. They’re loving the access to new and premium products. And we’re just getting started.”

The first product category transformation that was completed was electric and acoustic guitars. Growth in that category meaningly outperformed other categories that had not yet received the assortment refresh. Next up, the company is actively working on re-assorting keyboards, DJ, accessories, and other categories.

On the experiential side, the company is rolling out interactive displays — like a series of massive experiential guitar pedalboards — and making it easier to access and play the industry’s premium instruments and gear. These efforts contributed to the 20% lift in customer time-in-store during Q4.

Additionally, aligned to the second and third pillars, consumers surveyed ranked the company much higher in terms of friendliness, availability and knowledge compared to the prior year.

Finally, the company has implemented an entirely new CRM system and established a phone-based concierge sales team located in Kansas City in order to establish long-term relationships with serious musicians.

“Taken together, these initiatives had a major impact on our peak holiday season, and we expect even more significant customer centric improvements heading into 2025,” Dalporto said. “I grew up spending hours in Guitar Center stores in complete awe of the gear and the throngs of serious musicians there. My greatest mission is to deliver an environment that musicians are proud of, and we’re well on our way to recapturing that magic.”

guitarcenter.com

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