Reverb Sellers Continue to See Strong Sales in Q3

Monday, November 2, 2020 — Reverb, the largest online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling new, used, and vintage musical instruments, announced that its third quarter gross merchandise sales were $205.1 million—a significant increase when compared to the same time period last year. The company attributes the continued growth to a combination of consumers' increased preference for online shopping and Reverb’s recent investments in seller tools, customer engagement, and increased marketing to get sellers’ gear in front of more buyers online.

“This year has brought many challenges to the musical instrument industry, but online sales have been a bright spot, with continued demand and growth,” said David Mandelbrot, Chief Executive Officer at Reverb. “Reverb’s job is to get our sellers and their inventory in front of the surge of new buyers looking for a musical instrument online, and we are as committed as ever to helping our sellers support their businesses and grow sales through their Reverb shops."

In the third quarter, the company saw a significant increase in year-over-year search growth. Of note, searches for audio interfaces on Reverb were up 100 percent in the third quarter, with searches for microphones and acoustic guitars up 54 and 30 percent respectively. According to Mandelbrot, the company continues to attract new buyers—including what appear to be beginners—and the new buyers acquired this year continue to return to Reverb to browse for and buy music gear.

“It’s a difficult time for small businesses across the country, and we feel very fortunate that we saw a significant increase in online sales in the third quarter,” said Frank Gross at Thunder Road Guitars. “The world is weird right now and as people are getting more comfortable with shopping online for musical instruments, our Reverb shop helps us get our inventory in front of a broader community of musicians. We feel very lucky that we’re able to continue to provide instruments that can be outlets for so many players.”

In the third quarter of this year, Reverb launched a new “Combine & Save” feature that enables sellers to offer discounted or free shipping rates to buyers that purchase multiple qualifying items from their Reverb shop. Early data suggests that “Combine & Save” shipping rates can motivate buyers to purchase additional items from sellers. Reverb also delivered on its promise to increase investment in customer support—improving its customer engagement team’s response time significantly—as well as in marketing campaigns aimed at getting sellers’ inventory in front of more buyers.

Dealers and brands alike partnered with Reverb to get their inventory in front of more customers online. Examples include Korg USA—which partnered with Reverb to promote the launch of its Darkglass Electronics Element Cabsim Headphone Amp and drive sales to its dealer network—and Meris, which worked with Reverb to sell a sizable amount of b-stock inventory directly on Reverb.

"Reverb was a rescue vessel for our small company during tough times. We will never forget this," said Jinna Kim, Creative Director at Meris. “We had a large inventory of unpaid and returned pedals during the pandemic, and Reverb extended a hand and we were able to sell our B-stock within a short period of time."

To learn more about opportunities for partnering with Reverb as a seller, contact [email protected].