I betcha you will find the results vary from region to region.  Should be interesting.

If your in a chain store, I'm sure the ratios will match from place-to-place.  

Independant stores, I'm thinking, will have a different ratio, but will still be consistant on the whole. Mainly because the price at which the store can afford to stock their shelves.

In this store's case, all of their heads are displayed, and they were fully-stocked (I've noticed the balance of heads there for a few years... I took my count on a typical day.)


Certainly it's customer demand, that's why I'll be focusing on the smaller stores that tend to be more responsive to what the customers prefer.

The contention in the other thread was that Remo's market share is far ahead of Evans, and I maintain (and will attempt to show) that it's simply not true anymore, in spite of Remo's former, almost complete domination of the head market. Although the discussion hinged on Evans and what they've done to gain market share, I've added Aquarian to the mix as well, just for balance. For example, in the case of Robin's, it wouldn't have been fair to say that Remo and Evans have nearly an equal presence, and leave it at that. It's important to note Aquarian's strong presence as well, since they are also helping to erode Remo's share, and affecting Evan's numbers at the same time.

Bermuda

Really, I think it would be a great way to strike up a conversation.

I wish there were more ludwig heads in shops.  Our local one here has a pretty good selection for the most part, but the "big boys" don't carry them.  The silver dots are just awesome rock n roll heads.  I don't know  why more people don't use them.  

Cause its not 1985.  

The music store around me stock about 75% Remo and 25% Evans. There is another store down the road that stocks about 50% Remo and 50% Evans. No Aquarian in either.

I won't comment on stores' and manufacturers' marketing and distribution strategies, as I know very little about that side of the music business (certainly, not enough to offer an authoritative opinion).  I will say that among players, "innovative" isn't always welcome.  There can be a great deal of intertia when it comes to one's choice of gear, including drum head selection.  

To wit:  someone says, "I know what I like," to which another replies, "You don't 'know what you like,' you 'like what you know!'"

I think drummers are getting hip to some of these new "innovative" designs by Evans and Aquarian (a.o.), but part of it is staying with the tried and true (even tho there may be a better option out there, such as Aquarian TC vs. Remo Ambassadors, etc. - IMHO, YMMV, etc.).  The other part is, these "innovative" heads usually aren't as readily available as the tried and true.  Store owners will likely stock what they know customers want, and customers will likely select from what the store owners have in stock.  I was down at my local "big box" music store last week, and they had to search far and wide to find a 14" Aquarian Texture Coated head.  New Orleans Special?  Jack DeJohnette head?  "Nope, but we can order those for you if you'd like..."

It's tough to convince someone that these new heads are better if they don't try them.

Some players just aren't interested in trying something new.  Paul Mason at Tempus gets this all the time with his fibreglass and carbon fibre drums.  He once told a story of someone who tried a set of his drums in a music store, loved the sound, was ready to write the check, when he asked the salesman, "So...tell me again, what kind of wood are those drums made out of?"  When told that the shells were made of fibreglass and not wood, he decided not to buy, even though he had played the drums and loved the sound of them!

It's as if many drummers get their gear preferences decided at age 22, and then that's it, that's all she wrote, "Katy, bar the door," "Game over, man!"

  This is fun!

I checked the local GC in Tigard OR (suburb of Portland) and found

45% Remo
30% Evans
25% Aquarian

The drum department manager, who actually did the counting with me, said, "...dude (yes, he really said that), we all know that...like...Remo heads rule and...like...all of those other ones are just garbage. I don't even...like...know why we have them here."

So, for fun, we started opening Remo boxes to do a quick spot-check for QC. Probably over a quarter--could be a third--needed to go back for various separation anxiety issues. The manager's reaction was "...whoa, dude, Remo must have had a bad day or something..."

Yeah, dude, sure.

Indeed there are many variables, but I think they even out after a while. Just because there's a shelf full of Ambassadors doesn't mean those are hot sellers, either.

The original question/comment was about how Evans goes about marketing their heads, and presence/availability in stores goes hand-in-hand with that. As I mentioned, it's not possble to know how many of which brand are making their way into consumers' hands, and I'm not attempting to form a conclusion based on one store, or five, or even ten. Although if we get surveys on 25 stores, and Remo's share is less than 50% in each, I think my point is proven.

And that point is that Remo's market share is not as hot and heavy as it once was, particularly that the statement "what little market share they have" (regarding Evans in another thread) is also erroneous.

Bermuda

HA!  Yes, I go to that Sam Ash too...

I once heard an employee in there tell someone they could mount bongos on a normal cymbal stand.  "Just buy the bongos" he said to the parents, "he can probably put them on any old stand he already has..."  I then questioned him because I needed a bongo stand at the time, and knew they had to have a special bongo mounting strap, lock attachment thingee.  Turns out he knew nothing about it, couldn't tell us how it might work, and was lying.  I smiled, but said to him, "I had a feeling you were lying".  And I enjoyed saying it---I hate that kind of misleading sh--.

But the drum heads are all out, and easy to compare before buying at Sam Ash's.   Guitar Center heads are in better shape, boxes un-opened, but you can't compare without direct sales-kid 'help'.  You cant win