By Aimee Chanthadavong
As part of the company’s strategy to grow itself in the commercial market, JB Hi-Fi has further expanded in the Musical Instrument (MI) market, with the addition of a team of MI education specialists to service the education market in Australia.
Tony Moore, Matt Sutherland and Myke Ireland, all formerly with the Allans Billy Hyde retail chain, have joined JB Hi-Fi and will lead a national team within JB Hi-Fi’s Commercial Division.
“We are excited about joining the JB Commercial Team. JB’s focus on MI in the Education market, gives Matt, Myke and I the confidence that we can offer our clients a leading range of musical instruments and an expanded range of Education IT, audio and visual products and services,” Tony Moore said.
The MI team will enable JB Hi-Fi to further develop its Musical Instrument category, with a particular focus on the education market. The team, which is expected to grow quickly, will provide specialist knowledge to JB Hi-Fi’s expanding education clients.
JB Hi-Fi CFO Richard Murray told RetailBiz the move into the education space comes as a natural progression for the company given that JB’s retail stores are exceeding in offering children a range of musical instruments, laptops, tablets and accessories.
“This is a category that’s not just about the retail offer it’s about ensuring kids get exposed to music through our stores. It’d be great to have the opportunity to take that range to the schools and provide them a more sophisticated offer,” he said.
“Suppliers are really conscious it’s a differentiated offer in the education space and they’re very keen to protect their market as it’s very unique.
“We’re always about providing customers great value but we’re about having the biggest range. Teachers want specialist advice which is why we got the team in from Billy Hyde but that’s just the start. We want to make sure music teachers feel our education team can bring them a really great service.”
This announcement comes after JB’s recent announcement of its expansion to the B2B Telco market. The JB Commercial Division is also dedicated to servicing the B2B commercial & insurance market and giftcards.