Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-12-10
A BUSINESS SECRET.
HOW THE CITY MERCHANT COMES
OUT ON "BARGAiN DAY."

l. -.
| trip from one city to another. Inc Hrst
city was one of VIII we call moderate en-
terprise. The me. &uRes made no parflcu;
| lar boast of setting the world aiire, but
We're all supposed to be doing fair
amount Of business at a good living prolt.
| The city TO which he went was one OF I'M
usual size. which has the reputation OF
being one of the most enterprlslya In the
| country The stores have grown TO enor-
| mons proportions and have the name the
world over of being the cheapest ana most
| liberal of any others. Yet when the writer
! came to the larger city and began TO HOOK
| into the inside workings OF business ana
| noticed the different prices at which goods
were sold he found that, although the
| stores had the name of wonderful bargain
giyers andswere known everywhere by the
name of great price cutters, still, taxing
| tbe stocks as u whole, these stores in the
larger cities in nearly every instance sold
| goods at a higher price than they were
sold in the smaller towns. and. almost
without exception the gross. profits which
| tho MERCHANTS made on the goods were
| from Is to rs per cent higher than the
merchants in the smaller city could get.
| This set the writer to wondering how it
| was that these large stores should have
| tbe name everywhere for enterprise and
| low prices while the stores in the smaller
city. which sold the cheaper, were as a
rule called high priced and old fogy.
AS the subject was Investigated a little
| more closely, however, he began to notice
| that there were some instances in which
| these large stores sold goods wonderfully
cheap much cheaper, in fact, than the
| goods could be even manufactured at. For
| instance, in one case, u certain store ad-
yertised the well known fiber channels
dress lining, which usually sells at'25 and
So cents yard, for cents. These goods
| cost "a great deal more than this selling
price, and what could be the object in tax
| ing so popular AN article and cutting it
down with one blow to one-third and per
haps gone fourth of what it sells for in
| many stores? The writer thought he would
see What information could be gained on
| the subject
On inquiring of the manager how the
business was he replied that it was SPLEEN
did "We are Offering the people some bar
gains today which they cannot resist
But" the writer asked, chow can You
afford to sell these goods which you advor-
tise at so much less than cost?" The reply
people in the store They will not come
unless there is some unusual inducement
theld out to them, but when they do come
| they buy enough goods at II regular profit
| to moro than make up for the loss which
we sustain on the linings.''
A further careful examination into the
matter ana visits to several other stores
where sales were being conducted in a
Lei, Hos, hat 10
stores drew almost their entire trade
| through holding out such inducements to
| the people. The merchants in this larger
| city make IL totally different practice of
| price cutting from the merchants in the
| smaller place. The merchants in the latter
| city sell their goods all around at q reason
ably cheap price. They make no very great
profit on any line of goods and gain no
| particular reputation for selling cheaply,
| for the people naturally expect that every
| thing should be at moderately low price,
and they are never startled by having any
very remarkable bargain offered them.
| Just the opposite to this, the stores in tho
| larger city make a good round profit on
nearly everything they sell except those
articles which they hold out as special in
ducements to buyers. F..
|
slant excitement on accouat Of the real
| sensations which these stores make weak
after week They will select some we'll
known and staple article and sell it for
probably a half or n third of what it usu-
| ally costs to make it, On the sales of these
goods they, of course, calculate to lose a
| considerable sum, but they gain the attend
| ance of enormous crowds at their store,
| and the liberal profits which they make
on other goods far moro than compensate
| for the loss ON tho bait which they hold
| out to the public. The thought, therefore,
presented itself to the mind of the writer
as to whether the small city was not max,
| ing "a mistake in its methods of doing
| business
The larger city is day after day and year
| after year gaining greater reputation as
a business center simply because there is
| not day in which SOME store is not prac-
tically giving something away to the pub
lie. These larger stores handle possibly
| from 10000 to $4,000 different objects
| Out of this whole number of objects there
will be possibly from 10 to 20 which are
sold at a loss, but these are at such mani
| fest loss tia people are really surprised
| and are so pleased at getting these thugs
cheap they overlook the fact that they are
| more than making up for the loss on other
| goods which they purchase. This is what
| may be called progressive merchandising
In the smaller town, if merchant was get.
| ting up a sale of ladies' hosiery, and had
| say, three or four different fines which he
wished to mark down, he would probably
mark each line with a 10 or IS per cent
| reduction oil around. This reduction,
while it would make the goods all very
cheap, would probably only draw a few
| buyers who were really in need of the
goods and who knew the real value Of the
qualities offered. If the same sale was got
ten up in the larger city which we have
| mentioned, the store would probably make
only very slight If any reduction on the
majority of ladies' hosiery, butwould take
one kind and CUT the price 'squarely in
| two, or perhaps even make it one-third Of
| the usual selling price. For instance, If
one line consisted of black hosiery which
regularly sold fpr So cents pair, it is very
| probable thab the store would marx these
down o10 or IL cents pair, even though
they may have c6st.ss muchas So aSlozen.
This kind of a reduction would creaae
| some excitement and bring crowd of
| people to the store, and while the loss ON