Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-11-15
A BUSINESS SECRET.
HOW THE CITY MERCHANT COMES
OUT ON "BARGAlN DAY."

HOW THE CITY MERCHANT COMES
OUT ON "BARGAlN DAY"
The Art Of Cutting Prices So as to Draw
Big Crowds and Make Big Pronts-Hint.
to Storekeepers That Patrons Will Read
With Interest.
The writer of this article recently made
a trip from one city to another. The first
city was one of what we call moderate en-.
terprise. The merchants made no particu-
lar boast Of setting the world afire, but
were all supposed to be doing a fair
amount of business at a good living profit.
The city to which he went wa one of un
usual size, which has the reputation of
being one of the most enterprising in the
country. The stores have grown to enor-
nous proportions and have the name the
world over Of being the cheapest and most
liberal Of any others. Yet when the writer
came to tho larger city and began to look
into the inside workings of business and
noticed the different prices at which goods
were sold he found that, although the
stores had the name of wonderful bargain
givers and were known everywhere by the
name of great price cutters, still, taking
the stocks as a whole, these stores in the
larger cities In nearly every instance sold
goods at a higher price than they were
sold in tho smaller towns, and almost
without exception ethe gross profits which
the merchants made OF 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
the name everywhere for enterprise and
low prices, while the stores in the smaller
city, which sold the cheaper, were as q
rule called high priced and old fogy.
AS the subject vas Investigated a little
more closely, however, he began to notice
that there were so1ne 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, a certain store ad-
vertised the well known fiber chamois
dress lining, which usually sells at 25 and
IS cents a yard, for s cents. These goods
cost q 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 one-fourth of what 1t 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 splen-
did. 1--WE are offering the people some bar
gains today which they cannot resist
But" the writer asked, "how can you
afford to sell these goods which you adver-
tise at so much less thar cost?:'' The reply
was: "Oh, that is only done to bring the
people in the store. They will not come
unless there is some unusual inducement
held out to them, but when they do come
they buy enough goods at a regular profit
to more than make up for the loss which
we sustain on the Innings"
A further careful examination into the
matter Il visits to several other stores
where sales were being conducted in a
similar showed that these larger
stores drew almost their entire trade
through holding out such inducements to
the people. The merchants in this larger
city make a 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 a moderately low price.
and they are never startled by having any
very remarkable bargain offered them.
Just the opposite to this, the stores in the
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.
The people of this city are kept in con-
slant excitement on account of the real
sensations which these stores make week
after week. They will select some we'll
known and staple article and sell it for
probably a half or a 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 mako
on other goods far more thar compensate
for the loss on the 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 a greater reputation as
a business center simply because there is
Aou d udy LII WLllCn some STORE Is not DraC-
tlcally 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 loss, but these are at such a mani.
fest loss the people are really surprised
and are SO pleased at getting these things
cheap they overlook the fact that they are
more thar making up for the loss on other
goods which they purchase. This is what
may be called progressive merchandising.
In the smaller town, if a merchant was get
ting up a sale of ladies' hosiery, and had,
say, three or four different lines which he
wished to mark down, he would probably
mark each line with a 10 or Is per cent
reduction all 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 a very slight if any reduction on the
majority of ladies' hosiery, but would take
on kind and cut the price squarely in
two, or perhaps even make it one-third of
the usual selling price. For instance, if