Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1904-05-21
IN A DEPARTMENT STORE.
Important Parts Filled by the Adver.
Using Men and Buyers.

AuyGra
Using Men aud Buyers.
The man who writes the daily adj
Yertlsement for big store commands
big salary-ten or fifteen thousand
dollars. He must be original, resource
full, and wltty--a man OF ideas, alert
to see and use opportunities. The quail
ity of his work tells day by day, for
the effects of a cleverly written adver-
tsement show Immediately in the in
creased sales in particular depart
ments. Every night, the reports OF
gross sales in the threescore depart
ments, az compared with the CORE
spending days In the previous week
and the previous year, indicate wheth-
er the days advertising appropriation
has been we'll spent. Every day the
buyers" give the advertisement writer
draft of the next days particular Of
ferings-a clearance sale of winter
oyercoats, n shipment of Partisan dress
fabrics, bargains in new novels, or
cut-price sale of canned goods. These
the advertisement writer YIELDS into
one big display announcement, which,
when 1t has been approved by the gen
eral manager, becomes the law and
gospel of the next days business.
Copies of ii are posted on all the floors
and are put into the hands of all the
salespeople Every salesman and sales
woman In a department must learn,
the first thing In the morning, the spe-
cial prices at which wares are offered
in the days advertising. The days
advertisement is the Baedeker for both
shoppers and salespeople.
The massing of three-score or more
varied shops under one roof demands
an efficient staff of department heads
or buyers The worth Of buyer is
measured by the amount of net profit
| he can show at the end Of the year.
| He must be on the alert to seize OPP
portunites for acquiring desirable
| stocks at low prices-the bankruptcy
Of manufactures or big merchant
| Is one Of thees opportunities; he must
| be able to forecast the future tastes
and demands of the shopping army;
he must know when to plunge, buying,
ten, twenty, or thirty thousand dollars
worth of goods in a single order; he
must know when to push and when to
mark down certain stocks, and all the
time he must keep his weather eye Oh
the doings of buyers In rival stores.
If he carries a line of foreign goods,
he makes a yearly trip abroad to buy
directly from the makers, whether 1t
be Partisan gowns, German toys. or
Persian rugs. The toy buyer goes
to the Continent, in January, to order
his next Christmas stock The sue
cessful buyer Is master of his depart
ment, and he usually commands high
salary, sometimes as high as twenty
or thirty thousand dollars year. al
though four-fgure salaries are the rule.
Every night, at the close of business,
the salespeople give the amounts of
their total sales to their buyers, who,
in turn, foot up their department to-
tails. The buyers then report to the
general manager, who compares the
days sales with the business the year
before. Marked variations are made
the subject of inquiry. Every night,
when the general manager leaves the
store, he knows to & cent the days re-
Ceipts, how they compare with the pre-
Yious year, and, If they vary from the
normal, the reason observation-disclosures.