The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-05-10
HENRY |. BAfR Tells HOW
TO CONDUCT RETAIL STORE
In Recent Issue Of Northwestern
sr, Hancock Man Gives
His Ideas
HANDLE THE GOODS CHEAPLY

In a recent issue of the Northwest
erner, published at Menominee, Henry
/. Baer of Hancock. discusses as fol-
lows, the problems which confront tho
retail store keeper:
THE retail store must be an Geo.
nomical machine, it must be able, once
the goods are bought to handle them
economically and sell them at a profit
There is, however, a big discrepancy
between the price for which an item is
sold and the price at which ii is
bought, that Is not profit.
"Only after incidental and overhead
charges have been deducted and all
other items of expense accounted for.
can, what remains be called profit"
This statement is not as obvious as IL
appears on the face of ii. Many n re-
taller allows some obscure cost items
to get away. He is not charging enough
against the cost OF handling.
There is the invoice cost, freight,
drayage, marking and placing, depre-
ciation, shrinkage. insurance, taxes,
contributions, or "hold-ups," heat, rent,
light, power, postage, stationery books
and sales cost, such as clerk hire. add
vertising, supervision of help, deliver
les. collections and losses through poor
credit.
There is no necessity of my going
into each one OF these items I'm detail.
suffice II to say. we know they exist.
DO we always figure on adding to the
nf oh wi o1o
portion of each one of the various
i'-~"s? I am free to say many of us
do not.
Credit Versus Cash.
There are number of special prob
lens peculiar to retailing with which
the progressive store man must deal
the hardest problem which troubles
every retailer is the matter of cash or
credit.
"A cash basis has certain advantages
and disadvantages. Similarly n credit
basis of handling trade has its factors
for and against 1t. Cash trade is La
bic to be more or less transient Credit
tends TO bind customer somewhat
closely to one store.
when a dealer has extended credit
favors to n customer year after year
there is bond of sentiment which |
tends to hold that customer to his old |
store. This tendency is entirely lack
ing in cash trade. In this community |
custom upholds the credit basis and it |
viii in all probability be good COM
mercial custom to extend credit to those |
who have the right to ask It, But the
big disadvantage of the credit system |
is that IL always has with it n proper
tionate loss from bad debts-this con-
dtion we as members of the Portage
Lake Business Mems association hope
to minimize and in time entirely elm
mate.
Now in the matter of competition,
will have a few words to say:
Kinds Of Competition.
Three kinds of competition are pc
cular to the retail trade. 1. Where
fellow merchants are destructive cam
paigners. 2. Where patrons are in
the habit of doing city buying. 8. The
catalogue house competition.
There is no use Disgusting the fact
that catalogue house competition is a
very formidable competition to meet
we can form but very meager idea
of the volume of the business done by
the citizens Of every community with
these houses. What must be done to
remedy 1t, is what is of interest to our
members.
ic hut mn nj ~ htfC |
men to look to for the correction OF this
condition-this is the dealer himself.
The customer will never correct it,
the jobber will never correct IL: the
will never correct ii. 1t
is something that is Internationally up
to the retailer himself. In spite of the
fact that catalogue house competition
is menace to the country dealer, he
often does practically nothing to Offset
it.
Mail Order Houses.
"A campaign OF talk will not wipe
out catalogue houses. There is n rea-
son why the customer buys from n
catalogue house-no one has to look
for the reason. 1t is because cata-
logue houses have made study of the
best methods of marketing a product
and they adhere relgiously to Ii. II
the retailer believes that catalogue
houses secure trade by unfair means;
II he thinks that they give better value
than he is able to do. II is poor plan
10 advertise the fact. If he must adj
vertise 1t. however, 1t should be done
ny some one who will not be thought
OF in connection with the retail dealer.
Attempts to laugh the catalogue house
put of existence will meet with failure; IT
IS too strong an institution. and must
De met with good selling methods. not
with ridicule. The same energy which
might be used In abusing mail order
houses can be turned to better advan-
'age In making sales"
me board of education will hold
regular meeting this evening at which