The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-05

(s) Advertise them Carefully.
az Display them Properly.
(5) Adopt a Liberal Store Policy.
(6) Keep up Your Stock.
% Taking these up in the order
noted, as regards the first, l would
say that no matter what line any par
ticular merchant may be in, if he !
would build up and retain a local eli |
entele, he must handle only good and !
reliable goods, goods which he can
recommend and guarantee to the |
limit; such goods sold to customer
once will bring that customer back
for some more of the same; it will
do more than that, for the satisfied
customer will be a walking advertise
ment for the merchant and bring
other customers to his store. These,
properly handled, will in their turn
become boosters. all, of course, 70
that merchants profit
Trade papers are a great help now
adays in the buying of good goods; a
successful merchant takes and care
fully reads one or more papers pub
lished in the interest of his particu-
lar line; these papers cover almost
every line of retail merchandising and
in many cases are edited by very
able stats; they keep the merchant
in close touch with the wholesaler
and manufacturer, and often point
out months ahead some line or some
feature that will be of great interest
to his trade at a certain season and
give him a tip to get busy and antici-
pate the retail demand. OF course,
they are not infallible, but the better
ones can usually be depended upon.
The advertising of manufacturers
and wholesalers is usually worthy of
| the careful attention of the retailer;
he will often see the very goods ad-
vertised which his customers have
been asking for and which, up to
that time, he knew not where to
obtain.
(2) Price your goods reasonably.
Prices are a great item in the matter
of creating and holding trade. Be
satisfied with a fair profit-don't
charge all the traffic will bear; the
merchant who does $4,000 worth of
business on 10 per cent basis is far
better off than the one who tries to
get 10 per cent and keeps his sales
around the $4,000 mark. Lots of
business at a small profit is better
than a small amount of business at a
large per cent of profit, to my way Of
thinking. Mail order catalogues are
too easily obtained by the buying pub
lie for any local merchant or com
bination of merchants t imagine thai
he or they have a monopoly of any
one line of trade and that the prices
can be boosted accordingly.
60 Advertise your goods care
| fully. Fortunes are wasted as wei
II
the mere matter of space in thi'
paper or that one is in itself of NJ
importance-it's what is put into tina
space that counts; ten inches o
space properly filed is often wortl
as much as a page, while conversely
ten inches of space are often WORT
nothing at all. Prepare your ad
with care; rule off YOUR space AM
fit your copy to it; that's your work
not the printer,s-he is paid to sc
type, not to get up good selling ads
Select, if possible, a certain type
and use that type at all times; &c
certain position in the paper @
papers of your preference and hol
this position at all times; people wi
eventually look there for your az
to find out what you have to offeI
Personal advertising should not b
j overlooked; make a list of your Gu
- toners or of people who you woul
like to have for customers, and whel
ever you have something that yo
i think is unusually attractive or
special value, mail them a SINAI
neatly printed card and watch for I
suits.
a. Display your goods properly
make your show windows attractiy
changing them as often as you CO
and make each one look different fro
previous ones; people will soon beg
to comment on those windows al
that means sales; look after interi
I'D displays and keep shelvings, counte
and floors clean. A customer induc
y to enter a store by an adj or wi
Y dow display only to find dirt, disord
X and confusion inside, usually fee
X that a fraud has been perpetrat
3 somewhere and may hesitate abo
O going back there again.
. % Adopt a liberal store poli'
BY this mean, satisfy your custom