The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-01
New Merchant
Wars ont heOld.
By DONALD SCOTT.

- -"
. uiatfng trade sone.
One Of these merchants Was q young man
and had but recently opened his store We
viii call him Young.
Young had picked his location because he
thought Il would be an easy matter. by us
Ing mp to date methods. to quickly take
away all the trade from his one older COM
petitor. whom we win call Veteran.
From the nrst day OF his opening sale
Young took the Offensive. He let people
know that he had como there to take trade
away from Veteran. whose store and meth
DDS Of doing business were somewhat an
tiquated- From the-start Young lost no
opportunity to jab this competitor.
Veteran. however. assumed defensive tao
tics without letting his trade know that
Young was drawing him into fight. He
apparently took no notice Of his belligerent
young competitor. Yet. while he over
looked Youngs braxen and more or less
personal attacks, he kept close tab on the
newcomers methods.
Young had some sound merchandising
ideas. He believed in Displaying his stock.
as far as possible. where everybody could
see It; he used hundreds Of price tickets,
and he knew how to lose money II neces-
clerk for five years. He knew the goods
and the value Of courtesy to customers-but
he had not yet learned the value of courtesy
to his competitors.
AZ he wa1ed more and more openly hos
tile Veteran. much to his surprise. became
more friendly. At the same time Veteran
quietly gave his trade better service and
more for their money, largely foregoing.
old time profits. Gradually he cleaned up
his store and arranged his stock more at
tractively. He had his show windows re-
paired and began using them. m other
words. he prepared TO put up an effective
night against Young without letting the trade
realize that Young was forcing him tn give
them better service. He wanted Them to
think that he always had given shem the
better service and values.
q .
Good Trade but No Profit.
that the trade did not flock to his seoss in-
kept on aashing prices right
and left. But every man. woman, and
child knew that his reckless generosity was
aimed at Veteran
Soon. when the bills for his ssnrders began
to come in Young concluded that he could not
'ales. Then he endeavored to make back on
staples some Of the money he had thrown
away on speciaities; but this drove many
patrons over to Veterans for the bulk Of their
necessities after they had purchased from
him the low priced specials. Then hereaAse6
hat many had been doing this even before
Re had raised prices on certain staples. out
" sympathy for Veteran.
Briefly. at the end Of his nrst year Young
found he had done q fair business. but that
lis bank balance showed no net profit, while
Veteran was somewhat surprised to md that
ais business had increased and that his total
Iverase net profit compared favorably with
,ther years. He was glad that Young had
,pened in his town. The competition had
brought more than double the oldtime
mount Of business.
But Young was at a loss to account for
he fact that he had nothing in the bank to
how for his year Of hard work. Yet he
pioated over the volume Of business he had
lone. reasoned that he could not be expected
o make money the first year, and oongratu-
ated himself on being a real merchant.
While he knew that Veteran was q mere
Of the old school who, sooner or
alter. must give way to him
He felt that Veteran was the real cause of
is lack Of net profits: and. as this davned
n him, he decided that Veteran must be
ut out of business. Young would have put
imself out Of business before tha end OF that
econd year had 1t not been for q master
troke on the part Of Veteran-concrete evil
ence Of the value OF the charitable policy
oward competitors.