The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-01-23
GWIN PROPOSES
SELLING METHOD


w. f. Gwin, manager of the North
west Fruit Exchange. in a recent ad-
dress before the members of the Wash
ington horticultural Association. pro-
posed some unique methods of selling
apples. After advancing the plans for
more extensive advertising, he said in
part:
"The next move would be to select
one state in the unionVin which to test
the plan. Let us say Indiana. as the
state is not only rich and populous, but
at the same time one of the poorest
consumers Of box apples in the Union,
relatively. indianapolis is a rich,
prosperous city of 253, $50 inhabitants.
Start, say, In indianapolis. with the
special brand of JOnathans and Grimes
Golden. | would ship several carloads
Of the brand to indianapolis, either
placing them In storage temporarily or
else timing their arrival conveniently.
THE next step would be to send one
or two thoroughly trained, experienced
speciality statesmen there. | could lay
my hands on just the right men in a
moment. would have thorough
canvass of the retail grocery trade
made, and also the fruiterer trade.
There is about one grocery store to
every zoo Of the population, fruiterers
additional. This would make ll6S
groceries alone in Indianapolis. Not
over one-quarter to one-half of these
would be good stores in good parts of
town. Say about 1908 in all. The live
wire statesmen can work about 25 gro
GERS in day if he has a quick talking
proposition which this would he. In
two weeks work one man could cover
the town pretty thoroughly.
Have this salesman explain to the
grocer the extraordinary quality, APP
pearance and merchantability of the
product, the convenience of thespack
age, the advantage of cooperating
with the producers to work up a box
trade, which would avoid measuring,
bags, string, etc, and save him money
all around. Under such circumstances
conditions he could afford to handle the
fruit at reasonable profit, especially
as there would be no further waste or
loss by decay. Without going farther
into the argument, suffice tossay that
a NAli iNillN CdulpaiEu Nhulu hG lHduSs
Explain to the grocer that on GER
tain morning a .full-page 'ad will ap.
pear in the indianapolis papers. writ
ten by an expert, so as to command
instant attention by every housekeeper
in town. And that in that ad. full
list of the grocers and fruiterers who
can supply the fruit will also appear.
That is good ad for the dealer. That
advertisement will state the price per
box at which the consumer can buy
this brand from the grocer. That
would be the first intelligent step ever
taken by northwestern producers to
regulate the profit of the retailer, and
il would be doing it in way that
would not make the retailer our enemy
for life, but would have his full APP
proval.
Then take the order of the retailer
for five, ten, Is or 25 boxes of the ad-
vertised brand for delivery through his
wholesale grocer or wholesale fruit
merchant. Perhaps under this system
the wholesale grocers throughout the
country generally could be induced to
carry boxed apples, like the wholesale
grocers in Texas do now. If so, it
would be another big advantage gained.
as the wholesale grocers would not
carry any but the advertised brand.
''1hen assemble these orders on the
var'n"S inhhe~e dri'"o~ thew. ard pct
the jeDbei DtGyt Ioi 81 .,.,ts,.a sI.OA