The Holt County sentinel. (Oregon, Mo.) 1883-1980, 1914-03-20
Country Merchant vs.. M. o.
Houses.

and new ideas never hurt any.
body.
Personally we have little sympath,
for the small town retail merchant
who Is forever complaining about the
encroachments OF the mail.order
houses. The mere fact that he Is for,
ever complaining is pretty good evi'
dence that he is not engaged In mer.
chandising, but merely engaged try.
ing to sell merchandise. II he were
studying his field Of operations, study.
ing the wants and needs and desires
OF his customers, or possible custom.
ers, and advertising his bargains IN
the same proportion that the mail.or.
der houses advertise their bargains
he wouldn't lave any time TO waste
In useless complaints. Nor would he.
In our opinion, have any reason to bc
making complaints.
There Is a great deal OF bushwa put
out 10y some merchants about their
ability TO sell cheaply because their
larger buying capacity enables them
to secure better prices. This may
have been true In the distant past {.
but In these days Of standard prices
fixed by manufacturers the retailer H.
becoming more and more a commits.
sion man. The chief advantage Of
the merchan, doing an immense cas,
business Is that he IL able to take adj.
vantage Of his cash discounts. and
these discounts aggregate very
large proportion OF his whole profits
IL " not possible 10 more than esti.
mate the advertising appropriations
OF the big mail.order houses. which
IL, Of course, based upon the gross
business. Different firms have a dif.
ferent Idea OF the proper amount TO
appropriate for publicity, with the
result that the percentage varies from
. per cent OF the gross TO IL per cen,
Of the gross. lBut let MS endeavor to
strike something OF an average -rath.
er . minimum and decide that ; per
cent Of the gross Is q fair advertising
appropriation. We hold that a small
town merchant doing q business OF
say go, 900 q year, should not think OF
appropriating less than $50 o month
for publicity. And n he will do this
and then study up bit on advertis.
ing, and whole lot on the field OF
his operations, lie need not worry
great deal about the competition OF
the mail.order houses. Everybody
knows about the big mail.order nous.
es In Chicago, hut that does not cause
the managers Of those houses to say.
40, everybody knows we are In bust.
ness, so u would be a waste OF money
for us TO advertise" Hut there isn't
a small town In Nebraska that hasn't
one or more retailers who say that
every time they are approached on
subject OF advertising. We may
know you are In business, but how are
We TO know that you have something
To sell that We want To buy unless
you tell Us about NY
We have before us dozen or more
Nebraska weekly newspapers, and II
IL interesting 10 note what some re-.
tailers call advertising" Here is
one paper containing an advertise.
ment Of Christmas goods, the paper
being dated January 10. And another
ten.inch doube.culumn
space In which appears the following
above the name Of the firm: "ruu E,
busy TO write an al. this week. |
Watch this space next week" Any. !
body Who knows anything al all about |
advert ising knows that the man Who |
wrote that wasn't too busy: he was
either too lazy or too ignorant. And |
here Is another one, occupying a six-
Inch double'column space, the same
al. having appeared weekly for
months on end: Roe Il doe, dealers
In general merchandise. Cash paid
for country produce" IL really i
not an advertisement at all: II i
merely 4 waste Of money, And It's
dollars TO doughnuts that the firm In
question does not believe that adyer-
Using pays because IL has never paid
them, and Is merely occupying the
space to "help out" the publisher.
We opine that II some one should
merely mention mail.order houses In
The presence OF this firm there would
De a verbal explosion OF wrath. Yet
The mail.order houses have waxed
rich and powerful through the unwit.
ling connivance Of just such inner.
chants"
The small town merchant who as.
pertains what the people OF his trade
want, then sees that lie is
lble TO supply those wants and let's
-he people know that he is able, isn't
II. .t..t. al.