The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-19
BAIT MODELS AID TRADE IN
 BIC READY TO- WEAR GARMENT
 SECTIONS OF BROADWAY STORES

them. From this step into self-hyp- nosis the clever salesgirl leads them on to the closing of the deal.
 Your wise woman shopper insists on knowing quality, and if both style and quality arrest her attention, it is not far cry to a purchase.
 Perhaps you have noticed that I have displayed on the floor here not one, but several dummies fitted with waists, varying as to price and pat tern. We are in the business to sell goods and give satisfaction. and we are not going to stop at any legitf- mate and dignified way of helping to make sales. The bait moder pre- duces and I am going to stick to it. at the low cost of subjecting a negli- gible quantity of stock to shoppers handling. Usually the garments can be renovated and sold elsewhere at lower price.
 Tt needs no argument to say that in ordinary cases, the longer the cus- tomer fingers over a garment the more chance there is to sell 1t to her; and won't she surely finger over the pretty garment which she can feel and Rerk around as suits her fancy? Often, on the other hand, the shop per merely passes by or says she is just looking when she has been glancing into show window or a showcase on the floor. Q There is another factor in this bait model idea. Remember that it is not alone a matter of placing the goods or garment where it can be felt and handled that is of import ance. There is also to be taken into consideration the fact that carefully selected specimens are thus isolated so that they stand forth most con- spicuously, striking the eye. concen- trating the attention and desire of the shopper and making the task of the sale easier for the salesgirl. This would be improbable. or a much slower process, to say the least. if the goods were presented only in the mass There is no logic in the argument of some that to place a lay figure dressed so that the crowd may handle the goods is a direct invitation to them to paw oyer everything in sight. Tn fact, it isolates the goods to be so treated. And to the man who ar sues that women who seek blouses.
 
 any such display as that afforded by the sense exercises and that, any way, if they want to see the garments closer they can be accommodated by merely saying a word to the salesgirl. who will produce the required models I would reply that it must not be overlooked that the method of display used in connection with the bait model adds to the selling points of the garment. going a long way toward permitting the article to sell itself which every merchant knows is the best that can be asked of any gar- ment or any merchandise. The 5 and 10 cent store men have founded their huge business by just that prin- ciple-letting the goods be so display ed that they sell themselves. And while. of course, we would make no invidious comparisons between the ready-to-wear garment business and a 5 and 10 cent store trade. it is good merchandising to sacrifice a garment or to draw trade. insures sales, and let the people know that our goods are as advertised. It begets confi- dence when goods are thus invitingly put on display % all may prove by sight and touch that they are as rep resented and up to sample
 ''So it is aside from, the point that would be able to sell quantities of shirt waists without my bait display It is enough to know that I am m,able to sell a good many more by this means. That is Justification for the plan isn't it?"