The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-04-01
GUIDING COUNSEL
TO The RETAILER
Manufacturer and Wholesaler inter-
cstcd in Seeing Him DO
Business Right.

Starting in business today. a man
viii find ready counsel from those
whose customer he becomes. The
manufacturer and wholesaler have
found il almost as profitable to study
retail problems as to be well posted
on all details of their own business
The theory is that. no matter how
successful the manufactures may be
in the production and distribution of
the merchandise he has to sell, he
will be up against losses II his GUS
toners are not using proper methods.
Just AS credit men find measure of
protection for themselves in saving
a merchant from financial trouble,
SO the modern wholesaler strives to
caution the beginner regarding the
pitfalls and difficulties of the trade in
which he is TO engage. For this
reason the man who starts in for
himself nowadays will get some valu-
able hints for the asking from the
responsible and up-to- date dealer,
The retail trade is passing through
an exceptionally trying period. Old
methods have had 10 be revised. and
new and improved systems installed
20 meet new conditions Prices.
costs and rents have advanced to d
considerable degree. and profits have
become smaller. The merchant who
could afford in the past to wait for
business to come in to him now has
to go out aggressively and take 1T.
These conditions and the new order
Of merchandising were described by
the credit manager OF large shirt
and collar concern. The customers
of this house are almost legion. and
usually merchants Of small means be
cause the haberdashery bust ess
seems to attract men of small capital
as rule. who start in the trade on
account of its outward appearance of
simplicity and profit.
The first rule that the credit man
had to lay down was regarding the
purchase OF stock and the furnishing
OF the store.
The time" he said. when man
/ could go around the market ordering
merchandise far in excess of tho
money he had TO spend for it has
passed Under the old regime ii was
not at all Impossible for a beginner
TO order and actually have delivered
70 him $4,000 or $4,000 worth of
put up a penny az long as he looked
like a person who could be trusted
STfd ne would have more than the
usual time in which to meet his first
bills, The fixtures, too, might be
bought on payment of a small part of
their total cost. and the credit man
would not look too closely into this
detail
This practice has almost passed
out The wholesaler has a right to
demand that his customer shall at
least start off free and clear of obii-
CATION, and under no such handicap
of unpaid bills from the beginning.
so the wisest course for the
novice in the merchandising field to
follow is to pay for all the merchan~
disc he buys to stock his store. and
TO pay in full. also. for the fixtures
with which he is TO furnish a store.
"A merchandising fallscy that was
uprooted and discarded sometime ago
held that a store overlooking with
merchandise was store full of profit.
II did not seem to trouble the mer-
chants who suffered under such de-
fusion that the profit isn't realized
until the sale is made and the money
received for the goods The differ
ence between potential and actual
profit was not plain to them.
The modern idea is quite different.
II is turnover that brings profit. and
the merchant who can get along with
il the man who Is making money. This
fact has been driven home by the
evolution in trade. Formerly mer-
chant could wait for his customer TO
come into his store and get what
would now he considered an inordi-
nate profit There was not much loss
under that system in carrying
large stock. The larger profit TOOK
care of the slow movement of mer-
>handise. Eut turnovers are now
the most important factor because
the rule has come for a small profit
on large volume of business.
With the highly increased eff
ciency of modern selling. the average
merchant is at q disadvantage when
the present day salesman enters into
contest with him. With the need to
keep his stock as low as possible. the
temptations, the inducements, and
the arguments why he should be
constantly buying are many. This is