The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-06-06
PEOPLE WHAT
THEY WANT TO BUY

hVithWeot MiSbOuIl, WeuL IlIO Btt-
eral store in his nearest town one
morning and called for brand of
breakfast food known throughout the
depth and breadth of the land by its
advertising, and conceded to be one of
the best articles of it's kind on the
market.
The proprietor of that store, a
friend of Mr.. Husing's spends consid-
cradle time in telling him that the
brand he called for was not so good
as the one the merchant had on his
shelf, and that the price was higher
because the cost of the advertising
had been added to the price of the ar
ticle.
Mr.. Husing did not believe his
friend. Furthermore, he told him
that if he took the unadvertised
breakfast food home to his wife he
would have to bring it back, so it was
just as we'll to leave it on the shelf
in the first place.
Probably Mr.. Husing would have
been unable to explain his or his wife's
preference for the advertised break
fast food, further than to say that
they thought it better. But, without
even admitting it to himself, he paid
the national advertising a compli-
ment of taking it's word against that
of his friend. He also recognized the
service the advertising did him in
putting good article within his
reach, and he was not willing to ac-
cept his friends statement that the
cost of the advertising had been added
to the price of the breakfast food. He
knew that the advertising was a SER
vice that paid for itself by getting the
breakfast food to him at less selling
cost. The fact is, he knew more than
the merchant. That merchant never
learned the value of advertising nor
the advantage of selling advertised
brands. He is no longer in business.
But that store was not located in
Maryville, Mo. Nearly all of the
merchants of Maryville feature some
line or lines of nationally advertised
merchandise, and nearly all of them
read Teamwork every time an issue
comes to them.
The writer recently interviewed
number of merchants on the subject
of selling nationally advertised goods
and some Of their views may be of
general interest. One said: off were
to put in a stock of pickles, I'd sure
put in the 81 kinds" A clothing mer-
chant said: "Our nationally advertised
line of ready-made suits has made this
store. While we sell some other
makes, large part of our trade
would not come to our store at all if
we did not carry this well-known
line"
A dry goods dealer said: at costs
US much less to sell advertised mer-
chandise than it does to sell the I'M
known brands. Last year l put in
stock of underwear to sell at lower
price than the leading make we were
handling. At the end of the season l
still had the cheap goods, while the
advertised line was all sold. 1t cost
us more to advertise and sell those I'M
known goods than the profit on them
amounted to. We figure on certain
volume of business to make US a rea-
sonable profit on our investment, and
if we don't get the turnover we don't
get the profit. There is more money
in handling advertised goods on a
smaller margin of profit than in try
ing to sell little-known brands of mer-
chandise."
Still another merchant said: ~
would not run the risk of losing the
substantial trade we have built up on
nationally advertised brands, by try
ing to substitute something we could
make larger percentage of profit on.
1t is better to make three sales at 10
cents profit each than two sales at Is
cents each, because you have served
three satisfied customers instead of
sending two out of the store with
something they did not want"
The power of national advertising
is often surprising. Nearly every
well known make of photograph is
sold in Maryville. Recently it has
been hard to supply the demand for
these instruments, but it is notable
fact that the makes which have been
nationally advertised the longest were
sold out first. The local advertising
has been about equal on all makes.
In handling all kinds of merchants
advertising, it has been the writer's
privilege to write many advertise
ments for them, and it is always with
much pleasure that he is able to fea-
ture nationally advertised article,
for several reasons: First, it is easy
to write about something you know
about, and easy to become enthusiasts
tic about an article that has been
"sold" to you by national advertising.
Second, the national advertiser is al
ways willing to cooperate with the To-
cal advertiser by furnishing good cuts
and descriptive literature, which
makes it easy to prepare good copy
and layouts. Third, the merchant
gets results from his advertising be-
cause it is backed up by the big nation
al campaign. That is the essence of
the "Team-Work Idea"-it makes the
local advertising effective.
The merchant who handles national
ly advertised goods and "team-works"
with the manufacturer by local adver-
sitting, has wonderful advantage in
merchandising, because he is connect
ed with big, cooperative selling or
ganization. In fact, he is the last
link in the chain between the manufac-
turer and the consumer, every link
making for the same end-to get the
merchandise into the consumers
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