The Delta independent., 1920-04-23
ADVERTISING ONLY WEAPON
Catalogue Concerns Spend Hundreds
Of Thousands Of Dollars Annually
to Create Demand for Their
Merchandise.

tCopyright 1917. Western Newspaper Union)
The forest ranger and the prairie
farmer have learned that they must
fight with fire. They know that when
the all-consuming forest or prairie fires
are sweeping toward them their only
hope of safety lies in the 'back-fre."
By kindling and carefully controlling
a fire of their own they force the big
ger fire to burn itself out, finding no
further fuel on which to feed
The merchants of the small cities
and towns are learning that in waging
their fight for existence they must
adopt the tactics of the men of the
West. The great mail order houses
of the cities are the consuming flames
which threaten to wipe out the retail
merchants of the small towns unless
the latter, realizing their danger, take
steps TO remove the menace. The re-
tail merchants, as whole, are beSin-
ming to realize that they must fight
fire with fire and that to save them
selves they must build back fire"
Advertising is the weapon with
their warfare on the retail merchants
of the small cities and towns. The
mail order houses do their advertising
through their own catalogues and
through certain publications which are
known as mail order advertising me-
diums. A big mail order house spends
hundreds of thousands of dollars mere
ly on the preparation and publication
Of its bulky catalogues.
Business Built Upon Advertising.
The catalogue houses also spend
thousands upon thousands of dollars
in advertising in the mail order publi-
cations which look for their circula-
ton to the people of the small towns
and the rural districts. Advertising in
some of these mediums costs as much
as from $40 to SS5 for a single inch,
yet the mail order houses find it profit
able TO pay these high rates. Their
| business is built upon advertising and
| IL they were denied the use of the
| mails for their advertising for single
| month their business would be de-
stroyed.
In advertising. the local merchants
| ind the only weapon with which they
| can beat the mail order houses at their
| own game. This does not mean neces-
sarily, only newspaper advertising, al
though that is the big gun in the bat
tery employed by the successful mer-
| chant in his battle for trade. Adver-
tising is big word and 1t covers big
! field. There is no longer TO be found
the man who does not believe in ad-
/ haliavaS in
/ advertising of some sort. The placing
of a display in a show window is ad-
vertising The only difference between
that kind of advertising and advertis-
ing in a newspaper is that where the
one reaches dozens the other reaches
hundreds. Attractive window displays
/ are, of course, an important adjunct of
any retail store. They serve their pur-
/ pose but this purpose is only to attract
the attention of those who may be
/ passing by the store. There are other
( forms of advertising, such as personal
solicitation, but printed matter must
always continue to be the chief reli-
ance of merchants in attracting GUS
toners to their stores.
Advertising 6eaets Confidence.
The buying public has learned that
the store which takes the people into
its confidence through its advertising
is the one In which 1t may expect to
get the best bargains and the most sat
isfactory treatment. 1t knows that the
store which advertises consistently and
regularly has the best and most up-to-
date stocks because this store sells Its
goods more rapidly than the one which
does not advertise and, therefore. is
not forced to carry over old stock from
one season to another. The public
knows that the store which advertises
can place lower prices on Its goods be-
cause 1t turns over its stock oftener
than the store which does not adver,
tise and therefore does not have Its
capital tied up In slow-moving mer'
chandlse.
The mail order house does not get
its business by merely letting the pub,
lie know that 1t has dry goods or hard
ware or groceries or some other com
modify to sell. 1t creates demand
for its goods by placing in its catalogue
attractive pictures and detailed de-
scriptions OF the articles which 1t has
to sell. The lure of the mail erder
catalogue lies in the fact that the
merits. or alleged merits, of the mer'
chandise offered are placed before the
prospective purchaser in the most
graphic manner. The local retail mer'
chant has the same opportunity TO dc
this that the mail order house has and
can do 1t much more effectively than
the mail order house can. The retail
merchant can talk to the people of his
community through his home neWspa'
per and that is somethlnS when the