Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-05-27
Wanted-Tcks

"SnS american manufacturers lose
trade in foreign countries because they
do not cater TO the peculiarities of their
prospective customers. saws Mr.. George
". Nacgraham, whose place of bust
ness is Hongkong, China, where he
hanileS the goods of many home man
tucturerS. One canned-good COM
Tany IN the United States lost many
collars because they did not under
stand the Chinese abhorrence of
changes. IL is almost the hardest
thing IN the world TO get the average
Chinese 20 buy something new, though
when he once uses an article and finds
It good il is Just as difficult TO get him
to change to something else. In
Honkkone a certain canned product
became very popular. The natives
recognized il by the design of the
wrapper on each can, and many who
could not pronounce the American
name of the article would point TO the
cans on the shelves of store. Then
one day large shipment of the goods
arrived with a slightly altered label
In the interests of art, the manu-
facturer had removed a large star from
above the mermaid'S head in the pic
ture
1t caused no end of trouble. With
out the star. the Chinese, both Gus
toners and Shopkeepers, would have
nothing TO do with the goods. II IT,
had been the kind, they argued, there
would have been a star on the label
mo star, no buy" was the fiat
dictum of rich old dealer.
There was nothing for il but to cable
10 the United States for thousands of
old labels. When these were placed
on the cans the dealers bought them
eagerly.
On one occasion, Mir Macgraham
continues, | went to considerable ex-
pcnSc to find out why the sales of
certain alarm clock were falling off
The Chinese for long time would no
buy alarm clocks, and several pack
ing cases of them stood idle in our
warehouse. Then, Unexpectedly, there
came i demand for the clocks from
small city eighty miles inland For =
month or two We watched the growth
of the sales with interest Then. for
no apparent reason, the demand
stopped. Dealers back in the country
refused to have anything more to do
with our alarm clocks. Several urgent
letters elected the reply that they
had found better alarm clock
/ | Immediately set forth into the in
/ terror, where learned that one of
my competitors, who handled Ger
man goods, had taken my trade from
me. But the greatest surprise awaited
me. On examining one of the clocks
of the German firm found that it was
cheap contraption, which cost third
less to manufacture than the one made
in the United States. But not only
was my rival not undersellinG my
goods; he was getting almost twice
as much for the cheap clocks as | had
got for a really serviceable and reliable
clock
The storekeepers are usually close
mouthed, and they merely said there
was no sale anv more for the American
clocks; the German clocks had pushed
them off the market For the life of
me | could not understand il. Not
only was ours the better clock from
every standpoint; mortal ears never
| listened to a louder, more disagreeable
ticking than that of the German clock.
Entirely by accident learned that
the ticking had caused the German
clock TO sell The Chinese were MOI
buying clocks to use as timepicccs. A
Chinese had heard sample clock
ticking in a store; he liked the noise
and bought the clock. Then along
came the German clock, which licked
much more loudly. To confirm my
discovery, ! went into score of homca
and found many clocks were turned
face to the wall and that no two were
alike in time. As the result Of letter
that ! sent pos haste to the United
States, there arrived soon a dozen
large cases Of nickel clocks, that had
been made to tick loudly; besides that.
a little bell rang somewhere inside
the clock every half hour. My com
petitors sold never another clock in
that ncighborhood.