The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-01-29
MODERN
MERCHANDISING
and DVERTISIN
By FRED p. MANN,
Devils Lake, N. D.
President North Dakota Retail
Merchant Association
InstaiIment II.

InStalimcnt III.
There are two classes of dealers
jeweiry stores and hardware stores
who don't advertise. What a wonder
full opportunity they are overlooking
They seem TO think the small country
store In the little town Is going to be
a thing of the past on account OF the
mail order composition; also on &C
count of the automobile used In the
country, which enables them to come
to cities and get larger assortments.
Cash and Cary System.
There was a merchant who made
quite a success IN business. h 1ne
hadn't kept up-tO-date with his store.
We found the stock of merchandise
and put in modern methods. | put
| that store on a spot-cash basis. / be-
lieye really the cash-and-carry and
charge-for-delivery service is the right
and modern and only way. so | put IN
the cash system. We would also pay
farmers spOt-cash for their produce.
As o as we had the store re
arranged we got Il stock in that coun-
try store. The merchant from whom
we bought didn't have $500 worth OF
fall merchandise ordered in Septem-
Der. and was going out TO buy some
then. We put In about $4,000 worth
and got 1t opened up. sent out a per-
sonal letter showing our policy and
used a double-page spread In that pa
per with a circulation of about 700.
There were two papers in the town.
One was a nonpartisan and the other
an old stand pat" paper and they
brought out this advertisement in both
papers. That Saturday afternoon
when the sale opened I was In another
city. My brother had charge of the
store. l telephoned him: "How's 1t
going?"
Opens Branch Store.
81 wish you could be here to see It."
he said. That's all right" 1 said,
but are you doing any ~business?" He
said: "Ohl I think it will run about
$1,000" The sale ran a little over 49,
200. We sold In that country store to
the ladies, coats for $40, $3.50 and
S165. Shoes at SIS and SIC. All they
wanted was the opportunity to buy.
That is why these m%ail-order houses
are doing business. There were cata-
Iogues sent out there to do just that
kind of stuff. Can you blame them for
buying when these people have their
catalogues right at their door? These
people are making an appeal in a high
class way. We ran that sale and con-
tinued it for a week, and it was very
attractive.
The next Saturday l said to my son:
"We ought to make a real good show
ing since we started out so we'll. You
have a friend with a Curtiss airplane.
Phone the boy and see if you can
get him to fly up here with his plane"
He came up. We put an ad in the
paper about it-that we were going
to give them a ride in the plane and
to come in. When the day came, the
S15 for Is minutes and so much for
each succeeding minute. l know one
of the farmers stayed up 40. minutes
after the allotted time.
After we ran that sale, we wanted
to clean that store. We replaced all
the stock and put all the old stuff in
the basement for a reconstruction sale.
It was all out-Of-date stuff. Some of
the stock was in the store for Is and
16 years. l remember there were some
jackets with pulled sleeves. We
didn't try to deceive the people about
it. We told them we were going to
sell this stuff for 81 or So, and the
material could be worked out by the
housewife, SO that it could be used.
Then Saturday we cleaned most of it
up.
1 have asked a great many mer-
chants gatherings: Have you ever
a personal appeal to the peo-
pie in your territory, asking them for
their patronage; that you would like
to have them come in and see your"
is once out of ten times that a mer-
chant will ever say he has lone that.
Don't you believe you could get in
touch with your people personally?
Through the medium of the press, you
,an get in touch with them right along,
md the snapper you make your ad,
he closer you are going to get In
ouch with them"
There is a wonderful thing In serv-
ce. We have one price to all. A
,hild twelve years old could come into
he store and buy exactly the same as
Ia older person. We not only give
but a protective guarantee
With every sale. 1t is a wonderful
hing, l think. l can remember n
Illustration. Some of these cheaper
,arments don't wear very well. A
ichOol teacher came into the store to
,uy a coat She bought one, and
anne in later, saying: Il had to pay
rs for this coat and see how 1t has
worm off. Do you think 1t is giving
She had q very worried
ook on her face. l sent the coat into
he house, and they said they would
o the best they could. They wanted
0 do their share. would 1t be all !
light to go 5O-50?" said that would !
e all right just for the satisfaction 1t +,
would give that girl. {,
Three Per Cent for Adverfisino .