Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-31
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTOR OF SALES
BY Ruth Leigh
Author of ..The Human Side of Re-
tail Selling" THE A b c Of Retail
ing" etc.

clearance sales. Joe CdrrutLeis'
proprietor of the Success Furnishing
Company, a high-grade mems fur
! nishing store. looked in a puzzled
way about his store.
'Tell YOU the truth. Miss Young"
he confessed. II don't know how
many different lines we carry in
shirts or underwear. oh, yes, we
carry six or seven different brands
of mems athletic underwear. We're
clearing out some of 'em now. i
Kinda thought it was too many. but
still-"
Exactly what L was going to tell
YOU Ellen Young spent a few min
utes looking around the store, ex-
aiming merchandise here and
there.
'W-would you mind telling me,
Miss Young-Im willing to pay for
lyour advice" began Joe C~arruthers,
lust what do most of the good
mems stores do about carrying diff
ferent lines? I've often thought
this business of having odds and
ends left over at the end of a sea-
son and reducing the price was
wrong, but we never seem to get
along without these ~left-overs."
1.-THE trouble is, Mr.. C~arruthers,'
Ellen Young explained after further
arrangements, that you order small
quantities of too many different
lines. Here you carry such brands
as Smiths, Browns, Greens, Whites,
lJones, in small miscellaneous assort-
ments. My experience in dealing with
most successful retailers today is
that it is far more profitable to carry
a full, complete stock of a few
weil-known lines instead of a small
unrepresentative stock of many diff
lferent lines. With your fly differ
ent lines of mems underwear, you
have no complete stock of all sizes,
colors, styles. prices or quantities"
Him. Just what I've been tell
ling Marcus, my head man here"
}Mr. Carruthers nodded in pleased
satisfaction.
Il know one successful merchant
Ellen Young said "the president OF
la chain of seven specially shops.
who investigated this question and
found the plan of buying fewer lines
in larger quantities so successful
that, he enforced a strict rule to
prevent his buyers from purchasing
in driblets. He found that buying
a variety of goods in small guam
titles made odds and ends accumu-
late that were not only hard to sell,
but that had to be sacrificed at a
substantial loss to realize
Exactly our trouble, Miss
Young" Carruthers pounded en-
phatically on his showcase. Here
I've been placing orders with travel
ling statesmen, sometimes with full
pages Of selected numbers, order
ing one-sixth of one-quarter OF a
dozen each. / knew it was wrong, still
Now, if you should select two or
three brands. Mr.. Carruthers," Ell
len Young pointed out, buy a u i
assortment of colors, and sizes and
concentrate your efforts on selling
these, you'd be amazed how much
bigger your sales would be ana now
rapidly your stock would move.
Moreover, if you buy in this way
you can usually get a better price
by. ordering in quantities.
"Another thing that makes me
know you're right, Miss Young, IS
that I often see Marcus show a man
an assortment of brands, and he gets
confused seeing too many. II you
lshuw six or seven styles, ne
lean be pleased, but to show him nj
tteen or twenty different styles in al
most as many brands-Weli, IL
tmakes selling harder and longer.
The two agreed on this point, ana
MT. QeClueu " duopI -
policy. "Sure it pays" he asserted.
II see it already. Carry a complete
assortment of a few INES
and concentrate on selling these.
when I order in what you call dr1p-
let's T. keep feeling worried ana
doubtful. Now by ordering just a
few lines 1 can pick out the best and
Eonly carry good merchandise that l
Ehave confidence in. Gee, I'm going
to tell Marcus about it. He's down
stairs. You're a jewel, Miss Young,
to set me right On that
Visiting some friends that eve
ming, Ellen Young had an illuminate
ing talk with Billy Osborne, a young
man of nineteen, who was ambitious
" engaged in studying advertising,
and who sought her advice ana
council. )
If you are interested in writing or
reading advertising or selling goods,
you'll enjoy tomorrOw's talk.
Let Miss Leigh answer your busi-
ness questions on buying. selling,
employment, advertising or any bpsl-
ness problems. Ask your questions
clearly and give all the facts. Ques-
tions requiring. technical answers
LII H. rapliad tO nv mail. Others