Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-31
.jOBbERS CHANGE
TRADE METHODS
Wholesalers Seriously Con-
cerned With Modern Trend
of Merchandising.

| Special Dispatch IL The star
NEW YORK, January Slime
| wholesale and jobbing trade of the
United states is revising radically us
| methods of doing business. "A care
| ful canvass of the situation just com
| Melted In the principal tobhing centefs
| of the country shows that. Individual
| units in the trade which are not
| changing their policies are racing d
situation which threatens their very
| existence.
Formerly the jobber ana whole
| saler were on the main road of mer-
chandising traffic. but in the last few
years business has been detourlng
d,'ound them. This has come abou,
through developments and changes
Of policy in the retail field.
Many individual department stores
and department store companies with
establishments in several cities nave
become so large and buy in such guam
| titles they have been able to go around
| the wholesaler direct to the manufac-
turer. The chain store systems have
made a policy of buying the bulk or
the stocks In this manner. Finally,
the smaller merchants, 10 meet the
, competition of these groups, have
banded themselves together in CO.
Oi,e, alive buying groups. Many oi
these groups now are represented IN
production centers by purchasing
agencies which pass the wholesaler by.
Met i'm Different Ways.
Wholesalers have met this problem
in widely different ways. Some
firms are turning away from the
purely wholesale business. One whole
saler, for example, has bought out a
chain system and combined the func-
tons of wholesale and retail distribu'
ton. Others are restricting diStribut"
ing operations to few selected lines
of high-class goods. Others have be-
come manufacturers of special lines.
One firm has started cash and
carry wholesale business which sells
to neighborhood stores and small
Independent retailers for cash on a
. per cent profit margin, provided the
buyer hauls his own goods. Another
firm has started a chain of service
and credit stores operated in connec-
ton with It's wholesale business.
An executive of one of the big mall
order houses said today that SO long
as the public demanded service and
credit there would be a place for
independent stores and for the
wholesaler.
One class of jobbers is making a
specially or quick delivery and special
service. The wholesalers are care.
fully nursing the small mercantile
firm, for they feel some of their best
customers will drop out if the small
merchant is put out of business.
Concentrating Efforts.
The more farsighted wholesalers
seem to be concentrating their efforts,
reducing the number of lines car
ried, restricting the territory covered
and keeping closer ratio between
stocks on hand and demand One
jobber of almost national Importance
has cut his lines SO per cent his
territory 25 per cent and his accounts
one-half.
G. w. Stull, one of the managers
of John Wannamaker's stores, does
not take the plight of the wholesaler
seriously. while we, have a very
large annual turnover" he said today,
we buy large proportion of our
supplies abroad. We continue to use
American wholesale houses to a large
extent, however. | look upon the
idea of dispensing with the wholesaler
and Jobber as visionary"
Morton K. Snellenburg, manager of
number of department stores in
Pennsylvania, said: 1.-The eld-fashioned
wholesaler is to a large extent al
ready eliminated because manufacture
ers have become wholesalers. I look
upon the jobber as a different prom.
osition and expect him to continue
as he Is still useful to event the larg
est distributors.