Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05

! Left to rigth: Senator Tess of Obi
! tary of Commerce.
| each community, its marketing methods
and all factors affecting trading with
| in the region. They show just how
| people buy and when and why. These
studies promise to be invaluable to
! traders of every class.
Survey Proves Value.
Then there are a number of investi-
cations that may justly be called large
scale clinics" for distribution ailments.
Such has been the Louisville grocery
survey in the Kentucky metropolis
truly remarkable survey carried out
in splendid collaboration between
public-Spirited Louisville business men
and this department. We have deter
/ mined how much it costs to sell gro
ceries, analyzed the eccentrictitieS of
us consumers. the reasons why grocers
fail-and succeed. Every one of us
who buys groceries has direct interest
in those questions. This has been de-
Scribed as the first comprehensive in
quiry ever attempted as to actual
wholesaler retailer consumer relations
an effort to get to the bottom of the
plight of the retailer.
The results of this survey have al
ready proved of indiSputable value. So
much so. indeed, that the drug trade
of st. Louis. Mo-, is making oVertureS
for assistance in a similar survey to
cover that metropolis.
Now, of course. increasing the avail
able statistics will not necessarily save
incompetence. There will always be
rapid-Stock- turnover enthusiasts, con-
temptuous of stern realities, who insist
on selling a certain article at cent or
two below cost, but who say they can
afford it because they sell so much OF
it. There are equally brilliant Storekeep-
ers who occasionally discontinue some
very fast-selling line because they can
never keep a stock of 1t on their shelves"
But in general it is the lack of facts that
is the real trouble. The rule-of-thumb,
hit-or- miss method in distribution is the
germ in this disease. Its elimination
will certainly lower mortality rates
among retailers. They are beginning to
learn the imperative necessity OF stock
control and accurate cost accounts, OF
scientific studies of store location, mar
ket analysis, etc.
Surveying Credit Conditions.
The Department of Commerce now
has under way broad-gauge study OF
credit conditions and problems through
out the Nation, a tremendously vital
factor in our present-day system OF dis
tribution, especially as to lnStallment
selling and credit extension. Surpris-
ingly helpful replies are now coming in
from many of the 100000 firms collab-
Grating in this study under the joint
auspices of the National Retail Credit
Mems Association and the Department
Of Commerce.
In order to provide fund of basic
data as to market possibilities, there
have been planned series of hand
books to afford a basis for locating
branches and warehouses, planning mar
keting and advertising activities, to
show the competition in the different
districts, the sources of income and the
buying power. These practical aids to
better business. the first of which, COW
ering New England, has just appeared,
combine information in such manner
that the market potentialities of any
area or combination of areas may be
evaluated readily.
In cooperation with the Baltimore
group of controllers, representing 18
large stores, a study is being made of
the grave and vexatious problem of re-
turned goods. You will be interested
to know that the lines which suffer
most from this embarrassing refusal
to-stay-sold"- I may call it that
are furniture, carpets, Oriental rugs
and women'S ready-to-wear clothing, in
/ that order.
Avoidable return of merchandise is
a very costly practice for which all of
us pay. whether offenders or inno-
cents. We need the facts as to why
goods are returned, and what if any
thing is to be done about it.
Next year it is planned to take a
Nationwide distribution census in con-
nection with the decennial census of
what happens to goods between the
time they leave the factory and the
time they reach the consumer. 1t will
enable business men to know the total
sales Of the different types of merchan-
disc, and the various types of stores
through which they are handled. 1t
will tell us how and where sales are
made, in what volume and the SELL
ing methods that are followed.
Waste Is Big Problem.
II you are planning to open a cigar
store, let us say, you ought to know
how many competing stores there are
in your town, and it will surprise you
to find out that this involves not
| simply a count of other cigar stores,
but, according to recent surveys, it re-
| ranging from hardware stores to music
establishments, also sell cigars.
A would-be book store owner can
make an intelligent decision as to
where he should set up his business
only after he has canvassed the data
to be available in this census as to
the precise methods and extent of that
| business. The intended retailer should
| of all things beware of just such hid
from
stores with lower operating costs, car
rying as a side line the commodity
which he will perhaps make his Spe-
cialty.
The Government will shortly reduce
the amount of paper in the dollar bill,
but we can increase the power in that
remaining fragment by prosecuting
vigorously this movement to rout out
economic wastes, especially in slipshod
selling, and remember that they are
wastes which concern all of us, since
we are all consumers. AS such, it be-
hooves us to view this problem in its
effect upon us. not simply its bearing
on store keepers.
The job of being a distributor, and
particularly a retailer, doesn't mean
simply an ability to take telephone
orders and wrap up packages. 1t in
wolves an application of our we'll tried
efficiency in production to the vast
field of distribution. We must make
some Roadway against that appalling
8 to 10 billion dollar waste. This can
be. perhaps. the greatest move toward
enhancing the happiness, comfort and
aspirations of our people.
Unification Held Necessary.
Declaring that the average citizen
does not realize the strength of Gov