MAIL ORDER mail order business in all proba bility has its happy hunting ground in the United States of America, and it may sacclv be assumed that it will never attain the same degree of importance in the United Kingdom. The reason of this is not far to seek. The mail order advertiser appeals to the public, or that section of the public who cannot read i purchase goods at a retail establishment, so that the greater the proportion of the population who are in this position the greater are the chances of success which await the mail order advertiser. In the United States, which is a comparatively sparsely populated country, there is a great section of the population who cannot gain access to large towns and stores where to buy their household and other supplies. They therefore are an easy market for a mail order advertiser, who can appeal to them through farming and other papers, and, by means of a catalogue, supply them with the same goods which the town dweller buys in the stores. In England there are few people indeed who have not ready access to some town and some shop or store where supplies may be bought over the counter. This is the main reason, and practically a geographical one, why the mail order business cannot assume as great a proportion in this country as in America.
Of course, it is quite possible to build up the mail order business in almost any class of goods, but the chances for success are not so great under the conditions which exist in this country, and the mail order advertiser, and any one who is thinking of entering the business, would do well to very care fully consider this, and more especially the market which they propose to invade by mail order method. Of course, quite apart from the geographical question, there are other questions which enter into mail order business, such as the difficulty in obtaining certain classes of goods in retail establishments under ordinary circumstances. There are sonic classifications which offer great field for mail order advertising, simply because there are some advan tages attached to buying through the mail rather thin in a shop. Mail order advertisers have an advantage over the'retail and the national advertiser insomuch that advertising practically constitutes his whole expense. He has
no expensive staff to maintain, his premises can be hidden away in an obscure country town, and can be of the barest and most economical description. As he sells only through the mail, his establishment need not be known to the public, so that expense in this direction can be cut down to its very finest point. With this cutting down of expense he is enabled in all probability to sell goods through the mail at a cheap price, and so give an advantage to the public in that way. The mail order advertiser is in possession of one advan tage insomuch that he is enabled to test any proposition he may be interested in with a small expenditure, because he can absolutely gauge his results for every pound spent as he goes along; and, unlike the national advertiser, it is not necessary for him to sink a big amount of money in popularising a trade mark or brand at all—he makes his appeal to the public direct, and his goods cannot be substituted by some one else. Of course, it is advisable in a measure to brand the goods, so that they can be readily identified when the customer receives them, and so that the customer can order them again by name, but it is not absolutely necessary for the mail order advertiser to create an asset in his trade-mark.
The mail order advertiser makes his first appeal to the public through the of the press, and by a very carefully graduated keying system he watches results for every given space in any given paper he buys.
It is necessary for the mail order advertiser to create absolute confidence in the public mind regarding his proposition, and the utilisation of the "money-back " principle is generally found to be an efficacious method of so doing—that is to say, the mail order advertiser absolutely guarantees to return purchase money to a customer should the article or goods sold not turn out to that customer's satisfaction. This engenders a confidence on the part of the public which must be established before any business can be done.