SELLING TO THE CONSUMER 1. Magnitude of retailing.—The selling of goods at retail is the most common fact in business. The word business itself to many people carries with it only the idea of retail merchandising. A generation or so ago if a boy was to "go into business," about the only outlet for his ambitions was the country general store or the city retail establishment. This condi tion has changed, since today business includes many activities that were scarcely thought of by our grand fathers. Yet the distribution of goods at retail re mains one of the greatest businesses in the wt•rld. There are said to be three-quarters of a million retail stores in the United States. Add to this enormous total the number of strictly mail-order establishments and the great number of manufacturers who market their products directly to the consumer, and we shall certainly have close to a million business establish ments engaged in selling goods to the ultimate con sumer. Their activities affect all of us ; we are vitally interested in what they do and how they do it. The greatest share of our earnings goes to them, and it is very much to our interest as consumers to study their problems, their methods and their possibilities, and to find the true relation of the service they render to the price we 'pay them for it.
2. Importance of the retailer.—The problems of the retailer are as important to the jobber and the manufacturer as they are to the retailer himself. The jobber's business life depends upon the success of his retailer patrons; success for him may be meas ured largely by the extent to which he helps the re tailer to market his wares. The manufacturer, too, in the great majority of cases, finds his ultimate mar ket thru the doors of the retail store; and one of his greatest problems is to cooperate with the retailer to the end that both may give better service, sell more goods and make more profits. The retail merchant is nearest to the consumer. His activities must enter into eveiy marketing problem whether his services are used or not; his methods and status are of interest to everyone who has anything to sell.
3. Three general methods of selling at retail.— There are three chief methods by which goods are sold at retail: (1) by personal solicitation thru sales men or canvassers who call upon the consumer; (2) by the retail store; (3) by the mail-order method. The phrase "selling at retail" should not be confused with the word "retailer." 1Ve have defined a retailer as one who buys goods to sell them again without change in form to those who are not dealers. This
is the accepted definition. But to sell at retail is sim ply to sell to the• ultimate consumer. A manufac turer who sells his product directly to consumers is selling at retail. This does not make him a retailer within the meaning of our definition, altho be is some times popularly thought .of as a retailer, particu larly if be reaches consumers thru his own stores. In view of the popular confusion in the terms it may seem futile to attempt to differentiate between sell ing at retail and being a retailer. The distinction is necessary, however, if we are to have a clear-cut un derstanding of the relative place and function of the manufacturer, the jobber and the retailer.
4. Itinerant merchant.—Before the development of town life, when people generally were able to sat isfy most of their limited wants by direct barter with their neighbors, the itinerant merchant practically controlled such merchandising as existed outside of the few metropolitan centers. It is probable that there were traveling merchants before there were towns and this class of dealers may therefore be con sidered as the originators of the retail merchandising system. They went from tribe to tribe, and later from town to town and even from country to country, displaying their wares to any possible purchaser they might chance to meet.
5. Peddler.—There are three modern descendants of the ancient itinerant merchant. The first of these is the peddler, who still supplies out-of-the-way com munities with many of the necessities of life. Ile carries his own stock of goods with. him, calls on those who may be interested in his wares, and makes imme diate delivery of the goods that are purchased. Al tho useful and important in a primitive state of so ciety, such a method of distribution is unsuited to modern conditions except in unusual cases. Its one advantage is that the customer can purchase at bis own door. He is saved the necessity of doing any thing except pay the price and receive the goods. The business of an itinerant dealer must always be conducted on a small scale. Unless operated in con nection with some other method of marketing, a peddler's business can never develop to any great ex tent, and, therefore, he can never seriously compete with distributors who are able to effect the economies that are always possible in large scale business.