17. Manufacturers sell complete lines.—Another reason for the lessening importance of the jobber to some manufacturers is the development of the move ment for the production of complete lines by manu facturers. For instance, in the shoe industry, many factories now make all kinds of footwear, so that a retailer can buy his entire stock, if he cares to do so, from one manufacturer. When this is the case, the sales to each retailer can often be made large enough to justify the manufacturer's sending out his own salesmen. Coupled with this movement is the de velopment of the "family of products." The Na tional Biscuit Company or the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company can supply a dealer's entire needs for the class of goods it manufactures.
18. Retailers' refusal to buy thru jobbers.—The demand of large retailers for direct buying connec tions and their refusal to purchase thru a jobber tempt the manufacturer to sell direct to them. When a manufacturer yields to any extent to this natural temptation the jobber sometimes in reprisal refuses to carry his goods and thereby forces him into a general system of direct selling.
19. Nature of the commodities.—Another im portant reason for direct selling lies in the nature of many of the commodities sold. If goods are liable to rapid deterioration in value, they must be mar keted by a system that will insure their reaching the retailer by the most direct route. Rather than risk the danger of having their goods spoil in the jobbers' warehouses, some well-known manufacturers of pickles and preserves, for instance, prefer to operate their own local distributing stations where they can keep a close watch on the condition of their goods and from which the retailer can be urged to buy frequently and in small quantities. The National Biscuit Com pany follows this procedure. So also do the majority of the meat packers. In their case direct selling is due largely to the fact that jobbers do not ordinarily possess the refrigerating facilities that are necessary to keep the product in marketable condition. That
jobbers can and do give satisfactory service in con nection with the marketing of many kinds of spoil able goods, however, is proved by the support given to jobbers by many manufacturers of goods of this class. The Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company, for instance, has been a notable and consistent dis tributor exclusively thru the jobbers, of a product that is subject to deterioration.
20. Lowered cost of direct sales.—Finally, the growing practice of going over the jobber's head to the retailer may be attributed partly to the increasing density of population. When retailers are widely scattered and the expenses of traveling salesmen are high, manufacturers are usually unwilling to under take the cost of selling direct to the dealers. In such a situation the jobber is generally recognized as be ing the most economical distributing medium. But when many possible retail customers are grouped closely together, the expense of a local warehouse and of sending the manufacturer's salesmen direct to the retailers is comparatively small.
21. Direct selling is natural tendency.—The state ment is sometimes made that the whole contention over the jobber is due to a selfish desire on the part of retailer, jobber or manufacturer to cut out a step in marketing and to keep for himself a profit that might go to someone else. That such is not always the case is proved by the causes for the present situa tion which have been listed in this chapter. There is always the desire on the part of every distributor to get all the profit possible, and the changing status of the jobber is due in part to that desire; but certain ly it is due just as largely to the many things that have happened of late years to alter marketing meth ods—things that have occurred because of a natural development of trade, and not because of a selfish desire on the part of Any trade factor to upset old procedure solely for the sake of an immediate advan tage to himself.