5 Wollesirtochafl 4
Bel 550 ™4titig 3 gp
DOING MORE BUSINESS ON SMALLER STOCKS 113
check in value against a BB. The Model Stock Plan will
eliminate a great many articles that encumber an ordinary
stock. So we offer our customers only tested values from
a complete, scientifically priced stock that is still far smaller
than the average. And even though some mark-downs will
be necessary, aswe have seen in the preceding chapter, we
shall sell an unusually large proportion of our stocks
promptly, before they lose salability through obsolescence.
Thus we avoid having in stock the slow-moving merchan-
dise that usually prevents buying goods that we need and
that will turn rapidly. We are turning our style merchandise
more rapidly than has been possible under traditional
methods, more rapidly than is possible without the Model
Stock Plan. We are always open to buy goods experimen-
tally at the earliest manifestation of a new style trend and
to place orders in adequate quantities for this new style just
as soon as we are sure it is in general demand.
Customers, therefore, will recognize our store as the one
where they are sure to get the newest good styles. This
brings a further increase in the goodwill of our store. Like-
wise, it adds to our power to buy and sell new styles far more
profitably than competitors, using old methods, possibly can.
The fiscal year 1920 to 1921, with the post-war deflation
and shrinkage in merchandise market prices, was one of the
best and most profitable years that the Filene store in Boston
has ever experienced. Yet management and merchandise
executives had to hold constant conferences and take unusu-
ally heavy mark-downs in the main store. But the base-
ment—where the stock turns very much oftener than that
of the main store—did not need this special attention and
caused practically no anxiety, because the stock changed
so often that it was safe. Time is a prime factor in almost
any depreciation of merchandise stocks. Increasing the
rate of turnover reduces the time that goods are held in
stock and so lessens the risk of depreciation.
We must not assume that using the Model Stock Plan will
automatically cut down the size of our stocks. To be sure,
when properly applied it is certain to speed up our rate of
