CHAIN STORES 
397 
Careful records are kept of each employee so that his per 
formance is known not only from the opinions of immediate 
superiors, but from accurate statistics. A manager is frequently 
shifted from one store to another to enlarge his experience or to 
place him in a position more suited to his capacity. 
TURNOVER 
Turnover and low unit costs are key policies in the chain sys- • 
tern. It is said that the average chain-store grocery unit turns 
its stock from twenty-five to forty times a year, as compared with 
a stock-turn of from eight to twelve times for the average single 
store grocer; and that the chain-store system as a wholesaler 
turns its stock from twelve to eighteen times a year, compared 
with a turnover of from six to eight times for the grocery jobber. 1 
Stores handling other lines, where the demand from consumers is 
less concentrated, will show a lower rate of turnover. 
COSTS 
Because the chain-of-stores form of organization is applied to 
so many different lines the costs of doing business will vary 
widely. And, unfortunately, chain-store cost figures for an entire 
trade (except for groceries) are not available to any considerable 
extent. 
Mr. Alfred H. Beckmann startled the world of retail merchants 
ln I9 2 4 when he announced that the range of operating costs of 
a chain-grocery-store organization (performing both wholesale 
and retail services) was from 12 to 18 per cent; the average being 
about 14 per cent. His analysis of the common expense figures 
(average for sixteen chains) appears below. A comparison is 
also made with the expense ratios of one-store retailers and 
wholesale grocers (for the same year) as reported by the Harvard 
Bureau of Economic Research: 
. 1 A. H. Beckmann, secretary of the National Chain Stores Grocers’ Asso 
ciation.