56 
THE MODEL STOCK PLAN 
into the Model Stock Plan is to have the buyer in touch 
with customers in the store. An elaborate system is not 
imperative, certainly not in a small store, if the buyer is 
present to hear the comments of customers, to see how they 
like the merchandise, and to note what changes or different 
styles and varieties they ask for. 
The task of a real merchandiser is not selling to the public 
nearly so much as buying for the public. The emphasis is 
deservedly on “buying for.” 
The fundamentals of merchandising are simple, but the 
great mass of details is likely to obscure fundamentals, 
Retail merchandising in a store of some size involves a great 
many elements. Yet it need not be complex, for each part 
of the task should be handled as a single simple part which 
has been designed in relation to the whole. When a fairly 
complex operation is resolved into its component parts, it 
becomes simple. 
The complexity is taken out of the task by charting the 
details and by having a definite set of principles and methods 
such as the Model Stock Plan. As we have seen in this 
chapter, it is comparatively simple to devise records that 
can be used to help us in following the basic principles that 
pay greater total profits. 
The Model Stock Plan and its records embody methods 
for making, in advance, a complete outline of a proposed 
merchandise stock for an approaching season. It is a simple 
planning, buying, and control method. It approaches the 
problem of merchandising by practical, logical method 
and, by substituting facts and experience for opinion, 
succeeds also in increasing goodwill, getting a rapid rate of 
turnover, minimizing losses, and increasing total profits. 
Adopting the nomenclature of the Model Stock Plan does 
not mean that the plan is adopted. There has been a fairly 
* The logical outgrowths of this idea result in a conception of the depart 
ment buyer's function which is materially different from the commonly 
accepted usage. Under the fullest application of the Mode! Stock Plan, the 
buyer’s opportunities to increase his department’s profits and, consequently, 
his own earnings are tremendously increased, as is explained further in 
Chap. XVI, p. 228.