22

THE MODEL STOCK PLAN

lists it at $9, making it as attractive as possible but keeping
it more profitable for himself than the $8 article. His
argument to buyers is about as follows: “See how much nicer
this is. It costs only 8 cents apiece more. You can sell it
sasily for 25 cents more. So it’s more profitable for you.”
The argument sounds convincing. It would be, but for one
thing: the retail demand actually bulks at the $1 price.
Nothing that the manufacturer does will materially alter this
fact. The mass demand for that line centers on $1 goods
and not on goods priced at $1.25 or even $1.1 5. If theretailer
buys heavily in the $9 line as a result of the manufacturer’s
persuasion and marks the article at $1.25, it is certain that the
goods, or a considerable portion of them, will have to be
marked down finally to $1.
Now, with the Model Stock Plan, the buyer, when he is
shown the $9 article, knows he can sell it readily for $1 but
not for more. Moreover, he knows that if he can get it to
sell for $1 he will sell not only the article itself but also an
increased quantity of the other $1 goods of his best-selling
full line; for it is impossible to satisfy all customers with one
style. Therefore, he will do what the average buyer does:
that is, try to buy the article for $8. But there the resemblance
 will cease.
I know from experience that the average buyer, finding a
good deal of resistance to a price reduction, will often be
satisfied with the argument that he can get $1.25 for the
article. After buying and trying to sell at that price, he will
finally be forced to take mark-downs, because he has gone
counter to the real buying demand of the masses of his
customers. Even if he is successful in selling fair quantities
of the goods at $1.25 by supersalesmanship and superpublicity,
 he is hurting the goodwill of his business in selling
them and making less total profits with a great deal larger
expense than if he fitted his selling into the stream of his
customers’ demands. He has erred by allowing himself to
be influenced more by a manufacturer's desire to sell at a
given price than by the group desire of customers to buy ata
given price.