54

THE MODEL STOCK PLAN

advertising, or, more probably, a mark-down is the solution.
In no instance, however, should he, merely to avoid a markdown,
 resort to “smart” salesmanship in persuading customers
 to purchase something not suited to their individual
needs and tastes. While it might temporarily improve his
profits, it will gravely endanger the goodwill of the business.
+ This kind of record should carry as its most important
part a record of the profits less the loss on mark-downs from
every single resource. After all, this is what most interests
the merchant. Every record, as is true of the whole Model
Stock Plan, is designed to help us to increase our total profits.
Our purpose is to help each buyer and merchandise manager
to increase the total profit of his department. More and
more profits will come as a result of the profit-making
methods of the Model Stock Plan.
Nothing else could be more valuable for the buyer than to
have in his pocket and to consult constantly a record of the
profit he is making from a firm from which he has been buying
and from which he is about to buy again. After all, the
buyer’s future is depending upon the profits he makes from
each resource—not upon the beautiful decorations of its
showrooms nor upon how skilfully its live models display
the samples. And the producer, the manufacturer, should
be just as much interested as the buyer; the producer whose
goods regularly yield us a good profit does not have to worry
about losing our trade. The type of buyer who will hold his
position and make a real success will, when he has these
facts available, continue to deal through thick and thin with
a profitable resource, for on his department’s profit showing
the buyer’s reputation and earnings depend.
This information is so valuable, and yet so infrequently
compiled by retailers, that it deserves to be brought very
emphatically to the attention of retail merchants.! If more
attention were given to this question, it would result in

! How this record is used in purchasing is described in detail in Chap. XI,
Pp. 151. The profit record of each resource is of material assistance in selecting
 resources and in dealing profitably with them; the record is perhaps even
more valuable in buving than in stock control.