CHAPTER V
DE LUXE GOODS FOR DE LUXE CUSTOMERS
The profit in being recognized as style headquarters for the com-
munity. The Model Stock Plan’s provision for attaining this recog-
nition by profitable de luxe departments. Combining the advantages of
a small de luxe specialty shop and a large store. Full-line buyers can-
not afford the time for single-piece buying. The ensemble effect. How
de luxe customers help guide full-line buying. Can de luxe goods be sold
in large organizations? Exemption from store rules and full-line rules.
Separate de luxe buyers free from supervision by full-line executives.
When full lines and de luxe lines clash. How to get a specialty shop
owner to head our de luxe department. The double-name label. De
luxe floors. Advertising de luxe departments. The Model Stock
Plan gives us store unity.
Stores that make efficient use of the Model Stock Plan
can become style headquarters of their communities. People
in general like to wear the same styles, have the same house-
hold furniture, and buy even the ordinary staple merchandise
at the same stores as the wealthier, better known, “society-
leader” type of people. Every experienced merchant accepts
this truth. But if his business depends for its profits on
selling goods to the great mass of population, he recognizes
the very real difficulties that stand in the way of his getting
the de luxe trade which likes to have articles that are
distinctive.
A great obstacle to selling the very top quality items in
mass-selling stores is the customer’s fear that an article
bought here will become too commonly in use. So the
wealthiest customers ordinarily buy at the smaller, more
exclusive, very expensive shops that are recognized as style
headquarters of the community, even in lines where style
does not enter importantly. Probably any merchant doing
a good-sized general business would be glad to handle all of
the city’s de luxe trade without direct profit for the sake of
the reputation that comes with having this trade.
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