188
THE MODEL STOCK PLAN
The Gordon Hosiery line, redesigned according to the life-
insurance statistics, is the basis of a model stock which gives
a dealer a complete stock for his entire group of customers,
not merely, as was previously true of most lines, for only
55 per cent, or slightly more, of the customers.
The model stock is divided by resale prices at $1. 50, $2.00,
$2.50, $3.00, and $3.50.! Different size basic stocks were
figured for typical stores in cities of different sizes. For
instance, for a city of 200,000 or more, a stock costing $14,932
is priced to retail at $23,232 and amounts to 028 dozen,
472 dozen of which are in the $2 price range. For a city of
50,000, the stock of 496 dozen, of which 262 dozen are in the
$2 range, total cost $7,963, is priced to retail at $12,390.
The store reorders whatever items are shown to be almost
sold out. A card in each three-pair box of hosiery is packed
where the saleswoman finds it on removing the second pair
from the box. From these cards the order is made up in
triplicate, two copies of which go to the manufacturer.
CAsE 2. GoTraAM S1LK HOSIERY CoMPANY, MANUFACTURERS
Those hosiery manufacturers, who adjusted themselves
to the new needs for swifter distribution to meet rapid
changes in style, were the first to adopt model stocks of
hosiery. Thus they insured the retailer getting goods not
only in time, but also rightly balanced as to style, color, and
size for the needs of his trade. Such stocks, of course,
increase profits for producer and distributor.
Gotham Silk Hosiery Company’s Automatic Reorder
Plan has often been called by officials of the company and by
others the hand-to-mouth method of distribution. To
1! Manufacturers! model stocks, prepared for stores which are not organized
under the Model Stock Plan, cannot at this time be expected to go all the way
to only three full-line prices. This will come ultimately, as experience with
the plan and the spread of the Model Stock Plan make it inescapable. Itis
interesting to note how, in the Brown Durrell Company’s model retail stocks,
the best-selling full line at $2 constitutes more than half the total stock.
Cannon Manufacturing Company, as we shall see on p. 190, has already
adopted three full-line prices for part of its model stock.