THE MORE-PROFIT TIME TO BUY 141 
The third date on the buying calendar is the beginning of 
the manufacturers busiest season. It is the time when the 
competition among retailers for merchandise is the keenest. 
Manufacturers are in their strongest position then. The 
significance of this date in the merchandising plan forces us 
to consider some fundamentals that underlie good service 
to the public and bring the greatest total profits. 
Supply and demand are not always parallel forces. 
Demand, for example, runs down to little or nothing between 
seasons. It slowly mounts to a peak as the season advances, 
then comes down again. Sales can, perhaps, be stimulated 
so that it again approaches the peak, then again runs down to 
little or nothing at the end of the season. 
This is typical. Supply, on the other hand, does not run 
the same way. It does not go up just as demand goes up 
nor down just as demand goes down. There is hardly ever 
a season when the supply curve exactly follows the demand 
curve; and the curve is not the same for different years. 
It is important for the buyer to realize all this. I remem- 
ber, for example, one season when the shoe manufacturers 
of the country did not know in advance that nearly every- 
body was going to want tan shoes. The supply was wholly 
inadequate at first. Later it increased somewhat, but soon 
fell off again for lack of materials, wavering uncertainly 
until the time of greatest demand had passed. Then the 
manufacturers began to pay for their lack of foresight by 
having an excessive supply. Plenty of “jobs” of tan shoes 
were then to be had at less than cost. 
The variations between supply and demand may be 
increased by many other causes than lack of foresight on the 
part of manufacturers. Financial conditions, for one thing, 
are often beyond the control of manufacturers; but if they 
are unfavorable, merchants will be afraid to place their 
orders early. Supply may be large for want of early orders. 
All this has a definite bearing on the best time to buy. If 
we do not buy when we should and can get the goods, we 
may lose a lot of money by not being able to supply to our 
customers the goods they want: or, on the other hand, we