CHAPTER XI

AN ENTIRE STOCK OF BARGAINS

Building goodwill by extraordinary values. The Model Stock Plana
scientific method of obtaining good values at prices customers most
willingly pay. No competitor, operating on opinion, can meet these
values. If we do not adopt the Model Stock Plan, competitors will
eventually force us out of business. The value of training in fixed-price
buying. Right deliveries as important as price. Looking at goods us.
looking at records. “Sighting shots’ in buying. Plan the buying in
the store. Humility and net profits. Dangers of large stocks too early.
How to plan ahead for buying. Helping producers make money. Study
resources constantly. Competition increases our profits by drawing
trade. Internal store competition should be encouraged. The chain
within a chain. If department stores had adopted the Model Stock
Plan 10 years ago. A look ahead.

WriraiN 10 years no efficient, successful merchant will
continuously advertise “special bargains,” and, above all,
he will not advertise bargains ‘for today only.” Imagine
Ford or Chevrolet advertising their cars as marked down for
today only or for this week only. They act far more wisely.
They know that the cars they offer are bargains every day, at
all times, and that nothing could be more costly, more foolish,
than to advertise them spasmodically at a reduced price.
The Model Stock Plan, efficiently used, provides bargains
every day, an entire stock of bargains. By offering our
customers an entire stock of bargains, we build goodwill more
valuable than any other single asset of our business. The
truth of this statement is as simple as A,B, C. But we
know from our own experience in merchandising that building
 an entire stock of bargains is not simple. Actually such
a stock cannot profitably be built up by commonly accepted
methods.
Successful buying—which means, in the long run, buying
to give our customers the greatest satisfaction and, therefore,
yield us the greatest total profits—is not, under the Model
Stock Plan. based on inspiration or opinions or even on that

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