THE MODEL STOCK PLAN
merchandise is manufactured most favorably, and a touch of
imagination and foresight.
This sounds formidable. It is not exactly easy. Yet the
chief requisite is the determination to do it and to keep
everlastingly doing it. Cases are instructive. Let me
describe one of my own experiences.
When, a good many years ago, we opened our first garment
store in Boston, most merchants told us that women’s cotton
underwear was difficult to earn a profit on. And so it was.
Practically all of the cotton underwear carried in stores
was staple. Few manufacturers produced distinctive under-
wear, for the bulk of such lingerie was made at home. Brisk
competition on staples that are alike for all stores leads
inevitably to plain old-fashioned price competition.
Finding a BB was, therefore, almost impossible under
these conditions. Rather than accept these conditions
indefinitely, we preferred to help our customers and ourselves
by supplying BB’s in distinctive merchandise—artistic
lingerie at prices lower than it would have cost to make it at
home.
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French underwear was distinctive, using more laces and
hand embroidery than American. Using French samples,
we began striving for similar effects with our staple garments.
We developed for our highest-priced full line articles trimmed
with real lace, a distinct departure. Working in this way
we created more than one BB, around which we built our
full lines.
Nightdresses, for instance, usually sold at $1, $1.10, $1.17,
$1.25, $1.35, $1.50, and so on. We established a full-line
price at 98 cents and then began searching the market for
goods that could be secured at $8.50, $9.00, and $9.50 a
dozen and sold at 98 cents. We could find a few lines at $9.00
or $9.50 but many more were priced at $10.50, $11.00 or
$12.00 a dozen.
We found that we could sell great quantities of nightgowns
at 98 cents. The large quantities we could use were a great
help in buying but not a sufficient help. Finally, we found
that by planning far ahead and placing our orders to be filled
