144 THE MODEL STOCK PLAN
must buy, as far as possible, when they are not busiest.
We must readjust our plans to fit more nearly their needs
and requirements; and we can do it, to a great extent, without
loss of profit or merchandising prestige. Indeed, we can
often add to our profits if we let manufacturers know that
we are willing to use our best efforts to help them keep busy
in their dull periods.
As soon as manufacturers have supplied the distant trade
and the majority of nearer buyers, their busiest season ends.
An idle manufacturer begins at once to look around for new
avenues of business. He must usually get it by forcing sales.
Usually, he makes up a new line of samples and tries to sell
to retailers who are already fully supplied. This marks the
fifth date on the buying calendar, the between-season show-
ing. Its date will usually coincide with or closely follow the
fourth date on the calendar, the end of the busiest season.
Usually these new samples are the best of the year. They
are not guesses, as the very first samples were. Time enough
has elapsed to get the information that comes from abroad
and the information furnished by reorders, showing the
actual demand. This makes it possible for the manufacturer
to produce quite definitely what customers want.
Usually, however, most buyers are not then in a good posi-
tion to buy. If they do buy, they must take losses on other
goods already bought. The task for the merchant who
studies his problem and is guided by his knowledge of the
buying calendar is to be open fo buy ai this time. ;
It would be profitable to take 75 cents for every $1 paid
for the goods in style departments at the height of the season,
or just after the height of the season when the manufacturer’s
busiest season ends, if we could get rid of these goods and
replace them at once with what we then know customers
actually want. This would be true for almost any style
stock. We could make more money by selling our goods
overnight for three-quarters of what we paid, provided the
following morning we could open our doors with a complete
new stock bought at the full prices then current, containing
nothing but what we knew was in demand.
