102 THE MODEL STOCK PLAN
most willingly pay. The same reasoning applies, just as
emphatically and just as profitably, to mark-downs.
Under the Model Stock Plan mark-downs are never made
to an arbitrary, in-between price. Mark-downs are always
made to the next lower full-line price. The only exception is
in marking down goods from the cheapest full-line price;
these should be disposed of in our basement store, which
operates at a price level generally below the full-line prices
and depends upon unusual buying opportunities for special
lots and distress lots rather than on carrying complete stocks
and complete assortments.
The essence of mark-downs under our plan of operation is
to take them soon enough at regular full-line prices. And
right here enters a major advantage that the Model Stock
Plan provides. For instead of setting out our mark-downs
as a distinct group of items, at a special price, to which the
customer is drawn by bargain advertising and from which she
turns away if she fails to find in the marked-down lot what
she is looking for, we have our marked-down merchandise
mingled in with our regular merchandise at the full-line price.
In this full line, the pieces from the next higher full-line
price will certainly shine out as extraordinary values. But
if the customer’s preconceived requirements are not met by
some of the marked-down items, she has the whole full line
to choose from at the same price. In this complete assort-
ment she is almost certain to find what she is looking for and
almost always certain to find it at lower prices than she can
find it in competitors’ stores where the Model Stock Plan
is not followed.
It works out this way: The customer who comes to a store
in response to bargain advertising and fails to find in the
advertised lot what she is looking for is disappointed and
perhaps disgusted. But the customer who comes to the
Model Stock store in response to advertising that some excep-
tional marked-down items are offered in the stock of $25
dresses is almost sure to find at $25 something that she wants,
even though it is not one of the mark-downs; for the stock
has been built up, as we have already seen, to be a whole
