Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ... RETAIL SELLING AND STORE MANAGEMENT CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO RETAIL SELLING Production.--To supply the wants of people there has been built up a great system of industry and commerce. The average family draws its foods, its clothing, and other needs from all parts of the earth. From producer to consumer there is in most cases an intricate series of transformations and exchanges. There is first the production of the raw material by the laborers who work next to the soil, from which all material things originally come. Then there is the transportation to the factories, and the manufacturing that changes the form of the raw product to something suitable to human use. After manufacture the goods are usually transported again to large dealers who purchase in large amounts and distribute in wholesale lots to the smaller dealers. Finally, the goods reach the consumers. This great system of industry and commerce is called economic production. Place of retailing in production.--The business of retail selling is the final link in this great chain extending from producer to consumer. To show its relation to the whole system of production and commercial distribution, we may follow the processes of an article from its beginnings to its ultimate uses. (See Plate I.) In the production of an ordinary piece of calico there are, as indicated in the chart, more than twenty-five steps. There are often many more. The chart shows a simplified condition. It will be seen that a piece of cotton goods must pass through a great number of hands, must travel over long distances, must be worked by machinery requiring much capital for its purchase and operation, and must be subjected to many processes that have scientific bases in physics, chemistry, etc. What is...
