RETAILER AND CUSTOMER

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4668, 29 February 1924, Page 4

RETAILER AND CUSTOMER

SUBSTITUTING GOODS. i A LEGACY OF WAR DAYS. Recently, states a. writer in the “ Mercantile Gazette,” we had occasion to place an order with a leading linn of grocers, and out of perhaps forty lines no fewer than seven were filled with other than the brand names called for. This practice, we regret tc state, is not uncommon, and if the prevailing tendency continues tlie time will soon arrive when the dealer will decide just what brand of article his customer should possess. There used to be an old saying "that the man who paid the piper called the tune,” but in respect to grocery lines in paiticular it would almost seem as if that truism had run its course. The Great War has been blamed for many things, and no doubt it will continue to be blamed, but it is undoubtedly the ease that the shortage of many household articles and the difficulty in procuring supplies gave the retailer a splendid opportunity of working in substitutes. Business was booming, and the loss of a customer who, after complaining about a series of substitutions and finally insisted on getting Brown’s soap when he ordered Brown’s soap, was not of serious moment. Conditions, however, have now changed, and the time is coming when wise purchasers will insisit on receiving what they order and for which they expect to pay. The fact that in the grocer’s opinion tlie line that is offered instead of the commodity requested, represents better value makes no difference, though in most cases it will be conceded that the retailer makes a better margin out of the goods he pushes. If the grocer says quite frankly. “No, I have not that article, but I. have another brand,” and leaves it to the customer to take or reject, well and good. But in cases like the one referred to in this article where other lines and rnayebe nondescript brands of doubtful origin are pushed off hi substitir tion for branded goods of known quality it is a question as to whether, th'3 grocer is really acting honest. - ly. Customers resent that kind of business, and in our opinion it is not good policy to indulge in such tactics. It is for the grocer, or for any other business concern for that matter, to run the establishment as it thinks fit, and if a customer, does not find what he desires it is for the customer x -o trade elsewhere. No one can cavil at the attitude of the retailer who desires to limit his range and refuses to run a multitude of brands. Such action is probably sound bl the long run. But when a patron orders a certain well-known brand of jam, for instance, and the line is not stocked, he should be told the position and asked if another brand will do. To substitute the other brand without reference to the customer is bordering on. if not actual, sharp practice. There is another aspect of the mat ■ ter to be considered also. Reputable manufacturers create a market for their wares by advertising and other means of gaining, public goodwill, and because they stand behind their goods they dare not tamper with quality. Because of this goodwill and on account of the selling activities of the owners, the public responds, and orders the goods. It is the reputable manufacturer who sends the customer along, he has probably created a desire or. the part of that customer for the first time for that particular article, and when the order is, given an unknown brand of inferior quality may be handed out. The manufacturer who was responsible for the sale loses, the customer gets a line that perhaps does not come up to his expectations, and his repeat business is lost just because the grocer in his shortsighted way is supposedly making an additional penny profit. This does not purpose to be a sermon to grocers in particular. It can be applied to any dealer > who happens to follow the tactics to which we take exception. Sound business can only be built up by giving people what they call for, and while it is quite legitimate for tlie, dealer to endeavour to sell whatever line he thinks is best suited to his trade he should be-frank when offering a line other than the one ordered.

It is poor business to try to run a private brand or a brand which is not well known but upon Which there is a little more profit when a popular article is called for. The extra time involved in the sale, for 9 it always takes time to sell an unknown line, more than makes up for the additional discount, and people are better satisfied if you hand out their own choice. If perchance, the goods are then not quite right, it is the manu-. facturer who gets the blame and not you.

Complaint is being made by leading manufacturers that under present conditions, they are not getting a frtlr spin. They are using every endeavour to create sales for worthy products, but they are baulked to a considerable extent by the fact that after they nave persuaded the public to order the goods the sale is lost because of this evil of substitution. No grocer desires to load up his shelves with every new brand that happens along, just because a salesman points out that a heavy advertising cam-, paign is being launched, but where a legitimate and a steady demand is created it is up to the grocer to fill it. Those retailers who. have the faculty of looking ahead will realise that the time will come, in any case, when the pre-war practice of handing out what is ordered must be reverted to and endeavour to meet the wishes'of their customers, as indeeed do many of our leading dealers to-day. The others will be found wanting and left.