How Department Stores Are Carried On

by W. B. Phillips

The copy and cuts, when submitted and passed, are handed over to the printer, an effort being made to get them in his hands in the order they should appear in the catalogue, which greatly facilitates his work in many ways, and materially assists in getting the whole catalogue completed much more quickly. Proofs of the catalogue, as set up, are very carefully examined, the arrangement of matter and cuts given special attention, and when every page is entirely satisfactory it is finally O. K.'d. Electrotype or stereotype plates are then made from the type, and these plates handed over to the pressroom, when the work of printing begins. As fast as possible, the forms are printed, folded, gathered and stitched, covers put on, books trimmed and completed.

Special attention is given to preparation of index; every page is gone over carefully, and, as far as possible, every line of goods appearing in the catalogue is alphabetically arranged in the index, thus providing an easy reference to whatever goods customers may wish to select.

Certain space in catalogue is devoted to giving instructions to shoppers by mail, and too much care cannot be exercised in their preparation. They should be short, but cover the ground completely, giving customers whatever information they need to order intelligently, anticipating all contingencies, thus preventing delay, misunderstanding and inconvenience. People are forgetful, and this information, if referred to, acts as a constant reminder. The special points emphasized to customers are—to always write their name, post office, and State or Province, state how much money is enclosed, how and where they want goods shipped, and, if goods are ordered by mail, to enclose sufficient extra for postage and, where necessary, for insurance or registration. They are requested to send remittances by express order, post office order, or other safe means, and cautioned against sending by unregistered mail; to order by number and page in catalogue, and, when requesting samples sent, to state definitely what is required, color, quality, price, etc., so that a suitable selection may be forwarded. Where goods for any reason are returned, they are specially reminded to put their name on the parcel, so that it may be identified at once. They are encouraged to order by freight where possible, to economize on the charges, and to club together with other customers in ordering, for the same reason. They are told definitely what to do in case of delays, complaints or exchanges, and sufficient information is given and classified in such a manner that, if referred to and made use of as intended, there is very little liability of any serious difficulty arising. It won't do to take it for granted that customers always understand what to do. They must be reminded of certain requirements under certain conditions, and largely educated in this direction, and, therefore, instructions to shoppers by mail bear no unimportant relation to the business, and must always be clear, intelligent and complete.

The general arrangement of the catalogue should be studied, with a view to having departments of a similar character grouped together, thus assisting in the general effect.

Economy of space should be studied on every page. While cuts should, as far as possible, be of uniform size, yet they must be no larger than actually necessary to show goods properly, as space occupied by cuts larger than are needed is money wasted. Position and arrangement of cuts can be so studied as to greatly reduce the cost of space. Printed matter must be set close to cuts, and while type selected must be clear and easy to read, yet it must not be large. An understanding should exist with the printer that the matter must be set to save space wherever consistent, and any carelessness or neglect in this respect should be observed and effectually stopped at once. A saving of five pages in a catalogue by watching the size of cuts, their arrangement, the setting of the type, etc., if the issue should be say two hundred thousand, means a million pages of paper saved, outside of any saving in composition, presswork, etc. Such arrangements should be made with the printers as will insure good work throughout. The good effect desired in the special care exercised in preparation of copy, getting drawings and cuts made, etc., can be largely reduced by hasty and careless composition, poor ink, and lack of proper attention to presswork and binding. The printer, therefore, should be wisely selected, one in whom confidence can be placed, who knows how to set it up in the way it will look well, and will use his knowledge so that the catalogue, as representative of the business, will be satisfactory in this particular.

While the catalogue is being compiled and printed, catalogue wrappers are being addressed to customers, and everything prepared for mailing. The method of recording and permanently preserving customers' names and addresses is deserving of attention here. That most in vogue is a system of card indexing. The different towns in each State or Province are written or printed on cards, and these are arranged alphabetically in suitable cases, and ruled so as to show by months and years the amount of business done in each town, and any other particulars required. The name of each customer in the various towns is entered on a separate record card, which is ruled, allowing space for the name and address, and so the date and amount of each purchase is shown as it occurs, space being left at the bottom of each column for total footings, and these individual cards are filed under the town they belong to. Where the towns have a large population and the number of customers is correspondingly large, an auxiliary alphabetical index is used for easy reference. The information recorded on these cards may be entered direct from the orders themselves, or where the loose-leaf book system is used, the sheets may be detached as required, and the information registered direct from these sheets. Each drawer or compartment in which cards are filed is labelled on the outside, to indicate its contents. Thus, when recording an order, the first reference is to the town the order is from, and then under this town is found the card with customer's name, upon which entry is made, and the card put back in its proper place. These cards, therefore, show at all times the name and address of each customer, how much business each has done, and the total amount of business done in each town. Previous to sending out catalogues, these cards are all gone over carefully, and where customers have not ordered within a certain time their cards are taken out. Where two or more names in the same town, and evidently of the same family, appear, positive information is obtained and acted upon, with a view to preventing a waste of catalogues by sending more than one to the same family. The list is thoroughly examined, checked, revised, and all old, dead matter excluded before addressing catalogue wrappers, as sending out catalogues to names that do not respond is a dead loss of postage, printed matter and effort. A big advantage in keeping a mailing list on index cards is, that they can be distributed among a large number of writers, and thousands of wrappers written in a short time, which cannot be conveniently done where kept in books; and the card system also keeps the list neat and clean, while books, by reason of names being crossed out, etc., always present anything but a good appearance. When wrappers are addressed, they are all checked back and compared with cards, to insure absolute correctness. All the wrappers for one town are usually attached together and kept separate from other towns, and thus, when mailing, all the catalogues going to any one town are put in a bag or bags by themselves, which, while causing extra labor on the part of the sender, insures correctness, and enables post office employees to handle large quantities with great despatch. Printed envelopes bearing the firm's name and address, and blank order forms, are usually enclosed for the benefit of the customers.

The art of catalogue compiling and looking after its proper distribution entails hard and extremely careful work. When finished and sent out, it has to compete with other catalogues wherever it goes, and, as it is the representative of the business, it must be complete in every detail, in order to do its work well.

While the catalogue has its distinctive place as "The Steady Trade Bringer" from out-of-town customers, yet much is accomplished by special mail-order advertising. This embraces booklets, circulars, leaflets, etc.; little pamphlets properly illustrated and well written dropped into the people's homes through the medium of the letter, the parcel, or both. Suggestions of seasonable goods, a special about furs when the weather is cold, rubbers and waterproofs during the rainy season, hints for weddings in June, light clothing for warm-weather wear, and so on through the whole range of merchandise, keeping the business before the public all the time with something new, attractive, seasonable. Where "Special Sales" are inaugurated, such as "White Goods Sale," "Special Furniture Sale," etc., shoppers from out of town are given an opportunity to participate in any advantages they may bring through the medium of the newspaper advertisement as far as it reaches, and through such special distribution of advertising matter relative to these sales as is consistent with anticipated profits. The Christmas season is specially considered, the gift question in all its bearings duly studied, planned and provided for in advance. Tuning the business up all the time, keeping at a safe distance any danger of a relapse or "that tired feeling," which may almost unsuspectingly creep into a business, by administering these special advertising tonics, new, interesting and helpful, the result of well-studied plans.

This process of continual construction is not built up alone by keeping in constant touch with customers already secured, but by reaching out for new trade among new people. Getting new names. Regular customers, on request, readily contribute the names and addresses of possible customers in their immediate vicinity. Special appeals made to special classes, for a consideration, usually result in securing satisfactory lists. These lists as received are compared with names already in use, and all duplicates struck out, thus providing against the possibility of sending the same matter to the same name twice. Securing these new names is simply a part of the natural development of the catalogue trade. Wisely considered, the development is both from within and from without. From within, by adding new stocks to the business from time to time, as space, resources and abilities permit; and from without, by adding new and increased numbers to the purchasing list. From within, by getting more goods to sell; and from without, by getting more people to buy. Not only continuing to sell the same goods to the same people, but getting more goods for these same people, and more people to buy these goods. Instead of having the dollar sent to some other business for lack of goods, get that dollar by having the goods, the effort being made to build up the business and develop it on the lines of selling all the people all their goods all the time. It is the understanding of this principle and its working out through the catalogue and all other auxiliary advertising, backed up by the goods required, that makes the possibilities of this trade.