Author Description

W. R. Hotchkin, formerly advertising manager for the New York store of John Wanamaker, developed the "Manual of Successful Storekeeping." The contents of the volume were first issued as a service to retail merchants and are now published under the auspices of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. The book is composed of a series of articles discussing methods of handling the problems arising in the management of a department store; with suggestions for adaptation to the conditions of the country merchant. The book deals with serious problems in present-day merchandising. Among the topics treated are the following: Mid-season merchandising; The psychology of a crowd; Getting the most out of manufacturers; Carrying too many competing lines; Planning for Christmas; Cleaning out the old stock; A solution of the charge-account problem; Meeting the competition of the great mail-order houses; An equitable bonus system; The most fertile field for increasing sales. The volume should prove of great interest to the wide-awake merchant who is interested in studying the methods of other successful men. While frequently the methods are open to question, as, for instance, that suggesting a modification of the Macy deposit-account system as a general panacea for charge account troubles, there can be no question that the majority are in harmony with the best merchandising practice today. The reviewer is inclined to wish that a little more detail had been given in some cases. It does not seem sufficient to tell the merchant he should train his clerks in salesmanship, without telling him how to do so. If, however, the retailer can be brought to appreciate how much his success depends on the salesmanship of his clerks, he will perhaps improvise methods of instruction. The treatment is generally suggestive; and, after all, such handling of the subject is frequently more effective than a purely didactic one. -Modern Business Supplement: An Interpret