I I ' ! ' ' ' A Business Ought to Belong to Its Stockholders- but many in Philadelphia don't A certain manufacturing concern not in Phila delphia awoke in 1913 to the fact that a great menace hung over it. . One-half of its sales were to dealers, under trade mark. The other half went, under private brand, to one single customer. On these goods the identity of the manufacturer was utterly lost. Whatever quality they had, whatever good will they won, re dounded to the credit of the house that sold them, not to that of the house that made them. That single account was Vital. The loss of it would at one stroke cut the volume in half. What Happened to the Sales of One Manufacturer in Four Years ' Year 1913 (before adver tising) 1914 (rst year of advertising) 1915 1916 1917 (approximate) Sales to dealers under trade-mark ...$188,982.43 224,419.38 398,939.50 600,000.00 (approximate) 1,000,000.00 There was no indi cation, however, . that the big account was going to be lost. Every thing was- running on smoQthly, and the profits were good. Nevertheless the manufacturer decided that on sound general principles it was about time that the v stockholders owned their own business and con trolled their own destiny. "And so," says the president, "we. planned to start an advertising campaign, all the stockholders agreeing to stand by for three years. . . "Our appropriation in 1914," he continues, "was only $15,000, but it looked' a lot bigger than the $75,000 we spent this year. " By keeping at it, and talking it night and day to our salesmen, and through them to our customers, we increased our distribution and sales sufficiently so that we made up the gap the first year that our private-brand customer fold us they had started on their own little factory" For the first blow had fallen,vout of a clear sky. Sales to one customer under private brand $188,723.23 165,364.21 75,083.75 Nominal None Total $377,705.66 389,783.59 474,023.25 604,652.15 1,000,000.00 "My hunch was correct," the president says. "They had gone to making their own goods even while we were planning our advertising. iffi "The next year, 1915, this customer dropped out another third of the business, and we filled up the gap, and some more. "The next year we didn't have any of it and our sales jumped to $600,000." "This year we will fall a very few thousand short of our planned $1,000,000." - Today, then, that business belongs en tirely to the stockhold ers, not one-half to them and the other half to a star customer. There is no private brand business left, and . the total volume is al most three times what it was before the advertising began. "I think," says the president in conclusion, "the men who are guiding the policies of this concern have grown bigger in courage, if not in mental cali ber. We all feel that from now on nothing will stop us. That is, that the hardest part of the job of build ing a great big business has been accomplished. "It is hard work to talk this doctrine to con cerns who are as busy as they can be anyway, and who have good profits even in bad years. But we have got the figures to show for our work of the past four years and to back up what I am saying." That last paragraph is one that ought to be burned into the consciousness of dozens of Phila delphia manufacturers whose businesses do not be long to their stockholders, who live constantly in the shadow of disaster, who le the pressure of immedi ate production and the glamour of this year's profits blind them to the steady, relentless trend of the times. THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, Independence Square, Philadelphia The Ladies' Home Journal The Saturday Evening Post The Country Gentleman i t&X r.' -V .., .-,:: 7 M i'"! mi HL'I ,X : rj-s I 'C.r-, $ 3k ' iiWT'' w i Tiki' HI NJ fm &&i rss W,tT, ft., 1 a ti'V! . ''ft" ,' V.; M n "W m m 'itf- n mw? iSSS.fc'1 1 mi? i . : i ' JffsSf ' (', a "Wri I A'.fM- cte.tr! r, Bi An' wmm ,jam n Av-i ' "C3i" i.v I f. rw M, V-- W mfo ti V4 .'. &m&km& lt-i & 'Mkl!?VtM& ,;t. kil.L
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers