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SIMPLIFIED SELLING
CHAIRMAN: Sedgwick R. Ryno, Store Manager
The Fair
Chicago, Illinois
CHAIRMAN RYNO: The topic of this afternoon's session is "Easier Buying for
More Sales." Many of us, both in management and in merchandising, are try-
ing to get additional volume to offset the greatly increased costs and ex-
penses we are up against right now. I don't think that anyone is enjoying
too great a gross margin, so that we in the management end of retailing cer-
tainly have a job to do to make our store performance and our sales a
little better than the Federal Reserve figures which we all use as a yard-
stick.
Our first speaker today will discuss an approach which is of interest to all
of us as offering one solution to the problem of more sales at less expense,
and that is exposed selling. Mr. Howard Cowee, Vice President of W. L.
Stensgaard and Associates, Inc., Chicago, will talk to us on the subject of
"How the Manufacturer Can Help Simplify Your Selling." Mr. Cowee.
HOW THE MANUFACTURER CAN HELP SIMPLIFY YOUR SELLING
Howard M. Cowee, Vice President
W. L. Stensgaard & Associates, Inc.
Chicago, Illinois
"How the Manufacturer Can Help Simplify Your Selling" is a topic that could
be approached on a very broad basis and could take us into the exploration of
any number of fields. I would like, however, to approach it and concentrate
on it from just one or two points.
Primarily, I think the retailer and the manufacturer have a joint problem and
a joint opportunity "at the last three feet--where the sale is made or lost"
and where the customer, the money, and the merchandise are brought together
for the first time in the whole cycle of distribution. This is the first
physical meeting of those very important players at the point of sale.
The nature of the joint retailer-manufacturer problem is best shown by the
figures just released in Harvard University's annual study on operating re-


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sults of department and specialty stores. A very few lines summarize that
story: -
Profits of department stores in 195l. declined 39% and reached the lowest
level since the year 1938.
The cost of doing business was the highest since 194l.
Payrolls as a percentage to sales were the highest since 1938.
The gross margin rate was only one-tenth of one per cent above
the lowest spread since 1932.
The merchandise turnover rate fell below four turns per year for the
first time since 1942, an occurrence that has been marked only twice in
the history of the Harvard studies.
Now I don't need to sound like a controller, but I think those few facts show
us the operating problem that faces us today, which can become imore severe
in the months aheade
When we reach back to 1938 and to 1932 for comparisons with present operations,
our problem becomes clear. Low turnover, poor gross margins, high personnel
costs, and higher costs of doing business, all of which result in dangerous
declines in profits, clearly call for attention to simplified selling.
"Simplified selling" is an easy name for a difficult job. If simplified
selling is done well, it increases merchandise turnover, maintains good gross
margins, increases personnel productivity, cuts costs of doing business, and
thereby contributes to profits.
However, if simplified selling were easy, we should have it now employed in
more departments of more of our stores today. Because simplified selling
frequently requires long, difficult, and demanding study to achieve, it is a
job of research and analysis, design and development, testing and improvement
that your manufacturers can help you to perform, where perhaps your own budgets
will niht permit you to undertake the job.
If you were to run an analysis on the job of simplified selling, the job des-
cription or specification would have as its objective increased sales at re-
duced selling cost, and would call broadly för at least the following five
factors?
l. Simplified selling should identify and expose more goods to more
people in less time.
2. Simplified selling should improve item and departmental display for
better service and ease of selection. -
3. Simplified selling should maintain inventories for less out-of-stock
on best sellers.











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in supermarkets and wherever else they have had the opportunity that they
like to serve themselves or start to serve themselves.
Now contrast the casket selling of buttons with Bailey, Green & Elger's simpli-
fied "sales slant" method of showmanship (Photograph No. 3, Page 7). It
enables the customer to match fabric to color, style and size of button with
great ease and accuracy without the help of the salesperson. A visual slant
panel, the buttons wired through perforated Masonite, for the first time com-
pletely exposes the button inventory so the customer can touch and compare the
piece of fabric for size, color and style. When the customer's selection has
been made, the salesperson reads the price and stock number, and finds in one
of the several compartments of the 15 front-facing, illuminated stock drawers
the exact button that the customer has sold herself.
Simplified selling, indeed! In six lineal feet as many as 500 buttons are
openly exposed to store traffic in all of their jewel-like color and brill-
iance, while as many as lo,000 buttons are stocked in the 15 drawers in back
of the fixture.
This method of simplified selling replaces in six lineal feet at least two of
the obsolescent caskets still in use in many stores. More sales in less
space, at lower cost, result from the cubic content of the square foot area
being utilized to better advantage.
Now in some stores we are told that this kind of simplified selling develop-
ment is against store policy. We wonder what kind of stores have policies
against simplifying their selling and increasing their profits.
Less Out-of-Stock of Best Sellers
We also find that bookkeeping controls sometimes are old-fashioned. New
selling methods tend to rewrite old stock-keeping and re-order records.
Visual inventory control is important to busy buyers today who want to be
sure that they are never out of stock on best sellers.
Ekco cutlery has found that selling not only simplifies itself for house-
wares departments when visual merchandising methods are employed, but also
that exposure of goods better enables customers to sell and to serve them-
selves (Photograph No. 4, Page 7).
One of the important advantages gained is that the buyer can easily see that
old-fashioned stockkeeping becomes new-fashioned sales-keeping. The tops of
the fixtures are always kept full. The exposed goods sell faster, in greater
quantity, and sometimes re-write the plan book for ratios and for re-order
periods.
Related Item Selling
The typical towel department displays stacks of towels on top of tables.
Martex Towels is now in the process of helping retailers to simplify the show-
ing and selling of towels with fixtures that provide for related selling.








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A new illuminated floor fixture (Photograph No. 5, Page 9) relates items and
leads to higher unit sales.
Wash cloths, hand-towels, and bath towels are color-coordinated and displayed
together in very little space. Decorative schemes help suggestion selling.
Good light lets color reach out to fashion-conscious, color-conscious shop-
pers. A companion tufted bath mat and lid cover floor stand completes the
relationship to help the sale.
Lower Cost of Selling
One more example. After long study, Spool Cotton Company came to the aid
of notion departments with simplified selling for one of the most complex
departments in retail stores.
Hundreds of retailers have found that stock turnover increases substan-
tially after conversion to simplified selling the Spool Cotton way (Photo-
graph No. 6, Page 9).
Exposed merchandise arranged in orderly fashion by color and by style,
gravity feed for customer self-selection and self-service, adequate inven-
tory control, and adequate provision for forward stock--all permit the
customer to take what she wants, hand it to a salesperson, and conclude
the sale quickly.
These examples could be multiplied many times, and you can see actual
proof and examples of excellent adaptations shown here in the exhibits at
this convention. These few examples, however, should enable us to see
that simplified selling is available and working in many departments of
many stores.
More of this philosophy should be applied, but we don't know of any store
that has as much as a thousand dollars in its budget today for the appli-
cation of visual merchandising studies to simplified selling.
-Retailers, however, in cooperation with the manufacturers who serve them,
can and should seek the benefits of simplified selling to stem the dim
performances shown in the current operating comparisons revealed by the
Harvard University study.
Finally, I think we face today, retailers and manufacturers alike, the
problems that can be overcome by us and opportunities that we can capit-
alize upon if we will cooperate with one another and learn to put simpli-
fied selling to work at "the last three feet where the sale is made or
lost," where it really counts.
* * * * *
CHAIRMAN RYN02 Thank you, Mr. Cowee, for a very constructive talk. I am
sure you have given us all something to think about.
The next person we are to hear from is a man who has a message from three
stores with a lot of experience with exposed selling. It is a pleasure
to introduce to you Mr. Morris Moss, Store Manager of The Hecht Company
in Washington. Mr. Moss!








Motion section-"seas a ses.….
6. Spool Cotton Company Fixture





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EXPOSED SELLING
Morris Moss, Store Manager
The Hecht Company
Washington, D. C.
First, let's get the record clear. I am not a seller of fixtures. I come
here with open, white hands; I have no particular ox to gore, but I think
basically I have a message for retailing.
I am not one of those people who think retailing is finished, but I am of the
opinion that a lot of it is suffering from dry-rot and that a lot of our
thinking is neither broad nor deep. I think it is about time that retailing
stopped talking and did a little thinking. By talking to you as a retailer,
I hope to leave in your minds facts that must make an impression.
In any pictures I show you, I am not trying to sell you the fixtures that the
Hecht Company is using. I am not trying to sell you anything except a
philosophy, and that I can only sell you with facts. If you will open your
minds to the philosophy I want to leave with you today, then I think you will
take home a constructive message to the managements of your stores. As indivi-
dual store managers we cannot achieve what I am going to talk about-it takes
top management philosophy and understanding to accomplish that.
Are Stores Giving Service?
We in department stores for years have liked to brag that we are service
stores. It is our greatest cause for pride, and truly it is part of our ex-
istence. But let's stop and do a little analyzing. What is "service"? As
store manager of a business that will now approximate seventy million dollars,
let me trace a little history for you which will help to clarify the Hecht
Company philosophy.
We opened our first branch store six years ago. Prior to that, in 1942, when
the Hecht Company had previously operated with 1450 salespeople in the down-
town store only, we reached a point where the best we could do was to maintain
a total force of 750 salespeople, supplemented by checkwriters and cashiers.
And yet we did 25% more business. From our experience during that period
came the development of what I am talking about-actually giving service in
a department store.
The Hecht Company, Washington, carries a complement of about 950 salespeople.
On a Saturday, when we do 25% to 27% of our business under tremendous pressure,
we bring into our store up to approximately 1300 salespeople, checkwriters,
and cashiers.
Now let's go a step further. By actual count we have in our store on a
Saturday 50,000 customers. Again by actual count at the peak of the lunch-
eon period, which is our busiest time, we have l,000 salespeople, check-
writers and cashiers available, and we have lo,000 customers. That gives
us a ratio of one salesperson to every ten customers.











-l.-
Of course you will have a battle on your hands. You will have to fight
the tradition that has been built up in retailing for years that depart-
ment store goods must be concealed-not only making it tough for your
regular salespeople, but also making it almost impossible for the contin-
gents you bring in to find the goods. So long as you adhere to that tra-
dition, you will give bad service. When you expose goods, you provide a
chance for the customer, your contingent, and your regular salesperson to
produce more.
Effect on Shortages
Your management may ask you some of the questions which have been asked
of me. What about the effect on shortages? It is a good question, and
you will laugh at the answer I make. The only thing the Hecht Company
has done is to make it easier for the people who want to steal to steal
by the right size. In other words, our shortage is no greater.
Even in a store which has case selling, if people want to steal there are
quantities of dresses, coats, suits, and other merchandise which is ex-
posed. So why are we unduly concerned about the possibility that the
customer will steal? If she wants to steal, she is going to steal, and
all we have done is to make it easier to pick out the right size.
Other Points Questioned
Let's take a second point often raised. The general managers of many
stores have asked me, "What has happened to your average sale?" That
also sounds like a good question, but what significance has an average
sale as against the achievement of selling more customers? What has one
got to do with the other? * * *
The only thing the Hecht Company is trying to do, since we can't get
enough salespeople for that hourly peak, is to sell one-and-a-half trans-
actions to every customer against the one transaction we sold before.
The next point they make is: "But the buyers won't like it because it
will cause markdowns. The only answer I can give you is this: by actual
facts and studies, if you sell more goods to more customers, while you
will take more dollar markdown by exposing goods, the percentage of mark-
downs will be more or less the same.
Why do we let our thinking get twisted when we hear general managers say-
ing, "I don't want to be Sears Roebuck." My answer to that is, "But you
pride yourself on giving service--and what is wrong with Sears Roebuck
anyway? Do it your own way, with the fixtures you want. But let the
customer find the goods if there isn't a salesperson available."
I could give you our figures on selling costs and increased productivity,
but I don't think that is the point. I think the basic philosophy to
take back is that you are not talking self-service, but service. Here is
what the general manager of a big store has to say on the subject?





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"The factors of salesmanship and pleasure shopping refute the
notion that department stores of the future will fully employ
supermarket techniques."
That is a widely-quoted opinion. This man pointed out that in contrast to
department stores, supermarket operations are unconcerned with the skill
of salesmanship. I agree with him, but neither you nor I can get enough
money to secure the necessary amount of salespeople to handle our peak
hours and really provide salesmanship.
Is it better, therefore, to bring thousands of customers into the store
and have them walk out without buying, or to give them the opportunity to
buy, get more dollars from what they buy, and put more salespeople back
on? The latter makes sense, doesn't it?
Examples of Hecht Approach
We have at the Hecht Company a large book of blown-up photographs which
shows some of the factors of our exposed selling program. It is used to
promote understanding by every supervisor and every new salesperson of
the development of new approaches and new techniques in this type of sell-
ing.
Several photographs, for example, illustrate the problem of taking care
of as many customers as possible. One is a shot of our downstairs store
jammed with customers on one of our "Dollar Days." We point out that mere-
ly from the point of view of the mechanics involved in the handling of so
many transactions, all that business could never be done with the normal
way of selling goods. Exposure of goods, together with the removal from
salespeople of the mechanics of handling sales by means of check-writers,
cashiers, and our "Help-Yourself" technique, is one answer.
Another photograph which we use is an actual shot of a glove department
in our store, showing five salespeople and two customers. In other words,
it emphasizes the handicap of "Chinese Walls," with one department over-
staffed and another unable to handle its customers. A companion photo-
graph shows one salesperson with seven customers, which means lost sales.
By actual count, five customers dropped out and walked away.
There is no way you can move fast enough to get bodies to take care of
such business, and yet the selling of goods is our business. How can
you solve this problem? Through exposed selling.
Incidentally, there has been no decision by our management as yet to
touch the first floor at most of our places, although at the Virginia
branch we have made inroads into the same problem.
Even though we don't approve of the self-service type of operation, we do
have a "help-yourself" record department. The reason we put it in was
that we had a big shortage of eight to ten percent. We wanted to beat
that problem, so we decided to install turnstiles in that section.














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I don't recommend this type of set-up either for you or for ourselves.
The department store has not yet reached the point where goods are pack-
aged right, where they are made up and identified by national brands so
that they are uniform, like a bottle of ketchup with a selling story on
it. Consequently, you need salespeople to provide merchandise informa-
tion. If you get more dollars of sales, you can have more salespeople to
sell more goods and provide the merchandise information.
When somebody tells you that self-service is the only answer for depart-
ment stores today, don't believe it. Even though we have it in our
record department, as I have said, we don't like it. However, it has
broken the shortage problem, so it answers its purpose.
One type of merchandise on which we have used exposed selling success-
fully is place mats. Another spot is in children's hosiery. Many stores
still sell children's hosiery behind cases. Why? The basic factor in
purchasing is size, so we display from left to right every size, regard-
less of price, and two girls have sold as much as $600 worth of children's
hosiery in a day. With an average sale of 394 or 49%, we couldn't afford
to have enough salespeople to handle that volume of sales with case sell-
ing. (Photograph 7, Page 16, shows a typical hosiery fixture.)
I am not advising you to take your fine ready-to-wear and put it out on
racks. I am telling you to analyze department after department and see
what you have to offer. As a further example, we were loaded with cases
in children's wear. The only thing that has happened following our
change-over is that sales per square foot--or cubic foot, if you want to
call it that-are greater, and sales productivity has increased fifty per-
cent.
Branch Stores Used for Testing Fixtures
Some of the further developments we have worked out in the Virginia branch
have not yet been adopted in our main store, but will eventually be uti-
lized in both the Washington and Silver Spring stores.
We have a fixture specially designed to sell one-price hosiery (Photograph
No. 8, Page 16). The idea came to us from the girl shown behind the fix-
ture, so that's why we put her in the picture. She thought of using this
approach for stationery by asking, "Why do you sell stationery behind
cases?" Following her suggestion, we designed this fixture, and the
amount of business is fifty percent more since we put the merchandise out
and exposed it. (Photograph No. 9, Page 18, shows stationery fixture.)
What you can't see in these photographs are the signs reading: "Please
Help Yourself and Take Your Goods to the Help-Yourself Desk." All through
the store, on every floor and in every part of the Hecht Company, signs
read "Help Yourself." We say, in effect, "It is okay with us if there
isn't a salesperson to go ahead and help yourself." We have of course
provided the mechanics to handle such sales, but I won't talk about that
today.





10. Exposed Selling of Cosmetics





10. Exposed Selling of Cosmetics





- 19 -
12. Self-Selection of Waxes and Cleaners





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have a concept that means more dollars in the till? If they are giving
better service to their customers, who are we to sit back and decide that
they are "typical Hecht's"?"
Remember that I have not advised you to copy what we have, but only to
adopt our philosophy. We are thinking of our customers, and when we get
a peak of 10,000 customers in our store, we realize that they didn't
come down to look at us, but to buy. We propose to move forward along
our present lines until somebody proves that we are wrong--and it's going
to take a lot of proof to convince us that it's wrong to get as many dol-
lars as possible in the till so that we can use the extra dollars to go
out and hire more salespeople!
* * * * * *
DISCUSSION
CHAIRMAN RYNO: Thanks, Morris, for a grand job. If anyone has questions
to ask, I am sure that Mr. Moss will be glad to try to answer them.
MR. W. W. JOHNSON (H. C. Prange Company, Sheboygan, Wis.): Are all price
lines of hosiery exposed, or do you have some where the customer can't
handle them?
MR. MOSS: At the Washington store everything is still case selling. At
the Silver Spring store we are moving to the exposed selling technique
now in effect at the Virginia store.
In other words, we test out these developments because we want to find out
if we are right. We start out by taking one fast-selling brand of our own,
and that is what we are doing at the present time.
In most of the other departments--to answer a question which is usually
raised--we expose goods and mix national brands and everything else under
the three categories I mentioned-size, color, or purpose. If we are sell-
ing by size, the size ranges run from left to right.
That is the way we try to sell goods, because we have found out that the
customer in most cases does not come in to buy by price, but by size. We
have made mistakes, of course, in trying to sell higher-priced goods when
it turned out that the customers wanted the lower-priced items.
House Furnishings Experiment
I have one additional experience to tell you which I think will be of in-
terest. When we were studying our house furnishings department to decide
whether to go to self-service or to adhere to our basic philosophy, we
first concluded that the principal thing we had to do was to get more and
better salespeople into that department, and more experienced demonstra-
tors.





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However, as we studied one classification which we called the "gadgets"--
items selling for a nickel to a dollar-we found out that the percentage
of the total department sales done in this category was extremely low.
So we said to the buyer, "We are going to take two salespeople, take them
off commission and pay them a straight salary. We'll put "Hostess" rib-
bons on them, and you let them help you buy the goods. You set yourself
up a Help-Yourself desk with them, and see if we can stay in business with
all these thousands of items."
We doubled the business the first year, moved up to 17% of the total de-
partment transactions, and really gave service we had never given before
to 48,000 customers. With 18,000 items in your house furnishings de-
partment, go back and see how you take care of gadgets. You will find
that either by assortment, display or something else you are out of
stock because the buyer is too busy to bother with them.
Policy on Price Lines Display
MR. W. E. RICE (Pfeifer Bros., Little Rock, Ark.) : In a basement opera-
tion, how far do you go in the separation of price lines, and how do you
break down something like lingerie, for instance?
MR. MOSS: We leave a lot up to the buyer. Originally, in trying to
arrive at break-downs, we had a great deal of difficulty in getting the
merchandise division to understand what we were talking about, and the
management of the Hecht Company actually gave me what I would call gen-
eral rights and powers, so that anything I wanted was law.
However, I didn't use that authority arbitrarily. Even today, if a
buyer doesn't want a mixed price display, I don't force it. We have
some buyers who prefer to stay with individual price lines, but at
Christmas time, when they sense the mass of the traffic, they mix price
lines. We give them that much fluidity and flexibility to work with us.
I would say that most buyers in the store today are using the left-to-
right principle for size, mixing all price lines. We will stay out of
the ready-to-wear field because there we go up to a certain price and
then break. I am talking of exposing goods not normally exposed. I
would say in men's shirts, for example, prices might range from $2.95
to $3.99 and $4.95. In other lines it might be different.
MEMBER: How does mixing price lines affect trading-up possibilities?
It has been a basic principle in the development of salesmanship that
suggestive selling is necessary for a trading-up job.
MR. MCSS3 Perhaps I can answer you this way. We had one buyer who was
very cooperative, but wanted to sell shower curtains by the various
price lines. Against his wishes, we finally decided that we would
sell shower curtains by color. But then we told him that if he could
produce an item which would sell in large quantities, we realized that
it is our business to sell in mass quantities and therefore we would
mass display that one item and give him extra salespeople to help him.
In that way we got what we wanted, and we gave him what he wanted.





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Frankly, that is the way we operate. If we notice in a price line--
underwear or some other merchandise--an item which is particularly hot
and is moving fast, we pull it out and give it the type of mass dis-
play which is needed to promote impulse buying from the traffic in the
departments. In other words, we merchandise.
MEMBER: Have you converted your boys' furnishings department complete-
ly to exposed selling in the main store?
MR. MOSS: In the whole boys' department it used to be 80% cases, and
I would say it is now 10% cases. In the Virginia store, our most re-
cent development, I would say that we have 90% exposed selling outside
of the first floor.
Removal of Sales Handling Mechanics
I haven't taken time to dwell on what I call "mechanics removal"--the
removal from salespeople of at least some of the mechanics of writing
up a sale. It is a problem, but once you've taken the major step of
exposing your merchandise, you can do anything you want with the
mechanics. The use of the Sales Desk, the use of the Help-Yourself
Desk--each is a trick of its own.
We have learned tricks to make life easier for the regular salesperson
who is put on a Help-Yourself Desk and becomes a check-writer, a
cashier. Where we used to write out big saleschecks, listing two ties,
four shirts and so on, we now use a check which simply says "Men's
Furnishings." We have eliminated some of the former complexity which
prevented us from giving our customers service.
I realize that we are still not 100% perfect, but we are going to be
right because the more we work at it and talk about it and the more
ideas come back from our people, the better it is getting to be.
Everybody is imbued with the importance today of getting as many dol-
lars as possible out of the mass of customers we have in our store.
We want the customer to pre-select, and if she wants to by-pass our
salespeople, we provide facilities so that she can do so. I might add
that most of our salespeople soon become adept at writing up person-
ally the maximum number of sales possible. They approach customers
who have decided what they want, and persuade them to wait a few min-
utes until the salesperson is free to write up the check. That is
all right with us, too, so long as the customer is willing.
Peak Hour Coverage
MEMBER: Have you done anything with respect to reduction of lunch
hour? The average store gives employees a one-hour lunch period
during peak hours. Have you reduced the lunch hour to 45 minutes to
get that much more coverage?
MR. MOSS; We have 45-minute lunch periods in our store, but I think
it is an hour in our branch stores. I'm not sure of that, though, as
their people may come in at ten or thereabouts and work late.





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MEMBER: Is that a helpful method?
MR. MOSS: Anything that gets you more salespeople when you need them
is helpful. The same thing holds true with regard to supervision.
When we have the customer peak, we don't have enough supervisors,
either, since they must have luncheon periods, also. So we take con-
tingents, teach them four tables, and put a blue ribbon on them which
says "Hostess." It is their job then to see that customers are moved
along to the Help-Yourself Desk.
Pre-Printed Saleschecks
MEMBER: You mentioned that instead of itemizing "two shirts, four ties,"
etc., you now merely write "Men's Furnishings." Just how does that work?
MR. MOSS: When we set up a sales desk, we did it to relieve salespeople of
the mechanics of writing up the sale. We figure one check-writer comple-
ments four salespeople. The customer brings over a card from the salesper-
son on which is listed "four shirts, two ties," etc. The saleschecks are
pre-stamped "Men's Furnishings," so the check-writer puts down the proper
total amount on the salescheck, gets the customer to sign it, and that is
all that is necessary.
Even before we used the pre-printed check our statements sent out to custom-
ers were not given in detail, but merely read "Men's Furnishings" or "House
Furnishings," so not itemizing the salescheck makes no difference, as far as
I can see. Whether the customer claims that she didn't get an itemized list
of merchandise, or that she didn't sign a salescheck reading "Men's Furnish-
ings--$32.00, " we give her back her money in either case.
Selling Gloves
MEMBER: How do you keep the customer from ruining hosiery and gloves? Do
you let people try on gloves themselves and handle the hosiery?
MR. MOSS: In our store the better gloves are sold behind cases, but the
cotton gloves, starting at about a dollar and running up to $2.95, are ex-
posed. Some stores at least put the gloves out on tables, but they don't
arrange them by size from left to right. I think you all know what happens
when gloves are sold in that fashion. You end up with a mixed mass of all
sizes, so that neither customers nor salespeople can find what they want.
When that has happened in our store, actual timing proved that it takes six
to seven minutes to find a sized pair of gloves. That kind of situation
can be avoided simply by arranging the gloves properly and doing a sizing
job for the customer.
Please note that I didn't tell you to take the fine leather gloves out of
cases. Each store must make its own decision, by department. Then if you
have an open mind you will find hundreds of items which can be exposed to
the customer and help you to do business when you haven't got salespeople.





-26-
My presentation today, "Reducing Selling Costs Through Planning," refers
basically to the process of departmental analysis. I am not going to hes-
itate to tell you our selling costs--chiefly because while, right now, we
haven't anything to be particularly proud of, we are studying and analyzing
our costs and trying to arrive at the lowest possible selling cost and
other operating cost which will still permit us to render reasonable service
and run well-managed stores.
As we see it, there are two major approaches to the problem. One is space
allocation and planning the sales department, and the other is what we call
"area" selling.
Over-Spaced Departments Mean High Costs
One of the great contributors to high selling costs is over-spaced depart-
ments planned for dramatic effects. Along with this condition is another
factor--poorly planned elements of the department which waste the steps of
salespeople--and every step costs you money.
In my discussion of this subject, I am approaching it from the standpoint
6f a store which has some form of incentive plan for salespeople--bonus or
straight commission, and what I have to say therefore may not be quite so
applicable to those stores where salespeople are on straight salary.
What has the area of the department got to do with selling costs? This can
best be illustrated by reviewing some actual examples, and for that purpose
I will use the Broadway-Hale stores with which I am most familiar. I am
also going to quote some square footage figures to provide an opportunity
for comparison with the store I may be using as an example.
Some Facts About the Broadway Stores
The Broadway Downtown store, located at Fourth and Broadway in Los Angeles,
has 350,000 square feet of selling space, with $65 per square foot produc-
tion and a selling payroll percent of 6.7. The N. R. D.G.A. comparative fig-
ures are $97, and an average selling cost of 6.3% against our 6.7%. It
doesn't require much astuteness to realize that we are over-spaced.
We have 30% more space than we need in our downtown store when we measure it
against our volume. It is our great problem from the standpoint of control-
ling expense. Our department managers never feel that they have too much
space, but rather that they never have enough help, even though we are con-
stantly confronted by a high selling cost percentage in relation to sales.
The Broadway-Pasadena has 65,000 square feet of selling space, $134 per
square foot production, and a selling payroll percentage of 6.4. That com-
pares with a $70 per square foot volume and a 6.4% selling cost in the
N. R. D.G.A. figures for that volume group.
As you undoubtedly know, the N. R. D.G.A. figures include stores with furni-
ture departments and basement operations, which Pasadena does not have,
which tends to lower selling payroll percentages. We are sure that Pasadena's
high production per square foot is a substantial contributor to its low sell-
ing costs.











-30-
The point I want to make here is that we must not be satisfied with
meeting the N. R. D.G.A. figures. It seems to me that most of our Notions
Departments are poorly planned. If we really get in and do a job, using
Morris Moss's advice about getting the merchandise out so that the cus-
tomer can pre-select before the salesperson gets to her, then instead of
having an average of 8.1%, very likely it could be 4%.
We must keep in mind constantly the fact that the performance of many de-
partments in a number of stores, because of improper planning and over-
spacing, affect the N. R. D.G.A.'s average figures. In using them for com-
parison purposes against our own performance, therefore, merely meeting
the average figure is not a cause for self-satisfaction, since we may not
be doing anything like as good a job as can be done.
I am sure we are all aware that the variance in percent of selling costs
in comparison to the N. R. D.G.A. figures also can be caused by higher sal-
aries or a particular type of compensation plan. A lower average book is
another reason, which undoubtedly again is caused by over-spaced areas,
hoarded salespeople, and poorly planned departments. I repeat that if a
good job were being accomplished, selling costs would be substantially
lower than the N. R. D.G.A. present averages.
Ready-to-Wear Floor at Broadway-Cre W
I should like to show you now some actual examples of what I have been
talking about. Exhibit A (Page 31) shows a portion of the Broadway-Cren-
shaw's second floor. The chart has been marked to indicate the respect-
ive areas devoted to forward stock, perimeter or reserve stock, fitting
rooms, and the service areas--wrapping desks, cash registers, and so
forth.
The contributing factors here to ease of selling and the possibility of
low selling costs are perimeter stockrooms, close proximity of fitting
rooms, fitters and alteration service, and centralized service units.
We have found that this plan results in fewer steps for our sales person-
nel in order to complete the sales and it is working out quite satisfact-
orily.
Men's Furnishings-Broadway Main Floor
Now let's take a look at the main floor shown in Exhibit B (Page 33).
The main floor is a bugaboo for any planner, and I was interested to
hear Morris Moss tell us that even Hecht's is a little bit worried about
starting to cut into the traditional street floor pattern.
Exhibit B happens to be the Men's Furnishings Department of our downtown
store. It is laid out in the grid-iron pattern, and there are many
things wrong with it. In the first place, street floor departments need
more stock in close proximity to the salesperson than in the past we have
been able to provide. Many sales are lost on our street floors because
we don't have sufficient stock close at hand for the salesperson.





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The aisle at the top of the chart is our main aisle. Literally thousands
of people go down that main aisle every day, and in the process have to
pass the ends of those oblongs. It is next to impossible to keep a sales-
person stationed in those end areas because there isn't enough merchandise
immediately adjacent. If a salesperson does approach a customer at the
end of one of these fixtures, it is then necessary to walk the customer
back towards the broad side, where there is stock to show.
We have found that salespeople are just as human as you and I. I am sure
that we, too, would rather wait for the sale and let the customer come to
us instead of going over to get the customer and then bringing him around
to where there is stock available. That is the reason that so many stores,
particularly those which are over-spaceds have great difficulty getting
salespeople into the ends of those oblongs.
Other disadvantages of this layout are full depth showcases, and loose
stock space-all adding to high selling costs.
"Split-Ledge"-Plan at Broadway=Crenshaw
Our next chart, Exhibit C (Page 34) represents a portion of the street
floor of the Broadway-Crenshaw. This also has been laid out in a grid-iron
pattern, but is an improvement over Exhibit B because it is what we call
a "split ledge" plan. We do increase the amount of stock that is available
for the salesperson, but again we have that great evil of a short end
on a main aisle without sufficient stock to keep a salesperson interested.
The aisle shown at the top of the chart is the main one, and the aisle
lower down is a secondary crossing. Again, a great many people pass those
ends but, as in the previous case, it is almost impossible for us to keep
salespeople in those ends. On low volume days, which occur in suburban
stores, we couldn't afford to keep people stationed in the ends, even if
they would stay there.
One thing in which we believe very firmly is partially exemplified in this
layout. We believe that every effort, should be made to have departments
Laid out to permit cross aisle selling, so that salespeople will not have
to go around a back or center stock fixture. The Hosiery Department on
Chart C illustrates this principle.
We find that salespeople will cross an aisle back and forth to wait on cus-
tomers where they wouldn't go through or around a high back ledge. If you
will watch your salespeople you will find that this is true-and I think
again, that it is just human nature. Where it is possible, therefore, to
have cross aisle selling, you will get better service with less sales help.
Remodeling-Improves Street Floor
Exhibit D (Page 36) is the recently remodeled street floor of Weinstock-
Lubin, and shows a Men's Furnishings and Men's Sportswear Department, Sta-
tionery, and Toiletries. We feel that this represents progress along the





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-39-
Area Selling in Practice
Let's look back again at Exhibit A (Page 31), which you will recall is
the second floor of Broadway-Crenshaw. It includes Junior Sportswear;
Junior Dresses and Coats; Women's and Misses' Dresses; Gown Shop; and
Women's and Misses' Coat and Suit Department. This entire area is cov-
ered by three area salespeople, which would be the equivalent of about
20 bays in the average store.
Area selling has proven very successful in Crenshaw, for several rea-
sons. First, the business is growing into the space provided for in-
creased volume. Secondly, there are three low-volume days and three
high-volume days each week, due to Monday and Friday night openings and
a heavy Saturday shopping. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are low-volume days,
and Thursday was added only recently to our night openings, so that it
is now helping to level out our daily volume.
We have extended area selling into a number of areas in Crenshaw, and
results to date have indicated that we are on the right track. We are
giving improved customer service with fewer regular departmental sales-
persons.
Area salespersons run an average book of about $222 against a depart-
mental average of $170. On a street floor, however, the area salesper-
son averages $205 against a floor average of $210. This is because the
area salespeople are selling more small units or lower-priced units on
the street floor than the regular salespeople.
Effect of Store Planning on Area Selling
Planning is a very important part of the theory of area selling. If
you will refer back to Exhibit C (Page 34), you will find that the Gren-
shaw street floor does not lend itself very well to area selling. We
have the floor split up into six areas in there at the present time,
but we are only getting selling across the aisles where the openings
exist in the fixtures.
Because there are no aisle openings in the ends of the fixtures, we
don't get any opportunity of area selling between the end of one fix-
ture and the end of the opposite fixture across the aisle. I am point-
ing this out so that you can see what happens unless at the point of
planning you check very carefully salesperson usage and operation.
Ideal Layout Provides Flexibility
One more backward glance, and this time at Exhibit E (Page 37). This
plan provides a great deal of flexibility in providing opportunities
of selling back and forth across the aisles. The location of the aisle
openings has been carefully planned for this purpose.
You will notice again that we firmly believe in having departments
across an aisle from each other, as is evidenced by the layout of the





-40-
handbag and the hosiery departments. If the department is deserving of
main aisle space, we believe in the set-up shown here and not in using
a complete square or oblong. The section along the main aisle provides
promotional space, and the two sections facing each other across the
aisle serve as regular selling space.
With this arrangement it is possible to operate a department with two
salespeople when the store opens in the morning and traffic is light.
One girl would be located at the point marked "X" and the other at the
point marked "Y". Salesgirl "X" could cover the main aisle section and
part of the side section, if necessary, while salesgirl "Y" could sell
back and forth across the aisle.
In closing, I cannot stress too emphatically the importance of care-
fully studied planning of selling departments to reduce selling costs,
and the value of area selling both in leveling our selling costs between
high and low volume days and in controlling those costs during a period
when a department is growing into an area planned for larger volume
growth.
* * * * *
CHAIRMAN RIN08 Thank you, Mr. Brewer, for a very stimulating talk. You
and Morris Moss have both brought us an interesting message about doing
a better job in our stores. Mr. Brewer stresses the importance of sound
planning and using what he calls "area" selling to reduce selling costs,
and Mr. Moss advocates exposing merchandise wherever practicable so that
the customer can do some pre-selection when she can't find a salesperson
to wait, on here
I am sure you must have some questions to ask. Who wants to start the
ball rolling?
MEMBER: I would like to add just one thing to what these gentlemen have
said. In addition to having a well-planned store and having your mer-
chandise exposed, there is still a lot to be done with the people them-
selves. We have had newcomers in straight commission departments greeted
by the old-timers in the department with the statement, "I don't know
what you're coming down here for--you can't make any money here."
I think it is important to avoid creating unfavorable impressions like
that which make it difficult for us to hold new people, and that both
the department manager and the section manager should be required to do
a job in orienting the newcomer.
Ratio–of Area to Regular Salespeople
MR. READ JENKINS (The J. L. Hudson Company, Detroit, Mich.) : I would
like to a sk Jim Brewer if they have worked out any ratio of area sales-
people to regular departmental salespeople.
MR. BREWER3 It is based on the average book principle. We have taken
and worked out an average book based on periodic six-week studies of
the production of departments over one or two heavy selling periods.





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