June 6, 190S 



HORTICULTURE 



756 



G)-operation Between Wholesaler and Retailer in Times of Over- 



production 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE FLORISTS' CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA BY ARTHUR A. NIESSEN. 



The title of this paper is •■Co-opera- 

 tion Between Wholesaler and Retailer 

 in 'nme of Overproduction." Why 

 it has been added to the title "In 

 Time of Overproduction" is more than 

 1 can understand. If we cannot work 

 hand in hand when the market is about 

 evenly balanced between supply and 

 demand, we certainly cannot expect 

 to do so when the commission man 

 is at the merry of the retailer. We 

 always have had, and will have, at 

 certain times of the season, a glut 

 of some sort. This does not only ap- 

 ply to our trade, but to every other 

 line as well. In our line it is due to 

 unavoidable overproduction; in other 

 lines, probably due to an overestimated 

 demand. I would like to ask the re- 

 tailers present, "Are you doing any- 

 thing, or are you making any effort 

 whatever to relieve the market of its 

 overproduction?" Beyond finding fault 

 with the manner in which the com- 

 mission man is trying to meet this 

 serious problem the majority are do- 

 ing nothin.g. 



A Problem Worthy of a Genius. 



How to find a market for this over- 

 production is a problem worthy of a 

 genius. It has been our experience 

 that, although we offer floweis to the 

 retailer .nt what would seem ridiculous- 

 ly low prices, he will not buy any 

 more than he positively needs. The 

 thought how he could handle this stocli, 

 and in some way increase his sales, 

 never enters the minds of the ma- 

 jority of them. I am quite sure, if 

 the retailer were situated the same 

 as the commision man during a glut, 

 that if he had to take the stock re- 

 gardless of having an immediate out- 

 let for it, he would find way and means 

 to make it profitable for him to han- 

 dle it. Necessity is the mother of in- 

 vention, and it is wonderful what we 

 can do when we must. 



Progress Is Slow. 



It is very evident that to a certain 

 degree the conditions of the market 

 during a glut could be improved upon 

 by co-operation, but in that direction 

 progress seems extremely slow. The 

 feeling towards the commission man 

 by many of the retailers is decidedly 

 antagonistic. It is indeed surprising 

 that by many retailers the commis- 

 sion man is considered a necessary 

 evil whose sole reason for existence 

 is to oppress the retailer by extorting 

 exorbitant prices and imposing all 

 sorts of hardships. These retailers 

 will without hesitation make the state- 

 ment, that they will favor the grower 

 who peddles his stock every time. The 

 commission man is called upon only 

 during a scarcity to supply that which 

 the grower could not possibly supply. 

 Coming to the commission man under 

 such conditions, and being asked a 

 fair price for the goods wanted, he 

 assails the commission man for the 

 seemingly unjust treatment and classes 

 him with the pirates and daylight rob- 

 bers. Just as soon as we can over- 

 come the feeling of the retailer, as 

 described above, towards the commis- 



sion man, we are one point closer to 

 co-operation. 



The Street Outlet Indispensable. 



We cannot dispose of our surplus 

 to the five and ten cent stores; there 

 is only one outlet left to us, and that 

 is to put the flowers on the street. 

 The street fakir by most retailers is 

 looked upon as a demoralizer of the 

 flower business. The commission man 

 is solely blamed for his existence, but 

 let me tell you, that for many of the 

 growers who peddle their own stock, 

 their last stopping place is the curb. 

 He will take anything to relieve the 

 load on his arm and will sell his ware 

 at a price so low that the buyer is 

 pledged to secrecy. He is ashamed to 

 have the price known. Can you 

 imagine what conditions would be if 

 the growers were depending entirely 

 on their own efforts to dispose of their 

 products' Some of the fakirs un- 

 doubtedly have what may be termed 

 "nerve." Ihe fakir will buy five 

 thousand carnations that are almost 

 asleep, take them on the sunny side 

 of Market street, in a temperature of 

 about 90, and take what he calls a 

 chance. How many retailers at the 

 same price would take the same 

 chance? I do not wish to be misunder- 

 stood, that I am here to speak for the 

 fakir. There is not a commission man 

 who would not gladly dispense with 

 him, if there were any possible way 

 of doing so. With few exceptions 

 they are not a desirable lot. 



Retail Stores Are Simply Sample 

 Stores. 



When you see the street fairly flood- 

 ed with flowers you should always 

 bear in mind the fact that the com- 

 mission man has offered the stock to 

 you first, that he has exhausted all 

 the known science of salesmanship to 

 induce you to buy them. Many re- 

 tailers will advance the argument, that 

 if there were no flowers on the street 

 they could sell double the stock they 

 are using. That is the very thing they 

 should do, buy it and keep it off the 

 street. "Give us the same chances you 

 give the street fakir," is another time- 

 worn saying. Let any of the retailers 

 try it, and the results will startle 

 them. Let them start out some morn- 

 ing and ask the commission man, 

 "what will you take for the shelf," and 

 if you mean business the shelf is yours. 

 The tendency today is just in the op- 

 posite direction. Many of the retail 

 stores may justly be called sample 

 stores They do not carry any stock, 

 the commission man is carrying it for 

 them. The demands are sometimes 

 startling. Ten minutes after the goods 

 are ordered they are supposed to be 

 delivered. The excellent service 

 brought about by live competition is 

 sadly misused. In that direction co- 

 operaticn would do much to overcome 

 existing unpleasant conditions. 



Harmony Between Grower and Com- 

 mission Man. 



The ■commission man has, after years 

 of resistent efforts, gained the confi- 

 dence of the growers. They are work- 



ing hand in hand; the grower will 

 consult the commission man about his 

 crops for a coming season, he seeks 

 his advice, and the trade has benefitted 

 greatly by this "mutual interest" feel- 

 ing existing between the grower and 

 commission man. That feeling does 

 not prevail as much between that re- 

 tailers and commission man as it 

 should. 



Exorbitant Retail Prices. 



There is one feature which in my 

 estimation curtails the sale of flowers, 

 and that is, many of the retailers do 

 not keep their prices consistent with 

 the prevailing wholesale prices. Beau- 

 ties bought at ft. 50 per dozen are sold 

 at three and four times the purchased 

 price. For illustration I will cite an 

 instance of a grower who entered a 

 retail store and priced his own mig- 

 nonette on sale there, and he was in- 

 formed $i.00 per dozen was the price. 

 He then wondered why he was getting 

 ony 6.00 per hundred for it. To over- 

 come 3 glut the retailers should aim 

 to make large sales and small profits, 

 instead of small sales and large profits. 

 The ultimate results would be the same 

 as far as profit is concerned, although 

 a laigpr quantity of flowers has 

 reached the consumer. There is too 

 vast a difference in the price of flow- 

 ers from the grower to the public. We 

 should aim to reduce the cost of hand- 

 ling the stock from the time it leaves 

 the gi-eenhouses until it reaches the pub- 

 lic. It seems some of the retail stores 

 located on the main thoroughfares 

 could dispose of large quantities of 

 flowers by offering them at a reduced 

 price. This they could do by eliminat- 

 ing all such expenses as deliveries of 

 sales less than a certain amount, and 

 by doing a cash business. This need 

 not apply to all their trade, only to 

 special sales, which may be called bar- 

 gain for a certain day or time. The 

 advertisement of bargains by the de- 

 partment stores is almost infallible 

 bait to the public. 



An Experiment. 



A department store in a small town 

 was selling carnations at twenty-five 

 cents per dozen on Fridays and Satur- 

 days. A retailer in the same town 

 thought of meeting this price, and 

 bought several thousand carnations to 

 be put on sale the same days the de- 

 partment stores were offering theirs. 

 The retailer did this, not expcting to 

 make a profit on the sales, but princi- 

 pally to meet the price of the depart- 

 ment store. Making inquiry, he was 

 offered carnations at $10.00 per thous- 

 and and he felt that he was being 

 favored, but to put it more correctly, 

 he was doing the commision man a 

 great favor in buying the carnations. 

 Selling them at twenty-five cents per 

 dozen he disposed of as many as five 

 thousand on Saturday. If is needless 

 to say that beyond his expectation it 

 turned out to be a very profitable busi- 

 noss for him. There are ways and 

 means of selling large quantities of 

 flower.5, and surely our retailers are 

 energetic and enterprising enough to 

 find them without having someone in 



