June i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



315 



RUBBER GOODS IN MAIL ORDER TRADE. 



BY OUR CHICAGO CORRESPONDENT. 



THE great volume of business done by the " mail order " 

 houses of Chicago is realized by few people who are not 

 engaged in it. Chicago is the natural mail order center of this 

 country and of the world, not only because of its location geo- 

 graphically but because it was here that the first of the great 

 mail order houses started in the business of issuing to the trade 

 a catalogue which gave the countryman a price list — which was 

 as low and in many instances a little lower than the home mer- 

 chant could sell — and utilized the mails instead of salesmen to 

 bring in the orders. 



How successful this plan of merchandising has been is shown 

 by the volume of business done by these houses in Chicago last 

 year. One house. I am reliably informed, did a business in 

 excess of $15,000,000 last year and it is even estimated as high 

 as $25,000,000. There is another mail order house which does 

 almost as much, if not an equal volume of mail order business. 

 It is possible that the mail order houses of Sears, Roebuck 

 & Co. and Montgomery Ward & Co. do a business amounting 

 to $50,000,000 a year — a volume equal to that of Chicago's 

 greatest wholesale and retail mercantile establishment, Mar- 

 shall Field & Co. During December last Sears, Roebuck & Co. 

 did a business amounting to $3,000,000. 



In this immense volume of sales rubber goods of various 

 kinds and description played an important part. Such goods 

 are fast taking a prominent place in the catalogues sent out by 

 these mail order concerns. These two houses alone sold up- 

 wards of $1,200,000 worth of rubber goods during 1903, and 

 they count on increasing that volume of business this year to 

 $[,500,000 at least. 



One of these houses distributed to the mail order trade last 

 year, I am told, more than 2,000,000 feet of garden hose. This 

 exceeds the amount of that class of rubber goods handled by 

 one of the largest hardware concerns of the country. Of course 

 the greater part of this 2,000,000 feet of garden hose is of the 

 cheaper quality, and hence does not run into money as fast as 

 would the better grades, but it indicates the quantity of busi- 

 ness that these mail order concerns are doing. 



Sears, Roebuck & Co. two or three seasons ago distributed 

 90,000 bicycles. This means that they sold 180,000 bicycle 

 tires on new wheels alone, not taking into consideration the 

 number of single tires and sets shipped by them on mail orders 

 without the wheels. This business has fallen off, however, and 

 it is probable that last year this same concern did not distribute 

 in excess of 100 000 bicycle tires all told, but the increase in the 

 volume of rubber shoes and other rubber goods has more than 

 offset this loss. 



If this house handled anywhere near as much garden hose 

 as did Montgomery Ward & Co. during the last year, the 4,000,- 

 000 feet distributed would indicate in a measure the volume of 

 business in other lines of rubber goods. And this in face of 

 the fact that, in the central part of this country, last season 

 and the summer preceding it were exceedingly poor ones for 

 the dealer in garden hose, because the two seasons were ex- 

 ceedingly rainy ones and afforded little use for such an article. 



An effort was made to secure from the heads of these two 

 large mail order concerns statements as to the value of the rub- 

 ber goods sold by each last year, and how these sales were 

 divided among the different classes of goods. The manage- 

 ment of these houses, however, jealously guard details against 

 disclosure to the trade or the public. Both President R. W. 

 Sears of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and Vice President W. C. 

 Thome of Montgomery Ward & Co., gave an estimate of the 



total value of the rubber goods distributed by their respective 

 concerns. Mr. Sears said that his concern handled in the 

 neighborhood of $700,000 worth of all kinds of rubber goods, 

 while Mr. Thorne placed the output of his concern at $500,000. 

 From the best information at hand it is safe to say that the sales 

 of rubber and combination footwear in each of these establish- 

 ments amounts to between $300,000 and $400,000. This esti- 

 mate is gathered from jobbers. 



But there are other mail order concerns which do quite a 

 business in rubber goods. For instance there is the Mead 

 Cycle Co., which was the first to undertake to establish a for- 

 eign branch. This concern, like the two general mail order 

 houses mentioned, had a modest beginning. It grew to be the 

 largest of its kind in the country and when the bicycle demand 

 began to fall off in this country it sought a foreign market for 

 its goods. It distributed between 60,000 and 70,000 pairs of 

 bicycle tires last year according to information given by a tire 

 manufacturer. 



This concern is going to set the pace for " all-comers " this 

 year by offering to sell automobiles on the mail order plan. 

 Many dealers and manufacturers shake their head dubiously at 

 this, and prophesy failure in this because, they say that people 

 who buy an automobile will want to inspect the machine before 

 putting as much money into it as the cheapest machine now 

 costs. But it will be remembered that at the time this concern 

 established a branch in Europe and sought a foreign market for 

 bicycles, competing with European factories, there were many 

 doubting Thomases. 



While there is a prejudice in the minds of many dealers and 

 manufacturers against the mail order houses, growing out of 

 the fact that their business cuts into that of the small retailers 

 throughout the country, there is also a lesson in their rapid 

 growth which might be of great value. These concerns de- 

 pend largely upon advertising to sell their goods. It is the 

 publicity given through the purchase of space in various peri- 

 odicals that has brought the fact to the prospective patron that 

 the mail order house can compete with local merchants and of- 

 fer goods with a guaranty. 



The guaranty is this : To refund the money in full, to re- 

 turn the deposit, and to forward transportation charges when- 

 ever a customer is dissatisfied and does not want to keep the 

 goods sent him. Whetherthe customer has good cause or not 

 is immaterial; if he does not want the goods after inspection, 

 the concern shipping it pays the freight both ways and pockets 

 the loss. 



What is the result ? That man or woman who allowed it to 

 be returned has received an impression as to the reliability of 

 that mail order concern which is worth more to it than the 

 cost of the freight both ways. 



Sears, Roebuck & Co. expend fully $500,000 a year in news- 

 paper and periodical advertising, not to mention the cost of 

 their large catalogues, which runs considerably more than $1 

 apiece in the large quantities which they produce them. It is 

 presumed that the other large concerns expend as much. The 

 result is that one of these concerns recently received in one day 

 25.000 pieces of mail through the Chicago postoffice. 



Mr. Sears, who directs the advertising of his concern and 

 passes upon every "ad" that is put out, says that when he 

 places an advertisement in a periodical he does it for the pur- 

 pose of reaching those who have never had any dealings with 

 his concern. His motto is "to keep everlastingly after new 

 business." 



" It is the constant, careful, methodical watching of results 

 from every small investment in advertisements that assure the 

 success in the aggregate," said he. " It is the fellow with the 



