A SURVEY OF TYPICAL COOPERATIVE STORES. 

 Table V. — Practice as to selling. 



15 



Question. 



Stores re- 

 porting. 



Low. 



High. 



43 







95 



43 



5 



100 



42 



10 



9SJ 



42 



1* 



90 



37 



25 



100 



37 







75 



36 



2 



85 



36 



15 



98 



45 



S7,500 



S623, 703 



36 



12p. ct. 



30 p. ct. 



Average. 



Per cent coxontry trade 



Per cent town trade 



Per cent membership trade . . . . 

 Per cent nonmembership trade. 



Per cent active members 



Per cent nonactive members 



Per cent cash sales 



Per cent credit sales 



Total sales 



Rate of profit on sales i 



63 

 37 

 60 

 40 

 80 

 20 

 50 

 50 

 $87, 781 

 20 p. ct. 



1 This is the estimate made by managers (see Table X). 



The percentage of expense to sales indicates a wide variation, 

 ranging from 7 to IT per cent. Even more surprising is the range in 

 the percentage of gross profit made on the business, ranging from 

 10.5 per cent to 24.5 per cent. In accounting for this range one ele- 

 ment is the kind of business. The higher figures are for businesses 

 having a large trade in di-y goods, shoes, and men's furnishings, 

 while the lower rates were made in stores handling groceries and a 

 few farm staples. The percentage of net profits to sales shows the 

 variation one would expect. 



Almost all of the stores under survey were located in country 

 towns, with the majority of the membership drawn from the farms. 

 Hence there is an average of 63 per cent of farmers' patronage for the 

 43 stores reporting, with a range of from 4 per cent to 95 per cent of 

 country trade. 



Most of the stores reported a large percentage of nonmembership 

 trade, the range being from 1^ per cent to 90 per cent, with an average 

 for the 42 stores reporting of 40 per cent of the trade from non- 

 members. 



This nonmembership patronage is due to several factors. Eighteen 

 of the stores hold out the prospect of some dividends on purchases 

 to nonmembers, thus securing trade. Again, many persons are in 

 sympathy with the cooperative movement ''and expect to become 

 members if the store succeeds, and in the meanwhile they give it a 

 share of their trade. Finalh", a great deal of the nonmembership 

 trade which falls to cooperative stores is more or less accidental and 

 due to the fact that many Americans give little thought to their 

 choice of a place to trade. This indifference also helps to some extent 

 to account for the fact that 34 stores reported an average of 20 per 

 cent of their members as " nonactive," showing little interest in the 

 store and giving it practically none of their trade. 



It was found that success, loyalty of members, and nonmember- 

 ship trade hang very closely together. Let a store fall behind and 

 fail to pay dividends and it soon loses the support of both members 



