The consumer viewpoint : $b covering vital phases of manufacturing and selling household devices — John Shaqi
The consumer viewpoint : $b covering vital phases of manufacturing and selling household devicesBentley, Mildred Maddocks
General
The consumer viewpoint : $b covering vital phases of manufacturing and selling household devices
Bentley, Mildred Maddocks
Home economics -- Equipment and supplies
When attempting to market a product to women, factory faults are of far
greater importance than when marketing a product for the use of men.
The latter understand the difficulties of factory production and accept
the occasional defective product as a routine. They expect it to be
credited. They expect prompt correction on the part of the manufacturer
or dealer, and, once adjusted, with them the matter usually ends. Not
so with the average woman purchaser. First of all, and last of all, she
remembers that something was the matter with the machine for which she
paid her money. Oftentimes only the most drastic and unusual service on
the part of the manufacturer will take away the sting that was left in
her mind by the original transaction. In club, church, or in
confidential chat at home, somewhere she leaves the impression that
there is still something the matter or she would not have gotten a poor
machine. The advertising value, therefore, of a uniformity of product
cannot be overestimated. No amount of costly after-service will
compensate for the lack of it.
THE VALUE OF PROPER DEMONSTRATION BY THE DEALER.
A manufacturer sometimes fails to satisfy the woman consumer because he
is attempting to satisfy a dealer's demand for "flashy" rather than
practical selling points and, therefore, loses sight of the value to
him of a perfect functioning of his device. Exclusive points of design
that can be used for a spectacular demonstration have been up to this
time perhaps the strongest of selling aids; but manufacturers and
dealers alike are beginning to realize that they have an element of
danger. Thus, the confetti test for vacuum cleaners was an unfortunate
misuse of the machine. It has never convinced the woman purchaser that
it would accomplish the more trying task of removing "grimed-in" soil,
even while it fascinated her as a spectator and even while she left as
a purchaser. She doubted her own machine because of the unconvincing
test.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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