CONTENTS continued


PREFACE

It is generally acknowledged that the great body of retail sales personnel who handle hosiery are seriously handicapped by lack of specialised knowledge about women's stockings, the successful selling of which demands acquaintance with the materials from which they are made, the methods of production and the respective features and individual merits of the different styles. There is ample evidence of this in the fact that wholesalers and retailers are constantly seeking information upon these important matters.

Nowadays the customer in the stocking department is extremely critical and discriminating in her purchasing and she expects the retailer to be a specialist, able to advise her in the choice of stockings to suit her special requirements. This particularly applies to sales in the higher quality and price ranges, where the retailer is afforded a unique opportunity for increasing sterling turnover and advancing the prestige of the shop. For a salaried stocking saleswoman the ability to sell among the higher grades is the essential qualification for the best-paid positions.

Hence there is a vital need throughout the distributive trades for a handbook dealing exclusively with women’s stockings.

This volume, however, has been planned to extend its scope considerably beyond immediate aspects of marketing hose, and the author feels confident that much matter of general interest upon the subject will be found therein by all who read it, whether they are sales assistants, commercial travellers, buyers or merchandise managers for department stores, small retailers, wholesale or manufacturing distributors, manufacturers or students.

Care has been taken to ensure that the book is expressed in simple and easily understood terms, and the author is well assured that all who will take pains to familiarise themselves with the information and put it to practical effect in their daily work will, by reason of their ability to discuss their subject with authority, command that measure of self-confidence which is one of the greatest assets towards success in selling or buying. Leicester, 1946.A. W. ELEY.