Retailing: Silent Salesmen

Selling by catalogue, which long ago ceased being aimed mostly at rural America, today is the fastest-growing trend in retailing since the birth of the discount store. Catalogue sales have grown 60% in the last decade, rose 10% to a record $2.4 billion. Though the market is still dominated by Sears, Montgomery Ward, Spiegel and Aldens, more and more companies are entering the field. Six months ago giant J. C. Penney (1,667 chain stores) began selling by catalogue. Last week another big company made a strong bid to win a foothold in the market: Western Auto Supply Co. (1963 sales: $326 million) mailed the first of 7,000,000 catalogues that will offer auto supplies, appliances and sporting goods through its 4,500 outlets.

The typical catalogue buyer in 1964 is an urban dweller, shops by telephone rather than by mail or drops in at special catalogue stores that deliver merchandise quickly from a central warehouse. The customer profits by lower prices and a wider selection than most stores can offer, and companies are attracted to catalogue selling by the saving in inventory, rent and labor costs. A company expects to glean an average of $35 in sales from each big book, which costs $2 to produce and may contain as many as 140,000 items—from a Mexican burro to the 1928 Model A Ford parts still offered by Sears.