The Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER." (Established 1890.) MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1934 "The Customer is Eight"

Stratford Evening Post, Volume III, Issue 3, 10 March 1934, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER." (Established 1890.) MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1934 "The Customer is Eight"

"THERE is a maxim, well known in the retail trade, that the \ I customer is always right," comments the Wellington Even- \ ing Post. "It expresses in a few words a leading principle of l commerce, that those who would sell must study the wiirhes I of those who can buy. What Mr. Ransom, Minister of Lands, S i paid at Dannevirke recently, bears on this: 'There are some- \ times failures on the part of our exporters to realise the requirel ments of importers overseas,' he said. 'To succeed in busiI ness it was necessary to stock the goods required by customers. I So it was with our primary products. New Zealand had to [ produce the articles customers overseas required.' New Zea- [ landers have been critical in the past of British failure in this ) respect. We have not hesitated to say that British manufac- \ turers were not sending suitable motor cars or tools and that J other countries were more ready to siudy our wishes. Are we wholly free from the same fault? It has been said that our beef v faiis to command good prices at Home (apart from the prefer- \ encc fcr chilled meat) because the British householder prefers I small joints from a smaller animal. In the North of England, also, difference of flavour and 'spreadability' cause other but- \ ter to be more in demand than our own. Privately we may \ think that the customer is wrong, that what we have to sell is I equal, if not superior; but if we cannot convince him we lose j> the trade, unless we produce to satisfy his demands. We can I try two methods: Either meet the demand that exists, or create \ a new demand for what we have. Ihe one method cannot be H followed to the entire exclusion of the other."