DIFFICULTIES IN SELLING EMPIRE FOODSTUFFS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1682, 5 November 1925, Page 3

DIFFICULTIES IN SELLING EMPIRE FOODSTUFFS

A CLEARING HOUSE NEEDED* Reports in the 'British press indicate that the educational campaign has already stimulated the demand for Empire products, but it appears-; that the means of supplying the demand require improvement. An experiment in running a retail shop for the sale of Empire foodstuffs has been made in Buxton by Miss Gertrude Bloomfield, who, in a letter to the press, says:— “ A small retailer like myself is terribly handicapped in attempting t<? push Empire commodities. So far as I can ascertain, no single firm of wholesale distributors handles the whole range of Empire products. To obtain anything like a representative range of articles, one has to seek out a dozen wholesale firms, and then buy in bulk, and for cash, goods that may remain on one’s hands for an indefinite period. The only alternative is to purchase on wholesale terms from one or two of the big stores which specialise in dominion foodstuffs, at a price so near the retail charges that, after meeting overhead expenses, etc., the small margin of profit i 9 practically wiped out. If the Government is determined to undertake propaganda for the popularisation of Empire foodstuffs it is equally necessary that there should be a range of Empire products from which the small retailer could obtain terms that would allow him to live. A leading firm from which I obtain some of my English tinned foods allow me goods on sale or return and a monthly credit. If I could receive similar treatment from a distributing firm .for Empire goods I feel confident that I have only to hold on to achieve a real success. Why should not the dominions’ representatives in London take the initiative? All the millions spent on Wembley will have been lost unless you can follow the lessons of Wembley in a practical way before they are forgotten.”