WASHING MACHINES
SM.—The statement in Leslie Adrian's column of December 14 that retailers have to charge necessarily
rather higher prices for their washing machines is simply not true. I think most people in the electrical appliances industry acknowledge the fact that nationally advertised direct selling lines are more expensive to distribute than those which go from manufacturer to retailer and thence to the public.-
This is borne out by the fact that the purchase tax on the 59 gns. Rolls Electromatic washing
machine is £9 15s. 10d. It can be stated with cer- tainty that any washing machine carrying this purchase tax would sell in shops, if the dealer's discount were 25 per cent, off list price, at £62 Os. 3d., and if his discount were 221 per cent., which some firms adopt, the price would be £60 6s. 7d. Thus in one instance a machine in this category would be Is. 3d. more expensive or £1 12s. 5c1. cheaper.
One must, however, take into account that re- tailers can, and frequently do, give part-exchange allowances which are, generally speaking, not available from door-to-door salesmen. It is there- fore inaccurate to say that prices are cheaper when delivery is effected direct from the manufacturer to the consumer.
I was indeed interested to see that retailers are thinking seriously of agreeing to take a cut in their profit margins. Manufacturers may arbitrarily re- duce discounts, which in the opinion of this Asso- ciation, representing 7,000 shops, is both unfair and unnecessary for the reasons stated above, but I have yet to hear from a retailer who has agreed.
If manufacturers take this course of action with- out the agreement of the retail trade it will most
certainly stimulate, as you infer in your article, the flow of foreign produce into this country.
19121 Conway Street, Fitzroy Square WI
Previous page
