The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1909)

^/fe EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY Published by the National Phonograph Co., Orange, N. J. NEW YORK: 10 FIFTH AVENUE NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH CO., I/TD., VICTORIA ROAD, WILLESDEN, LONDON. NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH CO. OP AUSTRALIA, LTD., 340 KENT STREET, SYDNEY, N. S. W. MEXICAN NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH CO., AVENIDA ORIENTS No. 117, MEXICO CITY. COMPANIA EDISON HISPANO-AMERICANA, VIAMONTE 516, BUENOS AIRES. EDISON GESELLSCHAFT, M. B. H., SUD-UFER 24-25, BERLIN. COMPAGNIE FRANCAISE DU PHONOGRAPHS EDISON, 42 RUE DB PARADIS, PARIS. Kl\ communications to The Phonograph Monthly should be addressed to the Advertising Department, Orange, N. J. Vol. VII. JANUARY, 1909 No. 1 Inventory month! Yes; is that all? For some retailers that's all January is. Some retail merchants spend the month of January waiting for February. For others, whose Christmas business has been big, January is a month for rest and recuperation,— a convenient time for a trip or vacation, possibly. For a few retailers January is the first month of the New Year and therefore a month for business, a month for renewed effort, a month that shall prophecy by its results a healthy growth of the year's business. Phonograph Dealers of the last named class have no pad-locks on their doors in January or any other time during the year except Sundays and holidays. For them the first twelfth of the year is as important, — yes, more important than the twelfth twelfth. But unfortunately the Dealers of this class are in the minority. Many a retail merchant appears to choose for his mental motto for January — "If 'stock-taking' interferes with business, close up the business." That attitude is a "pad-lock" on the door. Other merchants, ordinarily to be commended for their enterprise and sagacity, cut down their sales force right after Christmas, allow their stock to dwindle, are not surprised if there is no more trade than they are able to handle, and then they congratulate themselves for being "season wise," whereas, they have really locked up their own store door with a good strong "pad-lock"— ("dull times" of their own making). January is a dull month only for the retailer who allows it to be a dull month. No merchant should forget this simple truth: Retail business is nurtured by the retailer, not by the purchaser. The purchaser is the one acted upon by advertising, by window display, by argument over the counter and by the apparent quality of the goods offered for sale. The purchaser does not buy what he needs unless he happens to want what he needs; but he invariably buys what he wants whether he needs it or not. Advertising, window display, sales argument — have one purpose, — to create desire on the part of the possible customer for the goods. If an Edison Dealer allows his stock to remain low after the Christmas sale, if he ceases to advertise Edison goods in the newspapers and to display them in his windows, if he handicaps in any way his ability to do a big Edison business, then it is Phonographs to "pad-locks" he will do a small business and have reason to call that period of inactivity a dull season. The Edison Dealer who "hits" January the way he "hits" December — with a complete stock, with good advertising, enthusiasm, optimism, — that Dealer will have no cause to complain at the end of the month nor will he ever padlock his business in the other dull seasons (so-called > of the year. Unless most of the present indications prov* unreliable, the year 1909 will exceed in prosperity any previous twelve months in the history of the Edison Phonograph. This statement is based upon a number of facts. In the first place the new Amberol Records and the attachments needed to play them on existing Phonographs will be important factors in making for a large volume of business. Since they were put on the