The Consumer Viewpoint | Page 2

does not
divide his expenditures wisely. He neglects to pay the price for the
highest grade skill in designing and he markets his product too quickly.
The importance of developing a specific design cannot be
overestimated. No machine on the market, of any type, is one hundred
per cent perfect and none on the market should, therefore, be taken as a
standard to be met by the new manufacturer. It is a patchwork, only,
that is obtained by one common method used to obtain a newly
designed machine. Namely, the manufacturer purchases every type of
machine, already marketed to perform a given work, and adapts one
part from one machine, another part from a second machine and
perhaps still another part from a third machine. Such a design must
always be a compromise, and it is seldom possible to obtain the
original working efficiency of the several parts in the new machine
because of the necessary compromises.
A second point that the manufacturer is apt to overlook is the
importance of including the most minute of details in his general high

standard of manufacture. For instance, he elects to use copper for a
water container, but forgets to provide that every bolt and rivet and
screw, no matter how small, shall be of a rust-resisting metal. The
small part capable of rusting is as much an eyesore to the purchaser and
in certain conditions can do as great damage as though the
manufacturer had not spent the major sum to insure his rust-resisting
container.
And a third point: sometimes a manufacturer neglects to make certain
of a perfection of detail in the factory that will produce one hundred per
cent. of uniformity in his product. Thus vacuum cleaner manufacturers,
merely by installing an equipment that would measure for them, under
actual conditions of service, the correct air displacement of the
particular machine tested, could eliminate any possibility of lack of
uniformity in their product. Further, it would take no more time for the
inspection than is at present accorded to the routine reading of current
consumption. Yet up to this time we know of no vacuum cleaner
factory that has installed this comparatively simple and inexpensive
equipment.
When attempting to market a product to women, factory faults are of
far greater importance than when marketing a product for the use of
men. The latter understand the difficulties of factory production and
accept the occasional defective product as a routine. They expect it to
be credited. They expect prompt correction on the part of the
manufacturer or dealer, and, once adjusted, with them the matter
usually ends. Not so with the average woman purchaser. First of all,
and last of all, she remembers that something was the matter with the
machine for which she paid her money. Oftentimes only the most
drastic and unusual service on the part of the manufacturer will take
away the sting that was left in her mind by the original transaction. In
club, church, or in confidential chat at home, somewhere she leaves the
impression that there is still something the matter or she would not
have gotten a poor machine. The advertising value, therefore, of a
uniformity of product cannot be overestimated. No amount of costly
after-service will compensate for the lack of it.

THE VALUE OF PROPER DEMONSTRATION BY THE DEALER.
A manufacturer sometimes fails to satisfy the woman consumer
because he is attempting to satisfy a dealer's demand for "flashy" rather
than practical selling points and, therefore, loses sight of the value to
him of a perfect functioning of his device. Exclusive points of design
that can be used for a spectacular demonstration have been up to this
time perhaps the strongest of selling aids; but manufacturers and
dealers alike are beginning to realize that they have an element of
danger. Thus, the confetti test for vacuum cleaners was an unfortunate
misuse of the machine. It has never convinced the woman purchaser
that it would accomplish the more trying task of removing "grimed-in"
soil, even while it fascinated her as a spectator and even while she left
as a purchaser. She doubted her own machine because of the
unconvincing test.
It was only a short time ago that in one of the trade papers dealing with
household equipment there appeared an editorial endorsement, and an
exceedingly strong one at that, of a certain dealer display which had
attracted great crowds on both sidewalk and street before the dealer's
window. The crowd had been drawn by the display of a number of
different washing machines grouped around a central machine which
was absorbing the "limelight." It had a swinging wringer and the
wringer was revolving at so rapid a rate it became plain that any
woman who stepped in the way of that particular type of