Читать книгу Selling Home Furnishings: A Training Program - Walter F. Shaw - Страница 50

In this bulletin the buyer of home furnishings is referred to as "she." This is done partly for simplicity, and partly because most buyers are women.

As a matter of fact, men do play an extremely important part in the purchase of home furnishings, and they are likely to be the determining factor in large sales. This is so much the case that clever salesmen and decorators frequently try to get the man involved even in the earlier stages of a large sale, while many highly successful oriental-rug men make no serious effort on a sale of any importance until the man is actively interested.

Accurate percentages impossible.—Such data as we have indicate that, in the purchase by average-income families of the kinds of merchandise carried by furniture stores, 5 percent or less of the buying is done by men alone, 50 percent or more by women alone, and the remaining 40 percent by men and women together.

The percentages, which are of approximate accuracy only, vary widely with different classifications of merchandise. Women probably buy from 75 to 85 percent of all curtains, draperies, mattresses, and pillows; men alone buy considerably more than 5 percent of lamps, refrigerators, and small electric appliances; and men and women together buy from 60 to 70 percent of room-size rugs and the more important items of furniture.