Ebook Mail order retailing in Britain: A business and social history

Ebook Mail order retailing in Britain: A business and social history examines the rise of internet shopping and the new challenges and opportunities it provided for the mail order industry. Here the story is one of continuity and fracture as the established mail order companies struggle to adjust to a business environment which they had partly created, but which also rested on a new range of core competencies and technological and... Đề tài Hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tại Công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên được nghiên cứu nhằm giúp công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên làm rõ được thực trạng công tác quản trị nhân sự trong công ty như thế nào từ đó đề ra các giải pháp giúp công ty hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tốt hơn trong thời gian tới.

M A I L O R D E R R E TA I L I N G I N B R I TA I N This page intentionally left blank 6f87e 1b11a 932da b860 f81 b6 f9bdc3 2eca c777 6e0cf7 b60da 52f6cf66 b5ff294 1e747 e e1b11a9 32da b860 f81 b6f9bdc32 ecac7776 e0cf7b60da5 2f6 cf66b5ff2941e 747e 6f8 932dab860 f81b6f9 bdc32e cac7776e 0cf7b6 0da5 2f6 cf66b5ff2 941e 747e6 f87e 1b1 1a 860f8 1b6 f9bdc32eca c77 76e0 cf7 b60 da52 f6cf66 b5ff29 41e74 7e6f87e1 b11a9 32da b f81b6f9 bdc32e cac7 776e0 cf7b6 0da52 f6 cf6 6b5ff2 941e7 47e6 f87e 1b11a 932da b86 6f9bdc3 2eca c77 76e0 cf7 b60 da52 f6cf66 b5ff294 1e74 7e6f87e1 b11a9 32dab860 f81 b dc32e cac7776 e0cf7b60da5 2f6 cf66b5ff2941e 747e 6f87 e1b1 1a932 dab8 60f81b6 f9 b 32eca c7776 e0cf7 b60da 52f6cf66b5ff2941 e747e 6f8 7e1b11a932 dab8 60f81b6 f9 bdc c7776 e0cf7b60da 52f6 cf66b5ff2941 e747e 6f8 7e1b11a932 dab8 60f81b6 f9 bdc32e ca e0cf7b60 da52 f6 cf6 6b5ff2 941e7 47e6 f87e 1b11a 932da b860 f81 b6 f9bdc3 2eca c777 fc3a3 f93a 08582 6d66a 60f835 d2406 ea15 f7e7 b88cbf5e9cb78 cc9e16 d1072 e24 c3ee4 7d0800 c6a8 0136 f54 da448 1c2 b397 7f6 f33 e0be 8a4b3 d678 cc5b77 828 cc3 7ae38 f66a4 9c84a7 1dc1cb825a 4f1 d7c732fb9a4 e5765 f83 10c1984 f96 1e06 cf3 fc71f185b5ad74 b fac7b7b2 0dfcfdcdf1 cf4 2b2 fc6 b5a c1e9 c4a51ae fef5b7 de7f4b3 cc9e5d780d33d5 94 9e3f2 1bf4656 147e4 1c5 63d1 76a97 9e946 6be8 9c63 c0e 2907 0df0e654 8e28 c32 c6 f8f7 7ea8e433 c9 f051 8c9 06b9a 684d9d02 5cb598 854db148 3a8024 9bc348 7e1be 4646 2d7a b f21d145b5b08 b8e1 f8 c76 f42 b4ce 759fb93 c48 e7f8a41e7 8571e 64a2 f48b0e5 c8d4 bb8 df3 fa34df8 f2c9de ba5dcb1e e30bc7d67cb1d4163 72d9 47cdab0 1c5 76b2 b2efb3 c49a2 08d258 539 bc6 96d5a 3b1a4 c49 7180 bae30 dc4 4793a3 dc5d19 4ad09 3cb5c3f9 9f2 02398 30ff2d29 b07 f39 d69e d7d2 e358bfca d25b40c5434 0e68a b4ee2 b76e0 b2a8 65300 be6e 95f4 fcb5fd1f4 934 f29e7 ee6d7cfa 31ddc0 5b49 f94 3c1 e22 f3b5 c0e4a d46 2e7c96fc5b 3f9 f11 c9f0 8a6db91a1 7118e 3de6 3e7a02 f9 c1d19137 7d0a7a 34d40ff5b8 453 f6f4e0e 59e15a9 f853 8397 40b3 e9ac33e6fc51 7d8 b739 3a5076 c67 d16e 7cc03df1 b1f0b9 fc0 46 3a67e368 0a4d3d50 cf8d5 f476 8201 e328 cbbba50 c741 ebd4f6 b2e1 0316e d218 e1d2 918 0d4204 90efb3ab05fb73 c76 f04 f402 4609 30bbbd8c70 8725 e74dc8 cf9a 5b23 c6 ce52 6d 5a2ffad28c03f5ddc8 b5b1 9f6 5a9a4 f8ff22e 5e28b515a6 e2baff25 e0185 e7457 d94 b3 6e74e1a5 eb8e 6a6629 e94dc3 b8533 4599 8a334 c325 5d17 f25 1a9f0fc09d15d4 76fc381 14dd4 024 c2f27f32d2 1896e 863 d2798 93b4 5fb87d4d3 b709a d32bf1 f855 3822 14eb1 0a 4a2b893 e6f264e6 3adfe30c144aa d9ad6 d154a 23f6b2 be48 d55b74c3677 f31a2 6752 77 MAIL ORDER RETAILING IN BRITAIN A Business and Social History Richard Coopey, Sean O’Connell, and Dilwyn Porter 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © R Coopey, S O’Connell, and D Porter 2005 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2005 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Coopey, R (Richard) Mail order retailing in Britain: a business and social history / Richard Coopey, Sean O’Connell, and Dilwyn Porter p cm ISBN 0-19-829650-9 (alk paper) Mail-order business—Great Britain—History Mail-order business—Great Britain—Case studies Teleshopping—Great Britain I O’Connell, Sean II Porter, Dilwyn, 1947– III Title HF5466 C595 2005 381’.142’0941—dc22 2004024299 ISBN 0-19-829650-9 10 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk Acknowledgements As authors, we are delighted to have an opportunity to acknowledge some of the many debts we have incurred in writing this book In the first instance, we wish to express our gratitude to the Leverhulme Trust for funding the research project from which it has grown We also recognize that this study would have been impossible without the help we have received from many people working in or associated with Britain’s home shopping industry who responded to our inquiries with interest and generosity We are especially indebted to Bill Oakes of RedCATS UK for making space for us in a very busy office and for allowing us to access and utilize archival sources relating to the history of Empire Stores Mike Hawker, then at Empire, kindly shared some important insights with us derived from his vast experience of the home shopping business; Peter Fattorini was immensely informative as well as very hospitable and generous with his time We also wish to acknowledge the help we received from Robert Blow at Freemans and Martin Gilhooley at Grattan who made ‘The Grattan Story’ available to us and arranged some important interviews Anne Moore at Kays was very helpful in the early stages of this project but we are especially grateful to Bernard Mills, formerly of Kays, now chairman of the Kays Heritage Group, for access and permission to use primary source material and illustrations now located at the Kays Heritage Centre, Worcester All illustrations are © Kays Heritage Group We would also like to thank Nicole Burnett of the Worcester Museum of Local Life for material from the Kays Oral History Project Finally, we have been helped and encouraged throughout by various friends and colleagues Jill Greenfield’s work on the interview transcripts was much appreciated, as were Claire Langhamer’s useful insights Nick Tiratsoo was ever alert for useful references that we might not otherwise have encountered We owe a particular debt, however, to Terry Gourvish at the Business History Unit, London School of Economics, who generously hosted the project and provided a congenial and encouraging environment in which to work Finally, we should take this opportunity to thank our editors, David vi Acknowledgements Musson and Matthew Derbyshire, whom we have tried sorely and whose patience, we hope, has now been rewarded Richard Coopey Sean O’Connell Dilwyn Porter Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables ix x Introduction 1 General Mail Order Retailing in Britain: Origins and Development till 1939 The Origins of Mail Order Retailing General Mail Order Retailing in Britain Before 1914 Mail Order Houses During the First World War The Expansion of Mail Order Retailing in the 1920s Mail Order’s Corporate Landscape Transformed in the 1930s 32 The Evolution of Mail Order Retailing in Post-war Britain Mail Order Retailing in the Second World War Mail Order Retailing and Post-war Austerity, c 1945–51 The Heyday of Traditional Mail Order Retailing, c 1950–80 Congeniality, Convenience, Catalogues, and Credit ‘Mail Order is Dead Long Live Home Shopping’ 43 44 48 50 56 67 Working-Class Life, Consumer Credit, and the Making of Agency Mail Order Consumer Credit and the Working-Class Family The Development of Mail Order Agencies Great Universal Stores, Littlewoods, and the Club System The Feminization of Mail Order Agency 77 78 84 91 96 Mail Order Agency in Post-war Britain: The Agent, The Company, and The Customer The Extent of Mail Order Agency The Social Characteristics of Mail Order Agents and Customers Agency Functions and Types of Agencies The Company–Agent Relationship Agents and Customers The Disappearing Agent 13 14 20 25 27 107 108 111 118 122 128 132 viii Contents Inside the Firm: Mail Order, Efficiency, and Rationalization—From Personal to Organizational Control Warehousing, Order Processing, and Stock Control Rationalization and Personal Control The Bedaux System at Empire Stores Rationalization and Personal Control into the Post-war Era Mail Order Warehousing in the Post-war Period Working in the Mail Order Warehouse in the Post-war Era 139 140 144 148 154 156 158 Disconnecting the Personal: Computers and Mail Order Office Mechanization in the 1940s and 1950s Freemans and the LEO Computer The Diffusion of Computerization in the 1960s Real-time Computing and the Mail Order Business Computerization and the Mail Order Warehouse Reconfiguring the Relationship with the Customer Hanging on the Telephone Credit Referencing 173 174 176 180 185 188 191 192 196 The Second Home Shopping Revolution Technologies and Cultures The False Dawn of Electronic Shopping Internet Shopping Consolidation and Growth 203 204 212 215 Conclusion 231 Index 239 List of Illustrations Early morning mail, Kay & Co., Worcester, c.1919 (Kays Heritage Group) Despatch rooms, Kay & Co., Worcester, c.1919 (Kays Heritage Group) Letter girls filing the day’s correspondence, Kay & Co., Worcester, c.1919 (Kays Heritage Group) Shorthand typists in the typerooms, Kay & Co., Worcester, c.1919 (Kays Heritage Group) All illustrations courtesy of Kays Heritage Trust © Kays Heritage Group 28 29 146 147 234 Mail Order Retailing in Britain extent, the edge which mail order developed over other forms of retailing in this respect might be explained by the way in which ‘free credit’ was bundled into the price of goods, thereby disguising its true cost from the customer Significantly, as other forms of credit have become available, mail order companies have become more open in this respect with Littlewoods, for example, offering interest-free credit over a period of twelve months provided that customers make their purchases from the more expensive of its two catalogues.6 It is clear, however, that the relative formality of the process by which a customer could gain access to mail order credit with no reference required beyond that which could be supplied de facto by the agent as a friend or a neighbour, has been a significant factor in enabling the sector to compete effectively against the High Street The various ‘rolling credit’ schemes, enabling a credit relationship, once established, to be extended, helped to underpin the convenience of these arrangements For the most part, they financed the serial purchase of relatively low-priced goods—women’s clothes, school uniforms, shoes, or relatively inexpensive items of furniture for the home Once catalogues began to display a wider range of branded consumer goods—TV sets and washing machines, for example—mail order credit became instrumental in helping customers to cross the threshold of Britain’s emerging consumer society in the late 1950s and early 1960s Moreover, until the last twenty years of the twentieth century, the agency system dovetailed neatly with credit provision Customers were reluctant to default on payments collected by someone they knew well and were likely to encounter regularly in the street or at work Thus the combined effect of credit and agency was to create a significant advantage in non-price competition which the mail order firms were able to exploit until new forms of credit became widely available after 1980 While the marketing strategy adopted by mail order firms and their appropriation of social networks necessitates a study of the agency system and credit provision, we should remember that these firms also built their success on their ability to organize internally The story of the American mail order giants, Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck & Co., has often been told In particular, as Chandler has pointed out, the success achieved by Sears as a mass-merchandizing enterprise in the early years of the twentieth century demonstrated the importance of ‘management in depth’ in a large industrial enterprise Conclusion 235 along with ‘a structure which specifically defines clear, uncrossed lines of authority’.7 British mail order houses also depended on the efficient functioning of office, warehouse, packing, and delivery systems Initially, we can see the dominance of individual control and paternal oversight by, for example, successive generations of Kays and Fattorinis Here, again, we need a blend of both business and social history to understand the complex set of relationships which evolved within mail order businesses Emphasis on the bespoke and the contingent, however, should not disguise the fact that purpose-built warehouses were commissioned and that rationalized labour processes were organized, mainly using scientific management schemes devised by Bedaux While the emphasis on systems in the pre-war era was less intense than in the United States, a new pattern did emerge in the post-war period when rationalization based on computer technology became a feature of mail order operations Here again, it is important to broaden the analysis to encompass the cultural and the social as well as the economic A new emphasis on depersonalized computer systems severed the intimate link between the customer/agent and the firm while modifying attitudes to work and working relationships in warehouse and office In particular, the personal connection linking those working inside the mail order house and those who carried its catalogues was replaced by a relationship characterized by anonymity and instrumentality The development of general mail order retailing in Britain has been characterized by a number of distinct phases In the late nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century, watch clubs enabling working men to buy a useful item that they would not otherwise have been able to afford, created a platform for more ambitious ‘universal providers’ offering a wider range of goods via catalogue Though some companies, like Kays, quickly made the transition from club- to credit-based agency mail order, the two systems continued side by side, with Littlewoods and Great Universal Stores (GUS) offering a significant choice to consumers in this respect from the 1930s through to the 1950s As consumption recovered in the early post-war era, however, even John Moores was persuaded that the time had come to join the credit revolution, especially as banks, hire purchase companies, and other providers could meet only a fraction of the pent-up demand for goods on ‘easy terms’ Thereafter, during a period stretching from the early 1950s to the late 1970s, the 236 Mail Order Retailing in Britain non-price advantages of credit, congeniality, and convenience gave agency mail order a significant advantage over many of its competitors in servicing the increasingly consumerist aspirations of its mainly female, working-class customers After about 1980, however, the conditions that had sustained mail order as a retail form began to erode fairly rapidly With the advent of computer-based credit scoring systems in the 1970s, the agent’s local knowledge became less important in counteracting the potentially damaging information asymmetries embedded in any form of distance selling As deindustrialization began to make a significant impact in the early 1980s, many of the traditional working-class communities in which mail order’s traditional customer base was located, and in which the agency system had taken root, began to fragment or disappear These factors might not in themselves have been critical but, combined with the rapid emergence of credit and store cards, they helped to create a market situation that was not conducive to agency mail order in its traditional form Britain’s ‘Big Five’ mail order houses had become accustomed to servicing the requirements of their customers through spare-time, neighbourhood-based agents who gave them access to the communities in which their customers lived There were still good reasons why some customers might want to use this system—with more women at work, the convenience factor was as important as ever—but the time had come for the companies to concentrate their efforts, not on traditional mail order agencies and the social networks they embodied, but on the personal shopper, carrying a credit card, who regarded the agent’s commission as a discount rather than as a signifier of her relationship with the firm At the same time, moreover, a new sector of the retail market— Internet shopping—emerged which both challenged established forms of home shopping and offered an opportunity for them to progress to new levels Internet shopping represented the convergence of a range of technologies, social changes, and entrepreneurial initiatives Despite wildly over-optimistic predictions of growth, it eventually consolidated its position as a major new retailing sector Given their experience in the logistics of home shopping, not to mention call centres and credit referencing systems, the traditional mail order companies seemed likely to benefit from a renaissance as this new marketplace emerged However, though they did move into some areas of the Internet shopping market, they failed to establish Conclusion 237 the kind of presence that their history and their accumulated knowledge appeared to justify Instead, net shopping became dominated by firms that grew with the sector and built on their core expertise in Internet personal computing A hundred years or so after the mail order pioneers had founded their retailing empires, a new wave of entrepreneurs were following suit in establishing new, growth-based companies, which would capture the new opportunities in home shopping Like so many other firms at the time, however, the established home shopping specialists experienced great difficulty in responding with sufficient alacrity to the new challenge Though influenced to some extent by the American model, it is clear that British mail order retailing followed a significantly different trajectory It was not simply that the Chicago-based catalogue houses operated on a much larger scale than their British counterparts In the United States, the home shopping facilities developed by Montgomery Ward and Sears were designed principally to meet the needs of a rural population with limited access to conventional retail outlets In Britain, where most consumers lived in towns and had relatively easy access to chain and department stores, not to mention co-operative stores and independent retailers in their local High Street, mail order companies had to persuade potential customers that they were offering a differentiated service Thus, though mail order entrepreneurs, like Moores and Wolfson, were interested in what they could learn from Chicago, especially in terms of warehouse organization and new office technology, they tended to adopt particular American practices and techniques that could readily be adapted for use in British conditions, rather than embarking on wholesale replication It is important, therefore, to emphasize what was different rather than what was similar The Iowaization scheme introduced by Sears in 1908, whereby rural customers were encouraged to pass their catalogues on to neighbours, had something in common with mail order marketing as it was then practised in Britain but, while ‘cash-ondelivery’ remained more important than instalment sales, the scope for developing the role of the customer as an agent was limited It has been argued that the large number of American women employed as distributors by direct selling operations, such as Mary Kay and Home Interiors, has helped to shape ‘a culture of participating capitalism’ in the United States.8 If this is so, it is important not to underestimate the significance of Britain’s mail order agents who were just as important 238 Mail Order Retailing in Britain in their own social context as their American counterparts By the time that Brownie Wise was introducing the Tupperware party to American housewives in the early 1950s, Britain’s spare-time, neighbourhoodbased agents were well-versed in the techniques of social selling and parlour capitalism Only in recent years, with the shift to direct rather than agency mail order and the rise of the personal shopper, have the British and American experiences shown a marked tendency to converge Notes Chandler, A.D., Jr., ‘Comparative business history’, in D Coleman and P Mathias (eds.), Enterprise and History: Essays in Honour of Charles Wilson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p See Hilton, M., Consumerism in Twentieth-Century Britain: The Search for a Historical Movement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp 1–24 Hilton seeks ‘to re-politicize consumerism’ Phillips, M., ‘The evolution of markets and shops in Britain’, in J Benson and G Shaw (eds.), The Evolution of Retail Systems, c 1880–1914 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1992), p 73 Benson, J and Ugolini, L., ‘Introduction: historians and the nation of shopkeepers’, in J Benson and L Ugolini (eds.), A Nation of Shopkeepers; Five Centuries of British Retailing (London: I.B Tauris, 2003), p 14 Wilson, J., British Business History, 1720–1994 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), p Guardian, 15 June 2004 Chandler, A.D., Jr., Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of American Industrial Enterprise (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1962), p 282 Collins, B., ‘American enterprise and the British comparison’, in B Collins and K Robbins (eds.), British Culture and Economic Decline (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990), pp 182–3 Index age profile of customers 117–18, 134 agency mail order convenience 2–3, 56, 58, 59, 122 decline of 9, 122, 132–5 development of 84–91 differentiated service 2–3 extent of 108–10 feminization of 37, 96–101, 131, 134 social organisation of 119–22 as social transaction 7, 57, 58 agents 2, 56, 77–101 and bad debt 20, 90–1, 107, 127 competition with retail store 23 computerization 178–9, 191–2 and credit 9, 78 decisions 77, 114–15 customers 128–31 and credit per agent 1, 110, 120, 132 distribution 143 female 86, 111, 112 from organizer to agent 64 functions of 118–22 income and tenancy agreements 59 inspection of homes 87–8 limiting 23 and mail order growth 232–3 motivation 100, 120–2, 126–7, 233 number of 108–10 and quality 128 reasons for decline of 132–5 recruitment 87–8, 92, 97–8 of women 37 relationship with company 122–8, 191–2, 199 requirements for 118–19 and returns 129 and sales 129–30 sociability factor 57–8, 121, 199, 226, 232 social characteristics 111–18 social class 112–15 telephone ordering 119 types and function of 118–22 UK reliance on 38 volume through 5–6 and World War I 26 Amazon.com 215–16, 221 Apple computers 182, 205 Arbuckle, A.D 128 Asher, L.E automation 158, 174 bad debt 89–90, 107–8, 127 and agents 20, 90–1, 115 and club system 91–3 contingencies 30 and hard times 32–3 minimization of 233 and recession 193 selling of 90 types of people 90 and watch clubs 85 see also credit Barclay Brothers 71 Barton, Rene 158–9, 165, 166 BBC and Internet 216 Beaver, Patrick 4, 32, 182 Bedaux, C./system 15, 93, 149, 235 at Empire Stores 148–53, 163, 168, 179 failure of 153 and labour 152, 153 reasons for use 8, 153 Beehive warehouse 7, 143, 154 Benefit Consumer Credit 133 Bessants & Co 31, 35 Best, George 63–4 240 Biggart, N.W blacklisting 115 Blanke, David 3, Body Shop 208, 218 Bollin House 66 Bradford Textiles 46 Braithwaite, D Brandon, R Brian Mills 64, 95 British Mail Order Corporation 66, 133 British Shoe Corporation 68 British Telecom 207 bulk buying Burlington 64, 95 call centres 9, 167, 192–6 monitoring of workers 194, 195 Callscan 193 catalogues 125 and celebrities 61, 63–4 development of 13, 14, 59–61 emphasis on family 126 Fattorini on 60 Internet 208–99 number in 1981 56 quality of 142 UK/US differences 107 Ceefax 213 Chandler, A.D 3, 4, 5, 231, 234 cheque trading 77, 81–2 Chorlton Warehouses 66 Christmas clubs 81 Church, Roy circulars, growth of 14 clothing clubs 81 club system 17, 18, 91–6, 235 GUS 36 Littlewoods 35, 37 origins 85 as sociable 37, 58 co-operative societies 31, 35, 81, 82 CWS 4, 31 coal industry 30 commission 98, 107 competition 5, 21–2, 70 agency system commission 98 from overseas 218 and number of catalogues 66 competitions, consumer 36–7 computerization 8–9, 156, 173–99, 235 1960s 180–4 Index accounting 189 and agents 178–9, 191–2 budgetary control 189 credit control 189 Empire Stores 181–2, 184, 188 Freemans 176–80, 183, 198 Grattan 180–1, 184, 187 and growth 181 labour issues 180 LEO computer 176–80 Littlewoods 185–7, 190 motives for 182–3 pickers 9, 160 problems 190–1 real-time 185–7 software 181, 182 vulnerability of 189–90 warehousing 156, 188–91 see also technology consumers demand 52 and retail development 222–3, 232 rural 2, 3, spending 48 consumption 4, 231 1970s 51, 52 controls on domestic 48–9 post-war 43, 51 wartime 46 convenience 3, 56, 58, 59, 122 Cooke, S Andy 44, 47, 115, 127 on catalogue 60–1 on postal service 54 cost of living 33 change during WWII 45 Crawshaw, H.S 53, 129 credit 6, 20, 77–101, 233–4 1930s changes 34 agency system 78 bureaux 86 catalogue market share of 68 and competitiveness 5, 70 control 89–90, 189 as differentiating factor 64, 233–4 and expensive products 64 extension of 92 furniture retailers 94 importance of 56, 58, 65, 77 and industry growth 56 informality of 65 information sharing 87 litigation against providers 83 Index male guarantor 130 market share (1981) 67 and morality 85 reasons for refusal 90, 115 referencing 90, 115, 196–7 risk 18, 25, 30, 133 and clubs 17 labour disputes 20–1 list swap 22 and sales 6, 22, 32, 43–4, 49, 77 scoring 9, 78, 133–4, 196–9, 236 and social networks 87 social status 77–8, 79 street blacklisting 115 suppliers of 77, 80–1 term of trade 23 and travellers 87–8 as UK characteristic 38 use and household income 116 and usury 85 and women 37, 130 and working class 78–84 credit cards 209–10, 211, 236 and gender 130 Crowther Report 56, 109 customer relations 191–2 Littlewoods 47–8 customers age profile 117–18, 134 and military service 25 relationship with agents 128–31 socio-economic composition 111–12, 131 Daykin, Derek 159, 174, 190, 191 delivery development of direct manufacture 161 and PO failures 54–6 self-delivery 56, 68 department stores catalogues 14 expansion of 35 resistance from 63 differentiation 37 Direct Line 218–19 direct mail order 5, 9, 114 distribution 68 agents 143 drop shipping 161 replacing post office 55–6 and theft 55 diversification 23 Dobbs, S.P draw clubs 81 drop shipping 161 e-commerce see Internet eBay.com 217–18 EFTPOS 210 electrical goods 33, 64 electronic shopping 212–15 Emmett, B Empire Stores 1, 16, 113 1930s 34 1950s growth 52–3, 54 Bedaux system 8, 148–53 call centre 192 computerization 181–2, 184, 188 credit information sharing 87 and credit risk 22 as family business 38 Grattan merger 198 Iowaization policy 88 market share 66, 67 and miners 30 pre-WWI 24 Red Book 89, 90, 154 salary cuts 34 supply issues 45–6 as takeover target 69 technology 175, 181 telephone ordering 67 warehousing 54, 142–3, 188–9 and World War I 26–7 employment in mail order firms 8, 28, 29 and counselling 164 social welfare 165–7, 168 warehouses 157, 158–67 of women 134, 135, 167 Equal Opportunities Commission 130 Fattorini, Antonio 24 Fattorini Company 16, 21, 32 in 1920s 27, 31–2 and Bedaux 153 catalogue quality 142 club system 19, 85, 86 credit 86 diversification 23 maintaining family business 38 pre mail order 16 241 242 Fattorini Company (Cont.) pre-war market conditions 24 product line expansion 18 watch clubs 5, 16–17 see also Grattan Fattorini, John Edward 24 Fattorini, John Enrico 31–2, 36, 142, 143 death of 154 establishing company 16, 24 see also Fattorini Company Fattorini, Joseph 89, 101, 142, 153 and agency system 57 on catalogue 60 product quality 61–2 Red Book 89, 90, 154 on status 63 supplier resistance 62–3 Fattorini, Peter 64, 89, 123, 155, 193 marketing 197 on technology 186 unions 165 Fernie, S 195 Finn, M 83 football pools 35–6 Fordism 148 France Freeman, Henry 21 Freemans 1, 22, 55, 86 1950s growth 53 agents 21 social class 113 Bedaux system 8, 149 canvassing 88 catalogue development 60 commission 98 computerization 176–80, 183, 188, 198 credit 86 to strikers 30 as family business 38, 145 female agents 97 foundation of 21 Iowaization policy 88 IPO 52 labour relations 167 LEO computer 176–80 and Littlewoods 68 market share 66, 67 and Sears 68 self delivery 56, 68 as takeover target 69 technology 175, 176–80, 198 telephone ordering 67 Index warehousing 68 World War I 27 World War II 47–8 furniture retailers 94 Gamage, A.W 14 Garnett, Don 132 Germany globalization 195 government 44–5 post-war controls 48–9, 176 requisitioning 44 sales to 27 surplus 49 tenancy agreements 59 Grattan 1, 58, 69 1930s growth 34–5 1950s growth 52 agents 123–4 Bedaux system 8, 149 computerization 180–1, 184, 187 consumer demand 52 Empire merger 198 employees 164–5, 166–7 Iowaization policy 88 IPO 35 Laser Mailing Services 197 market share 66, 67 and poverty 32 requisitioning 44 self delivery 56 start of trading 16 stock control 144 as takeover target 69 technology 181, 187 telephone ordering 67 use of credit 86 wages 163 warehousing 140, 157, 163 World War II 48 Graves of Sheffield 16, 17 competition 21–2 direct watch sales 18–19 post office dispute 19 Great Universal Stores 1, 50 agents 113 club system 91–6 commission 98 credit risk 133 decline of 69 diversification 69 Index foundation of 35, 36 government intervention 48–9 IPO 92 market share 66, 67 own brand 62 recruiting 92 subsidiaries 66 telephone ordering 67 see also Kays growth of mail order firms 4–5 1920s 27–32 and computerization 181 post WWII 43–71 reasons for 58–9 and technology 181 competition 216–17 electronic shopping 212–15 history of 204–12 impact of 70 and mail order companies 225–6 near-service companies 219 payment systems 209–10 retailers 215–19 returns 223 sex industry 219 shopping 9–10, 203, 236–7 consolidation and growth 215–27 emergence 236–7 inventory 22–3 Iowaization 88, 237 Hartnell, Norman 63 HDS 56 Heal, E Hilton, Matthew 232 history of mail order 3–4 pre-WWI 13–25 during WWI 25–7 1920s expansion 27–30 1930s 32–8 during WWII 44–8 post war 107–35 (48–50) 48–50 (1950–80) 50–6 1950s growth 43 Hoggart, Richard 57 Holgate, Arthur 90 Hollerith system 175, 186 Holman, D 195 home delivery Home Shopping Network 214 Howe, Lady 130 Jackson, Mike 178, 179 Jeuckes, J.E jewellery clubs 13 John England 66 John Myers 3, 16, 18, 21 catalogue 60–1 market share 66 and postal services 54 John Noble 14 Johnson, P 83, 85, 93 Jones, Pryce 15, 140–1 Jones, William 21 IBM 181, 182, 205 identity theft 211 impulse buying 61 India 194, 195 inflation 27 bad debt 193 infrastructure changing communications 19 motorways 55 Innovative Computing Laboratory 181 Intel 182 Internet 203–38 adapting to 237 as alternative source 223 243 Kay, William Kilbourne 18, 30, 78, 144, 194 Kays 20–1, 66, 181 1899 catalogue 17–18 1948–9 catalogue 49–50 and agent tasks 118–19 and baby boom 50 bad debt allowance 30 club system 18, 19 credit 20, 34, 86 advertising 34 information sharing 22, 87 risk 22, 133 diversification 23 growth 53, 143 1930s 33–4 1950s 53–4 pre WWI 23–4 Iowaization policy 88 labour costs 46 labour relations 166–7 Morse acquisition 50 organizational control 143, 144–5 as paternalistic 144–5 244 Kays (Cont.) Prestel system 215 product 17 diversification 22–3 line expansion 18 profit (1945–50) 49 purchase by GUS 35, 36 real estate investments 54 requisitioning 44 sale of bad debt 90 and Skarratts 18, 27 start of trading 16 stock control 143–4 supply issues 46, 49 trading conditions (1905) 20 use of celebrities 61 warehousing 188 World War I 25–6, 27 World War II 44, 46 Keyline 214 Kramer, Harmut 69 La Redoute 69, 70–1, 224 labour 164–5 absenteeism 164 Bedaux 153 computerization 180 costs 46 counselling 164 credit to strikers 30 disputes 20–1, 55 during WWII 48 glass ceiling 167 monitoring 194, 195 process 141 productivity 148 relations 145 Freemans 167 Kays 166–7 social welfare officer 167 resistance to Bedaux 152 and seasonality 151 shortages 46 sickness 164 and technology 156, 179, 187 teleworking 212 unions 184 work environment 166–7 post-war 158–68 worker resistance 195 Laser Mailing Services 197 Latham, F.B Index law of coverture 83–4 law of necessaries 83–4 LEO computer 173, 176–80, 198 lifestyle and mail order 58, 99 Littlewoods 1, 94–5 agents 113 Brian Mills 64 Burlington 64 catalogue development 60 circumventing credit laws 37 clubs system 37, 91–6 computerization 185–7, 190 and credit 66 customer service 47–8 decline of 69, 71 as family business 38 foundation of 2, 35, 36–7 and Freemans 68 Littlewoods Army 47 market share 66, 67 own brand 62 real time computing 185–6 requisitioning 47 stock control 144 supply issues 47 telephone ordering 67 teleshopping 215 World War II 46–7 Livesey, Frank London Co-operative Society 82 Lulu 61 Lyons Electronic Office 173, 176–80, 198 McFayden, E 109 McKibbin, Ross 58 MacMillan, Harold 51 mail order 44 decline 69–70, 71 demise of 67, 236 development and origins (pre-1939) 13–38 development phases 235–6 and discrimination 130–1 distinctive characteristics of UK 38 growth of 232–3 market shares 53, 66, 67, 93 personal control 144–8 post war 154–5 reasons for 2–3 success 56, 58 and respectability 84–5 share of retail sales 1, 37–8, 53, 65, 67, 68 Index videotext 213 see also agents; history mail order firms industrial relations 164–5 internal organization offices 144, 146, 147, 151 mechanization 1940s & 1950s 174–6 order processing 140–4, 157 organizational control 139–68 as differentiating factor 234–5 stock control 140–4 see also warehousing Mail Order Traders Association 45, 111 Mann, J 5, 119, 122 market share 53 by company 66, 67 marketing 36–7 brand recognition 128–9 catalogues 125 clubs as sociable 37 competitions 36–7 delivery before payment 64–5 emphasis on family 126 importance of credit 58 La Redoute 70–1 Laser Mailing Services 197 loyalty cards 197 non-price factors 56–67 Marks and Spencer 220 Marshall and Snellgrove 14 Marshall Ward 66 mass customization 195 Mass Observation Ltd 112, 117 mass personalization 226 mergers, reasons for 69 Microsoft 182, 205, 207 middle-class and mail order 114 military supplies 46–7 Minitel 214, 224 Monk, Hillary 220 Monopolies and Mergers Commission 56, 66 credit risk 133 importance of mail order 132 Littlewoods and Freemans 68 number of agents 109, 110 Montgomery Ward 2, 3, 4, 234 internal organization 7, 143 Moores, John 2, 47, 94–5, 100, 124, 237 and Littlewoods 35, 36–7, 63 quality 62 US influence 3, 141–2 Moore’s Law 206 Morgan, Kenneth 48 Morgan, Rita 166 Morse 50 Mutual Communications Society 86 mutuality clubs 82 Neal, Lawrence newsheets 124, 125–7 Newton, Arthur 80 Oracle 213 order processing 139, 140–4, 157 time 157–8 Otto Versand 69 outsourcing 193–4 India 195 own brands 62 Owthwaite, Sidney 36, 154, 155 paternalism of firms 144–5, 148, 168 pawnbrokers 77, 79–80 see also credit payment systems 209–10 perfect knowledge 216–17 personal control of firms 144–8 post war 154–5 pickers 9, 159–60, 163, 167, 188 and computerization 188 Pinault-Printemps-La Redoute 69 Post Offices 15–16 collections from warehouses 19, 28 postal orders 15, 16 postal service 28, 29 1971 strike 55, 127 advertising 14 declining quality 54–6 development of 13–14, 15–16 dispute with 19 parcel post 15–16 poverty 32–3, 98 Prestel system 213, 215 pricing price controls 49, 50 privacy products 17 branded 63–4, 234 credit on larger items 64 during WWII 46 line expansion 18 supply issues 43, 49 profit, government control on 49 245 246 Index Provident Clothing and Supply Company 81–2 pub clubs 85, 121 purchase tax 44–5 purchasing 2, 139 quality 61–2, 128 control 159 and returns 159 name brands 62 Quant, Mary 64 radio purchases 33 rail 15, 141 industrial dispute 55 parcel post 16 Rampton, Alan 88 Rampton, Arthur 21 Rampton, Robert 47–8 Rampton, Stanley 21, 145 Rampton, Tony 56, 97, 145 rationing 48, 49 recession and bad debt 193 recruitment of agents 37, 87–8, 92, 97–8 Red Book 89, 90, 154 Redcats 69 Reeves, Maude Pember 81 requisitioning 44, 47 respectability and mail order retailers 84–5 retailing (pre 1914) 20 retail parks 222–3, 232 returns 161–2 abuse of system 162 and agents 129 Internet 223 and quality control 159 and telephone ordering 67–8 Rittenberg, Max 2, 94–5 Roberts, Robert 80, 87 Rorison, Hugh 166 Rose family 16, 95 Rose, George 92 Royal Silk Warehouse 19 Royal Welsh Warehouse 15, 66, 140–1, 222 Rubin, G.R 83 rural consumers 2, 3, Russell, Thomas 16 sales and agents 129–30 effect of credit 22 satellite TV 215 saving clubs 81 Schlereth, Thomas 3–4 scotch draper 82 Sears 2, 107, 234, 237 and Freemans 68 internal organization volume warehousing 141, 143 Sears, Richard seasonality 151, 163 Selfridges 68 shilling clubs 92, 96, 100 shopkeepers and credit 77 shopping channels 215 Smith, Allan Wade 64 sociability of shopping 57–8, 121, 129, 199, 226, 232 social class of users 112–18, 135 see also working-class social networks 77–101, 234 and agents 7, 100, 121, 126, 128 and bad debt 91 changes in 57–8, 134–5 and credit 6, 80, 87 and employment in mail order and redevelopment 57 see also women social reform 48 social structures inside firms Softbank Venture Capital 218 specialization Spicer, Henry 36, 46 Spiegel Spring Rice, Margery 99 standard of living 51, 96 stock control 140–4, 151 strikes and bad credit 30 supply issues 43, 45–6, 49 branded goods 62–3 control of supply chain 55 tallyman 82, 84, 86 tax purchase 44–5 selective employment 156 Taylor, Avram 7, 77, 78, 135 Tebbutt, M 131 technology 173–99 1960s computerization 180–4 accounting 189 automation 158 BT Prestel system 213, 215 Index budgetary control 189 business culture 178 call centres 192–6 Callscan 193 Ceefax 213 credit control 189 customer relations 191–2 Freemans 176–80, 198 Grattan 187 and growth 181 Home Shopping Network 214 identity theft 211 and labour 179, 187 motives for 182–3 non-cash transactions 209 office mechanization 174–6 Oracle 213 payment systems 209 perfect knowledge 216–17 real time computing 185–7 satellite TV 215 Spectrum digital 193 telebanking 210 telematic schemes 213 telephone ordering 193 videotext 212, 213 vulnerability 189 warehousing 141 see also computerization telebanking 210 Telecard Supershop 213 telephone ordering 9, 67–8, 119, 192–6 teleshopping 211, 215 televisions, sale of 64 teleworking 212 tenancy agreements 59 Tesco 213, 220–1 theft 55 thrift clubs 81 Tilt Tray System 189 traffic congestion 222, 223 and growth 58 Trafford 64, 66 travellers 19–20, 87–90, 93 visits to agents 123 Turner, Julian 216 unemployment and bad credit 30 unions 165, 184 United States distribution influence of 142, 188, 237 labour process 141 learning from and UK compared 3, 4, 5, 107, 168 warehousing 38, 141, 154–5 Universal Stores 16, 17 USDAW 165 utility scheme 50 Vernons 36 videotext 212–13 viruses 190 wages 17 (1899–1933) 20 Bedaux 152–3 cost of living 33 Grattan 163 and prices 51 rise of working class 13, 17 World War I 26 World War II 45 Ward, Aaron warehousing 54, 139–68 Bedaux 179 computerization 156, 188–91 conveyors 156, 157 Empire Stores 54, 142–3, 156, 188–9 Freemans 68 Grattan 52 John Myers 54, 157 pickers 188 post war period 156–8 working environment 158–67 Sears 141 technology 141, 179 Tilt Tray System 189 time and motion study 163 US model 38, 154–5 watch clubs 5, 6, 13, 85–6, 121 origins 16–17, 85 and railwaymen 18 watch sales, WWI 27 Weil, G.L Wells, C.T Mick 55, 64, 123, 155 Westwood, S 129 White Arrow 223 White, Jerry 80 Whiteleys 16 Willmott, P 57 Wilson, Harold 156 Wilson, Jim 92, 94 Wilson, John 233 247 248 Wolfson, Isaac 50, 95, 96, 237 government intervention 48–9 GUS 35, 36 on purchasing power 51–2 US influence 3, 142 Wolman, Clive 92 women 96 as agents 37, 92, 96–101 and lifestyle 98–100, 101 and credit 83–4, 130–1 employment 134 law of coverture 83–4 law of necessaries 83–4 and male guarantor 130 motivation 99, 100 targeted in WWI 27 wages 45 see also social networks workers call centres 194, 195–6 Index warehouses 158–67 working-class and credit 78–84 access to 6, 32, 65, 77, 116–17 and growth of mail order 5, 232 and labour disputes 20–1 purchasing power 20, 45, 52 social networks 7, 57, 100 tick and corner shop 78, 80 wages 13, 17, 20–1, 33, 45 and watch clubs 13, 16–17 World War I 25–7 World War II impact of 43, 45–6, 47–8 labour 48 Worthy, J.C Yeo, Alf 88, 97, 101, 123 York, J.E 31, 35