Managing Door-to-Door Sales of Vacuum Cleaners in Interwar Britain

Door-to-door selling was a key factor behind the particularly rapid interwar diffusion of vacuum cleaners among British households, relative to other “high-ticket” labor-saving appliances. Yet the door-to-door system incurred both high distribution costs and considerable controversy—owing to widespr...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Business history review 2008, Vol.82 (4), p.761-788
Main Author:	Scott, Peter
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Business history Business studies Competition Consumer goods Direct sales Distribution costs Durable goods Earnings Employers Estimates Factories Household appliances Household equipment Housewives Interwar years Itinerant sales Machinery Manufacturers Manufacturing New products Personal selling Resale price maintenance Retail stores Sales Sales management Sales reporting Sales representatives Sales techniques Salespeople Studies United Kingdom Vacuum cleaners World War I
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Door-to-door selling was a key factor behind the particularly rapid interwar diffusion of vacuum cleaners among British households, relative to other “high-ticket” labor-saving appliances. Yet the door-to-door system incurred both high distribution costs and considerable controversy—owing to widespread sharp practice. Employers enticed salesmen through grossly inflated claims regarding earnings, which were in fact insufficient for most salesmen to make an acceptable living. This led many salesmen to engage in their own sharp practices—which eventually brought this form of marketing into disrepute.
ISSN:	0007-6805 2044-768X