Some Structural Aspects of a Retail Sales Group

Abstract

This study was carried out in a large furniture store over the period from 1954 to 1957. Concentration was upon one sales group in the store which varied in size, depending upon the demands of business, from 25 to about 21 members. Within the store there were a total of 65 salesmen located in the various sales departments. These departments were appliances, radio-television, housewares, rugs, and jewelry. In addition to these specialized salesmen, there was another group which was called “Furniture Salesmen” or “Big Call” salesmen. The big call salesman differed from the specialists in that he was permitted to sell anything in the store in the line of general furniture, and if his customer wanted something normally sold by one of the specialized salesmen, he could also “follow through” and sell that item, providing the customer had bought a general article of furniture first. It was this group of unspecialized salesmen that was studied.