TCET


MouseMaster

Canadian Corner

Grammar Central

Crazy English

Terrible Teacher

Flashed ESL

American Stories



Instructions:
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In these days of video and Internet shopping from home, it is easy to suppose that everything has changed in the world of marketing. In fact, however, many of today's most trusted sales techniques were invented over a century ago by a young merchant in Toronto.

When Timothy Eaton began as an apprentice shopkeeper in Ireland, commerce was a very tough profession. Salespeople often worked from five a.m. to midnight, six days a week. And customers had trouble, too. Prices were not fixed: poor bargainers always paid too much. Moreover, if a purchase was of poor quality, the buyer had no protection. So, by the time Eaton followed his two older brothers to Canada, in 1854, he was beginning to dream of something better.

Eaton worked briefly with his brothers in small-town stores. Then, in 1869, he set up his own shop in downtown Toronto. The youthful merchant had many competitors, but he also had a plan for success: he offered a unique style of trade. All the other shopkeepers laughed at him. They were sure his methods would fail. Of course, this often happens when new ideas are tried out. And Eaton was certainly an innovator. "Goods satisfactory, or money refunded." That slogan announced one of Eaton's most famous innovations. Also, he had fixed prices for all his goods. And he sold only for cash; until then, merchants regularly sold on credit or for barter.

This marketer had a very good sense of what the public wanted. His policies were exactly right for the changing times. As his business grew, Eaton opened additional branches. He also introduced a catalogue from which people could make purchases by mail.

The Eaton's Catalogue was read all over the country. Especially on farms far away from big cities, it was the only way to access good-quality goods at reasonable prices. Some people called it The Wishing Book or The Prairie Bible because it was so important. A major secret of the catalogue's success was that Eaton earned his customers' respect. They trusted him for good prices, honest advertising, and quality merchandise. Probably because he remembered his own early days in Ireland, Eaton gave his employees good working conditions: shorter weekday hours than his competitors, Saturday afternoons off in the summer, and bright, well-aired buildings. In all this, he was a leader.

But he was also very strict. He would not allow trade unions in his stores and because he did not approve of them, he never sold tobacco or playing cards. Eaton was too impatient and nervous to be a good salesman. Nonetheless, he was brilliant at predicting what people would appreciate, even before they knew it themselves.

When he installed the first elevator in his Toronto store, customers were afraid to use it. For days, they just watched it as it went up and down, carrying wax statues to show what passengers should do! At last, this useful service caught on. How could we get along without it nowadays? Timothy Eaton died in 1907. He remains an icon of Canadian business success.


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