Marshmallows, Microscopes

The problem of sales and of scrutinizing potential markets, according to Harry D. Neach, vice president of the Sales Engineering Service Corp., most baffles the manufacturer. Last week he anecdoted about analyses triumphant:

". . . A few years ago a certain brand of marshmallows was sold only in confectionery stores. The marshmallow concern had a market survey made and found that marshmallows could be sold in grocery stores as well. They went about securing such distribution and today 95 per cent of their product is sold in grocery stores and the yearly volume of sales has increased more than 60 per cent.

"A manufacturer of microscopes found by a survey that the farmers of the country could be sold small inexpensive microscopes. They could use them in detecting what sort of bug was eating cabbage leaves and what in the soil was deterring the growth of corn, wheat or other crops. In fact, nearly a hundred ways were found for the practical use of the microscope on the farm. Accordingly, this manufacturer's biggest market for microscopes has been developed among the farmers of the country.

"The survey also brought out that small microscopes could be sold in department stores for the educational development of school children, and so this market is being covered extensively and now the manufacturer's plant is working overtime."