Napoleon Hill's commentary (1928 book~The Law of Success, pg. 55-56) on Marshall Field & Company and the Law of Increasing Returns
Marshall Field's State Street store interior around 1910
Marshall Field was probably the leading merchant of his time, and the great Field's store in Chicago stands today as a monument to his ability to apply the Law of Increasing Returns.
A customer purchased an expensive garment at the Field's store but did not wear it. Two years later she gave it to her niece as a wedding present. The niece quietly returned the garment to the Field's store and exchanged it for other merchandise- despite the fact that it had been out for more than two years and was then out of style.
Not only did Field's store take it back, but what is of more importance, it did so without argument. Of course there was no obligation, moral or legal, on the part of the store to accept the return at that late date, which makes the transaction all the more significant.
The garment was originally priced at fifty dollars, and of course it had to be thrown on the bargain counter and sold for whatever it would bring, but the keen student of human nature will understand that the Field's store not only did not lose anything on the garment, but it actually profited by the transaction to an extent that cannot be measured in mere dollars.
The woman who returned the garment knew that she was not entitled to a refund. Therefore, when the store gave her that to which she was not entitled, the transaction had won her as a permanent customer and that she then spread the news of the "fair treatment" she had received at the Field's store. The store received more advertising from that transaction than it could have purchased in any other way with ten times the value of the returned garment.
The success of the Field's store was built largely on Marshall Field's understanding of the Law of Increasing Returns, which prompted him to adopt, as a part of his business policy, the slogan "The customer is always right."
PHOTO – CHICAGO – STATE STREET – MARSHALL FIELD’S – SOUTH END LOOKING NORTH –c1930
TODAY: Marshall Field & Company
Marshall Field & Company (Marshall Field's) was a department store in Chicago, Illinois that grew to become a major chain before being acquired by Macy's Inc. on August 30, 2005.
The former flagship Marshall Field and Company Building location on State Street in The Loop of downtown Chicago was officially renamed Macy's on State Street on September 9, 2006, and is now one of four national Macy's flagship stores— one of two within the company's Macy's East retail division alongside its New York store at Herald Square. Initially, the State Street store was the lead store of the Macy's North division, immediately following the merger.
Comments