Purpose of the mail-order business
The purpose of the mail-order business is to sell goods and or services by way of a country's mail services.
A retail business receives orders from consumers for products without the customer having to come into a physical store.
Thus many mail-order companies do not have a physicall building that function as a store; they take orders through forms sent out in a mail-order catalog.
The forms are returned by mail, or orders are taken over the telephone, and more recently, orders can be placed over the internet.
The physical products are delivered to the consumer by mail or some other methods of shipping.
Mail-order business, also called direct-mail marketing, is a method of doing business (merchandising), in which the seller’s
offer is made through mass mailing of circulars or catalogs or through advertisements placed in a newspaper or magazine in which the buyer places an order by mail.
Mail-order businesses publish catalogs containing a list of general merchandise which the company offers to the customer.
Some companies make their own products. Other companies buy products to resell to their customers.
The catalog can be a simple single-page list of products or it can be a book as large as 500 or more pages of illustrated products.
Typically, the prospective customers are names rented from list brokers who compile databases of potential buyers.
In order to reach the potential customers, the mail order company mail out the catalog to the prospective customers, usually via a postal service.
Aaron Montgomery Ward, in 1872, produced a mail-order catalog that was a single sheet of eight by twelve inch paper with merchandise for sale and a price list and ordering instructions.
His catalog grew to be a 540 page illustrated book selling over twenty thousand items to farmers in the Midwest.
In Toronto, Canada, Eaton's department store published a mail-order catalog in 1884.
Retail mail-order selling was developed primarily for rural customers.
R. W. Sears joined with Roebuck to form Sears Roebuck & Co. Their success was mainly due to the fact that Chicago was a significant
hub of the extensive American railway system. This enabled Sears Roebuck & Co. to transfer their goods to rural communities throughout the United States.
The extensive modernization of the American postal system enabled orders to be placed easily and efficiently.
Today, millions of customers in urban areas, buy products from advertisements placed in a newspaper, magazine, circulars, catalogs
and from internet advertisements. The products are typically delivered directly to an address supplied by the customer, such as a home address, but occasionally the orders are
delivered to a nearby retail location for the customer to pick up.
Benjamin Franklin may have produced the first mail-order catalog in North America in 1744 - he sold books.
Starting a Mail Order Business
There is probably no other business in this world which can be started with such a small investment
and without experience, which can produce such a spectacular result right from the start as one can do in mail order.
Starting a mail order business involves identifying a niche market. After you identify your choice market, you have to choose a product to market.
Next comes creating a catalog or online presence so that your potential customers can find your products. Then there is the task of fulfilling orders.
Who can start a mail order business?
Anyone - man or women, young or old, employed, unemployed from any place, can start a Mailorder business.
Mail order business is nothing more than doing business or conducting business by mail.
You can start your business from your home (house or appartment) or wherever you feel is more convenient. Start your own Mailorder business Today!
Do you have a Mail Order Opportunity program?
If so, I would love to hear about it.
Send Mail to:
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Sherwood Lummus
P O Boz 10841
Atlanta, Ga.
30310-0841
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