The mail order business of the department store of kimono retailer during the prewar period in Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the business model of the mail order of the department store during the prewar period in Japan. With the maintenance of postal services, the major kimono retailers which were changing to department store began the mail order business in 1890-1900s. They considered it to be central means to go into the local market. It was intended for people of the wealthy groups and continued developing until the beginning in 1920s.The business model of it was characterized by a choosing agent. That is to say, a salesclerk of the mail order section considered an appointed price and a taste of each customer and chose goods in place of the customer. This model was obliged to be started because it took too much a cost to make the catalogue which contained all items. It was a cause to raise the cost that Japanese consumption markets were various complicatedly. However, considering that people in the countryside did not have enough information about urban goods because of the undeveloped media, this model had convenience and rationality. For the purpose of choosing the suitable goods, the salesclerk sometimes went on a business trip to do sales and tried to grasp the characteristic of local markets and the taste of customers. In addition, each department store raised the brand image of the store by an advertisement and guaranteed returning or exchanging goods.After the latter half of 1920s, the sales of the mail order business did not expand because a popularization strategy did not succeed in contrast with store - based sales. The catalogue which contained all items was not made after all; consequently orders from the people of the middle groups, who got enough information from ladies' magazines and liked to choose goods by oneself, did not increase.