Managing Door-to-Door Sales of Vacuum Cleaners in Interwar Britain
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Door-to-door selling was a key factor behind the particularly rapid interwar diffusion of vacuum cleaners among British households, relative to other “high-ticket” labor-saving appliances. Yet the door-to-door system incurred both high distribution costs and considerable controversy—owing to widespread sharp practice. Employers enticed salesmen through grossly inflated claims regarding earnings, which were in fact insufficient for most salesmen to make an acceptable living. This led many salesmen to engage in their own sharp practices—which eventually brought this form of marketing into disrepute.
Source: The Business History Review
Author: Peter Scott
Institution: University of Reading
Language: English
Topic: American History and Culture
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2115754019