Problems?

DAVID CUTLER editor-publisher

Areyouin good company?

CIONAEWHERE along the way during the -lpast few years, a number of America's major retailers lost touch with their customers; they also lost sales and dollars in the millions. Whatever success they once had in communicating with their customers and understanding whatlt took to draw and sell their public faded. The commmunications from the retailer in the form of advertising, the sales prices, the service on the sales floor were out of tune with what the customer wanted to hear.

The results are all too obvious; Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward have serious money and marketing problems they are scramb[ng 1o correct. Financially troubled FedMart is going private, apparentlythe onlyway tosave the company. J.C. Parney is closing all 34 of its unprofitable Treasury Stores, in its discount store division. The list goes on and on.

Yet many retailers, tough business times notwithstanding, report good business; something we hear from a number of lumber and building supply retailers. The reasons are many, but we feel that a primary factor in their success is that they listen hard to what the marketplace is telling them. In a fluid world, they appreciate the wisdom of being current daily.

The alert retailer knows that public enthusiasms change more rapidly than ever; some are hardly more than spasms. Those that do not assiduously read, listen, talk and watch -can quickly find themselves with a marketing plan' ah advertising program and an inventory as dead as the hoola hooP.

Each store location, each marketplace, each state has its differences. The trend to disparity between markets gtrows. The areas for application of broad-brush approaches for presenting wares to tempt the finicky public grow ever smaller.

The-retailer's search for information must be marked by an appetite for facts that is insatiable. This quest must be matched by a filtoing, sorting and evaluating process that can refine out the applicable and practical.

If you are too busy to do this, don't worry, you're in good company: Sears, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney.

At Georgia-Pacific, we've got the Redwood you need. Ask, and you ve got it.

It's here at Georgia-Pacific's Ft. Bragg mill that we've discovered how toget more usable Redwood out of every log. We did it by upgrading our facility to a point where it's become the most advanced Redwood operation anywhere. r |?.ffT :."..::1"'.,*v-"ri"i'"-i" *J#;fiili;i;;; Iffi\)$.fl without putting additional strain on our timber resource. ! ,rf ,l We have more upper grades,like clear all heart, clear and "8". Plus new rustic sidings and all the garden grades.

So the Redwood you need comes from Ft.Bragg. And with G eorgia-Pacifi c's commitme nt to increas ing pro ductivity, it'll be here for many, many years to come. Because we've got what it takes $ehrcgotuilratittakes.