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r How To Promote This CllrIStMae~ j1]Iere are some sure-fire tech- niques for building Christmas vol- unle in your dru, store :  Set up a "Christmas aisle" for the display of candles, alarm clocks, transistur radios, electric tooth- brushes, shavers, and other itenls suitable for gift-giving.  Run lists of $1 gift ideas in newspaper ads. These lists can in- clude such itenls as perfumes, hair hntshe,, rriltrhs pain7t-b.-number sets, and .rallet~,. • Yre-pack and gift-wraf) items in lower price ranges to accommo- date shoppers in a rush.  Establish an "earl.•-bird" Christmas dept in mid-September, featuring nlerchanrlise at substan- tial savings. Object : to encourage early shopping.  Mail Christmas catalogs early to bring in the shopl,ers.  Serve coffee and drmut.s "on the house" to customers who come in to do their Christmas shopping.  Feature "mail boxes" into which youngsters can drop mes- sages tc, Santa.  Provide a place for customers to stow packages while thev shr~l'. • Gi.•e customers Christmas shopping bags. • In your ads. stress the con- cenience of Christmas shopping in the neighborhood drug store, and the services -%•our store is reach to offer.  Offer layaway plans . . . free gift-wrapping . . . pre-Christma, storage ... free parking ... free de- livery . . . and evening and Sunclay shopping hours. As far as timing is concerned, the following schedule is recommendecl : Sept: Set up a grouping of spe- cialh• priced Christmas items. \\'hen Christmas cosmetics and other lines arrive, put one of each on display and find space elsewhere tc~ store back-up stock. Ylan Christmas newspaper adver- tising. Oct: Start displaying boxecl card, and gift wraps. Set up perfume dishlavs. Set up a Chrisatwa~ 'gii: tlOlwt Send out a Christiira~, c<rt~rl,, tt, regular custurner-,. Start running cosmetic~, anrl r :iler manufacturer.' ccr-op arl~,. Nov: Start runnin" V0ur uWn Christma~, ad, Trim the st >re. Dec: Hire extra ~ale~lrrrrl :~. Run a list of $l gift icleu>. The last few days befure Pec. '` -and on Dec. 25 if vuu're crPen- haninler away in ac6 and windu«• displays at the theme that unfiniAhed Christnla, shopping chorre~ cau quickly and cemvenientlv be takel: care of in \•ciur stcirr. Offer half-off om Christmas car(h, afier l)ec.?;. I , ekAcGI[AN DRUGGIST 0 SePtember 7, 1970 Marveorc Trerw 6 67

F THL• USUAL last-minute rush to buy Christmas gifts at the drug store will be even more evident this year. If the current climate of economic uncertainty persists-and if con- sumers continue to react to it as the.• have been doing-an abnormally high proportion of Christmas pur- chases will be put off to the last min- ute. Such a pattern could work to the benefit of drug retailers. The reason is simple : drug stores are highly accessible, well distributed geo- graphically, and open at all hours. Thev are ideal for last-minute pur- chases. For a number of years now, con- sumers have experienced rising in- comes, rising prices, and rising ex- pectations. They assumed that what they wanted w•ould cost more in six ntonths ... so many tended to buy it imm ediatelt. In the past year, a turnaround took place. Though prices have con- tinued to rise, a feeling of insecurity about the future has emerged. And so consumers have tended to delay purchases. Prices: This Christmas, prices of most items will be higher than ever. The drug retailer who wants to sell gift merchandise at normal mark- ups would be well advised to offer a sprinkling of bargain-priced prod- ucts in addition, to attract the in- creasingly price-conscious shopper. It will be difficult to find 100 or 15~ Christmas cards at the counter. Card manufacturers point out that the cost of paper stock increased 4 separate times in just one 18-month periiod, Printers' ' wlages have also risen, as have shipping costs. Post- age charges are expected to jump to 8e for a first-class letter-but hopefully not before Jan. 1. Despite these negative factors, Christmas cards still represent a fer- tile, high markup field for drug stores. The purchasing of 40c and 50e cards has become commonplace. An interesting psychology pertains : The prevailing uncertainties actu- ally encourage people to make posi- tive affirmations, via the medium of the greeting card. By so doing, they subconsciously satisfv their own needs for reassurance _.. and price is secondary. Perfume is another product cate- gory in which price doesn't count. Some 7> ;% of all perfume sales are made to men at Christmas. 'Men are less sophisticated than women about fragrances. They are, in fact, a bit suspicious abou; all forms of fra- grances that are not called perfume. At Christmas. they want perfume and pay the price without hesitation. Where Christmas decorations are concerned, however, a trend is pre- dicted for the substitution of plastic ornaments for the more expensive ones. An idea that should appeal to the econom.--minded is the "dual use" item. Example : antique cars that can be hung on a tree, then removed and given to children as toys. Also, fragrance products whose packages have a residual practicalitv-reus- able compacts, lockets, or household decorations. Some manufacturers have put out lighter forms of their colognes to appeal to women who have become morellPrice conscious. i! , 1Cameras-a perennially fav<~rite gift-will make a strong showing. it is expected. Reason : the emer- gence of innovative products at pop- ular prices. Inexpensive: Sales of relatively inexpensive gift items, such a~ cig- arette lighters, records, casse,tes. stationery, clocks, w•atches, and small leather goods are also ex- pected to be strong this Chrisrn~ass as consumers stretch the dollar, Seventeen magazine report_ -ti,at 6 million teen girls found records under their Christmas trees last vear, and another 6 million found stationery. An additional 2 million brought home new records with cash thev received from Santa ( at a median price of $4.92). Other merchandise «•hich should move well, in response to the pre- vailing economic mood, are utili- tarian items such as tools : lv-,me- sewing products: "kit" version:~ of previously packaged ingredient,, for making home accessories and gift,~: and appliances. "Do-it-yourself": These are all products that the drug store dt es- or can-stock. The~- are "<l o-it- vourself" things that will save thr woman customer monev and, at the same time, give her the feeling that she is putting a little of herself int" her gifts. People nowadays love to give something personal-which is the reason more and more Christmrss cards with blank insides are snlcl. The woman who can't do creNvel emhroidery can at least write a per- sqnal note i~t1i~le her Clhristnlas card. " • Morkebng Trends AMFRICAN DRUGGIST • Sevembe, 7 11~'i'

When the pharmacist of 1910 got together with the NCR man of 1910, the problems and the business ma- chines they talked about were infinitely simpler than they are today. So today's NCR-man offers the NCR Class 5, a computer-like cash register that's fully capable of helping today's pharmacist keep tr.aek of his big little business and spend a lot less time doing it. Take credit billing. It's the single biggest head- ache for today's pharmacist. With an NCR Class 5, charge accounts can be updated right at the point of sale, sale after sale. The Class S even prints out an updated credit state- ment for both customer and pharmacist. C The result? At month's end, the billing goes out in a fraction of time. And you get speed without sacrific- ing the simplicity of operation and cash protection that NCR registers have always been famous for. Your local NCR man has the full story on the NCR Class S. He'I1 even show you how you can computerize your billing using a Class 5 and a low-cost NCR Data Center if and when your volume dictates it. The NCR Class s, a cash register that can actu- ally talk to a computer, that's what your phar- 0 macy business is coming to. It's from NCR. We knew you in 1910. We know you e even better now. i f