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Salesmen and the transformation of selling in Britain and the US in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries1

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  • ROY CHURCH

Abstract

Was a ‘transformation of selling’ in the US between the 1880s and 1930 exceptional? Archives of three leading British consumer goods companies reveal that a comparable transformation in selling methods was effected through the changing role for salesmen. Unlike the explanation offered for the transformation in the US, developments in Britain cannot be explained by a structural model in which the dynamics are mass production, size, corporate structure, and strategy. Consumer theory based on product characteristics and consumer behaviour provides a superior explanation. The history of marketing by the British companies also justifies a challenge to the production‐driven interpretation of business development and corporate growth.

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  • Roy Church, 2008. "Salesmen and the transformation of selling in Britain and the US in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 61(3), pages 695-725, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:61:y:2008:i:3:p:695-725
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00410.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Godley, Andrew, 2006. "Selling the Sewing Machine Around the World: Singer’s International Marketing Strategies, 1850–1920," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 266-314, June.
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    7. Roy Church, 1999. "New perspectives on the history of products, firms, marketing, and consumers in Britain and the United States since the mid-nineteenth century 1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 52(3), pages 405-435, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pierre Volle, 2011. "Marketing : comprendre l'origine historique," Post-Print halshs-00638621, HAL.

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