Le grossiste du cycle en face des problèmes de l’heure — L’Officiel du cycle, 1 October 1955, an Extract of M. Pourny’s Speech

From L’Officiel du cycle, du motocycle et du camping, 1 October 1955, N° 20, the paper’s special number before the Salon du Cycle at the Porte de Versailles, page 156: ‘Le Grossiste du cycle … en face des problèmes de l’heure’: extract of M. Pourny’s speech at the last Congrès des Grossistes du Cycle on the wholesaler’s role against producer-run wholesale shops. The title, headings, captions and lists are transcribed as printed; the text is summarized in Ebykr’s words, and the page images carry it in full.

— Page 1 —
LE GROSSISTE DU CYCLE
…EN FACE DES PROBLÈMES DE L’HEURE

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The editors’ headnote, signed “N.D.L.R.”, says that the lines below are extracted from a statement made in the circles of the Grossistes du Cycle et du Motocycle by one of their most representative figures. It expresses the view of the wholesale trade faced with attempts by certain manufacturers to create specialized wholesale shops on the fringe of their production plants. The editors thought it worth bringing to readers’ attention because it recalls, very objectively, the wholesaler’s position in distribution and the role he means to play for the greatest benefit of the Vélociste.]

[Ebykr summary, speech opening in quotation marks. Being a wholesaler does not mean selecting a few everyday articles that are easy to stock and especially profitable because of their volume or how often they are replaced. Such specialization is the complete opposite of the wholesaler’s true role, and if production had found in him only so limited an auxiliary, manufacturers would long since have organized to do without him.]

[Ebykr summary, after a star break. The wholesaler’s place in the distribution circuit is not the result of a more or less tacit agreement but a natural, indispensable and irreplaceable stage, which must be proved by the services rendered to production on one side and to the user, through the retailers, on the other. He cannot justify his function by meeting only a small part of the retailers’ needs; he does so by offering an extremely complete stock, in the number, variety and detail of articles and in the choice of marques and quality. The constraints, costs and tied-up capital are known to all. He sometimes sells “en gros” in the exact sense, but how often his work consists in “faire du détail aux prix de gros”.]

[Ebykr summary, after a star break. Wholesalers accept this thankless side of the trade entirely, with all its effects on operating conditions and on the volume of overhead. Their position would quickly become untenable, though, if, faced with price competition from pseudo-wholesalers specialized in selling a few big articles, they were reduced to the sole activity of emergency suppliers.]

[Ebykr summary, right-hand column under the heading “…en face des problèmes de l’heure”. The speaker asks where customers would turn for the many small supplies they need every day. In the criterion that defines the wholesaler one is sometimes tempted to consider the notion of “Quantité” too exclusively. That notion is valid, without doubt, but only if it goes with the equally important notion of “Service”, and the two are inseparable.]

[Ebykr summary, after a star break. Some producers may favor a new form of distribution, such as the one that rightly worries wholesalers because it seems to start a commercial concentration. The speaker finds it needless to stress the futility of such a formula in a trade as complex as the cycle wholesaler’s. It would amount to asphyxia, because it would paralyze the supply of thousands of retailers for whom the full-range wholesaler is a vital necessity. It would be dangerous to regard as progress what is really only an easy solution.]

[Ebykr summary, after a star break; the speech closes with quotation marks. Wholesale trade as it now works has proved its usefulness and efficiency, and it is not excessive to say that without it the cycle industry would probably not have known the prodigious growth that it enjoyed over this half-century.]

Extrait du discours de M. POURNY
au dernier Congrès des Grossistes du Cycle.

[A full-page editorial layout, text only, with no photograph or drawing, set on plain paper in two wide columns. A headnote in italic roman type, flanked by a black asterisk-shaped ornament on each side, stands at the top center. Under it the title “LE GROSSISTE DU CYCLE” runs across the full width in large, widely spaced light italic sans-serif capitals; the second heading, “…EN FACE DES PROBLÈMES DE L’HEURE”, is set in the same letters in three staggered lines at the upper right. The speech is set in sans-serif roman type, opening with a large drop capital Ê and an opening guillemet at the left. Black asterisk ornaments separate the sections, and a row of dots crosses the right column once. At the lower left a small box with a thick black shadow on its right and lower edges holds the italic credit line to M. Pourny. No signature, firm name or address appears.]