Show NOBODY LIKES INFLATION at intervals surveys have made among customers to get an idea of what they think the retailers profits amount to it is evident that a great many people still believe that retail profits are excessively large and that the retailer is greatly to blame for high prices some people even believe that retail mark ups are all profit such beliefs as these of course are totally fallacious in the best of times competition holds retail profit margins to very modest levels one cent to four or five cents on each dollar of sales depending on the type of store and th the e character of the goods it sells strange as it may seem high prices may not benefit the retailer profit wise they may have quite the opposite effect that was generally the case last year practically all retailers did more business and handled more money but in instance after instance the profit left when all the bills were paid was smaller that before price increases at retail levels tended to lag behind the increases in wages wholesale costs taxes and other expenses the difference between markup and profit in retailing is not as widely understood as it should be the markup is the percentage that the retailer adds to his wholesale costs to arrive at a retail price it may run 30 per cent and 40 cent that sounds like a lot but all his overhead costs must be taken out of it so the profit that is left is but a fraction of the original markup retailing cause inflation like inflation and is a victim of inflation it has fought inflation with all its resources but the root causes of inflation are beyond re tailings power to control |