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Emile Zolas 1883 Guide to Marketing

Written by: Jim Adams

Article Overview: Literary and Human Rights students will remember Zola for his defence of Alfred Dreyfus when he was convicted of treason against France solely because he was Jewish.

Emile Zolas 1883 Guide to Marketing

Literary and Human Rights students will remember Zola for his defence of Alfred Dreyfus when
he was convicted of treason against France solely because he was Jewish.
But he had a second important contribution to the world. Marketers will remember Zola’s documenting
of Parisian marketing techniques in his novel “The Ladies’ Paradise”. And Americans’
early fascination with everything French certainly paid off decades later when they finally
started to adopt some of the French Revolutionary marketing ideas that Mouret (the leading
character in the novel) implemented to make the consumer experience more rewarding and him
the richer for it. Here are some examples of the advanced thinking of the mid-1800s and a few
big names that are implementing it now.
Marketing Strategy & Consumer Behaviour Analysis
Selection of women as primary targets—used today by Victoria’s Secret, Spiegel
“Mouret’s unique passion was to conquer woman. He wished her to be queen in his house, and
he had built this temple to get her completely at his mercy. His sole aim was to intoxicate her
with gallant attentions, and traffic on her desires, work on her fever.”
Targeting women through children—used today by McDonald’s
“His most profound idea was to conquer the mother through the child, when unable to do so
through her coquetry; he […] created departments for little boys and girls, arresting the passing
mothers by distributing pictures and air-balls to the children.”
Customer Service Orientation
Home delivery—used today by Domino’s, the first home delivery pizza chain
“Why weren’t six pairs of sheets, bought by a lady yesterday about two o’clock, delivered in
the evening?”
“The first four conveyances […] had gradually increased to sixty two trucks, one-horse vans,
and heavy two-horse ones.”
Employee training (in sales and foreign languages—for international customers)—used today
by Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom
“Classes were held in the house of an evening; there were lessons in English and German, in
grammar, arithmetic, and geography.”
In-store restaurants, reading rooms and elevators—used today by Ikea, Barnes & Noble
“He had just opened a bar where the customers could find, gratis, some light refreshment, syrups
and biscuits, and a reading-room.”
“He had […] introduced two lifts lined with velvet
for the upper storeys.”
Local & International Advertising/
Publicity/Branding
Leaflets/posters, press advertising—used today by
McDonald’s, Coca Cola
“The Ladies’ Paradise became a household word all
over the world, invading the walls, the newspapers,
and even the curtains at the theatres.”
Advertising on delivery carriages—used today by
FedEx, Coca Cola
“This van, with its brand-new medley of colours,
the name of the house painted on each side, and
surmounted with an advertisement of the day’s
sale, finished by going off at a trot, drawn by a
splendid horse, after being filled up with the previous
night’s parcels.”
Gifts bearing the store’s logo—used today by
McDonald’s
“A stroke of genius this idea of distributing to each
buyer a red air-ball made of fine gutta-percha,
bearing in large letters the name of the shop, and
which, held by a string, floated in the air, parading
in the streets a living advertisement.”
Use of direct mail: catalogues/brochures with
samples—used today by Lands’ End, Spiegel
“Mouret spent three hundred thousand francs a
year in catalogues, advertisements, and bills. For
his summer sale he had launched forth two hundred
thousand catalogues, of which fifty thousand went
abroad, translated into every language. He now
had them illustrated with engravings, even accompanying
them with samples, gummed between the
leaves.”
“The postal order department […] occupied several
rooms on the second floor. It was there that all
the provincial and foreign orders arrived. It was one of the most complicated and important departments
of the establishment, one in which there was
a continual rush, for, strictly speaking, all the orders
received in the morning ought to be sent off
the same evening.”
“This department was the one that was daily assuming
the most considerable importance; it now
required two hundred employees—some opening,
reading, and classifying the letters coming from the
provinces and abroad, whilst others gathered into
compartments the goods ordered by the correspondents.”
Advertising & publicity techniques to prompt
word of mouth—Half.com, put its brand on the map
by changing the name of a city (Halfway, Oregon) to
Half.com
“Ever since the advertisement had appeared, this
silk had occupied a considerable place in their daily
life. They talked of it, promising themselves some
of it, worked up with desire.”
“Three months later Lhomme had a hundred and
twenty musicians under his direction, the dream of
his whole life was realised. And a grand fête was
given on the premises, a concert and a ball, to introduce
the band of The Ladies’ Paradise to the
customers and the whole world. The newspapers
took the matter up.”
Sales Psychology & Techniques
Price reduction and employee incentives to
prompt higher inventory turnover—used today by
Wal-Mart
“He had discovered that she could not resist a bargain,
that she bought without necessity when she
thought she saw a cheap line, and on this observation
he based his system of reductions in price, progressively
lowering the price of unsold articles,
preferring to sell them at a loss, faithful to his
principle of the continual renewal of the goods.”
“Having remarked that the old-fashioned goods,
the dead stock, went off all the more rapidly when
the commission given to the employees was high
[…] he intended to interest his people in the sale of
all goods, giving them a commission on the smallest
piece of stuff, the slightest article sold.”
Bargains placed at the store’s entrance and in–
store sale signs—used today by The Bay, Sears,
Winners
“In the first place, there ought always to be a crush
at the entrance, so that the people in the street should mistake it for a riot; and he obtained this
crush by placing a lot of bargains at the doors,
shelves and baskets overflowing with very low4-
priced articles; so that the common people
crowded there, stopping up the doorway, making
the shop look as if it were crammed with customers,
when it was often only half full.”
“Like a flag planted over a conquered empire, an
immense yellow poster, quite wet, announced in
letters two feet high the great sale at The Ladies’
Paradise.”
Large display windows—used today by Cole Haan,
Prada, Borders, Barnes & Noble
“In both streets the windows developed symphonies
of displays, the clearness of the glass showing up
still further the brilliant tones. It was like a debauch
of colour, a street pleasure which burst
forth there, a wealth of goods publicly displayed,
where everybody could go and feast their eyes.”
“This façade, before which people were now
crowding, became a living advertisement, with its
bespangled, gilded magnificence, and its windows
large enough to display the entire poem of
woman’s clothing.”
Samples—used today by Whole Foods Market
“There were samples of every material and every
tint.”
Return policy (no questions asked)—used today by
Spiegel, Lands’ End, Staples USA
“He had penetrated still further into the heart of
woman, and had just thought of the “returns,” a
masterpiece of Jesuitical seduction. “Take whatever
you like, madame; you can return the article
if you don’t like it.” And the woman who hesitated
was provided with the last excuse, the possibility
of repairing an extravagant folly, she took the article
with an easy conscience.”
Innovative store layout to stimulate traffic and
up-selling—used today by Nordstrom
“He laid down as a law that not a corner of The Ladies’
Paradise ought to remain deserted, requiring
everywhere a noise, a crowd, evidence of life; for
life, said he, attracts life, increases and multiplies.”
“In the galleries, he had the art of concealing the departments in which business was slack; for instance,
the shawl department in summer, and the
printed calico department in winter; he surrounded
them with busy departments, drowning them with
a continual uproar. It was he alone who had been
inspired with the idea of placing on the secondfloor
the carpet and furniture counters, counters
where the customers were less frequent, and which
if placed on the ground floor would have caused
empty, cold spaces.”
“Firstly, this continual circulation of customers disperses
them all over the shop, multiplies them, and
makes them lose their heads; secondly, as they
must be conducted from one end of the establishment
to the other, if they want, for instance, a lining
after having bought a dress, these journeys in
every direction triple the size of the house in their
eyes; thirdly, they are forced to traverse departments
where they would never have set foot otherwise,
temptations present themselves on their passage,
and they succumb.”
Reference Material
Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise: introduction by
Kristin Ross. Translation of: Au Bonheur des Dames.
University of California Press. Copyright © 1992 by
The Regents of the University of California

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