Since its inception in the late 19th century, Britain's mail order industry both exploited and generated social networks in building its businesses. The common foundation of the sector was the agency system; Sales were made through catalogs held by agents, ordinary people in families, neighborhoods, pubs, clubs and workplaces. Through this agency system mail order firms in Britain were able to tap social networks both to build a customer base, but also to obtain vital information on credit worthiness. In this, the first comprehensive history of the British mail order industry, the authors...
Since its inception in the late 19th century, Britain's mail order industry both exploited and generated social networks in building its businesses. T...
