The travelling salesman appeared late in the 19th century in Europe and in the United States. The early itinerant peddler carried his goods on his back or on his horse, working his way from a port city through the hinterlands. With the coming of the railway and the given to sellers by new credit-reporting systems, salespeople with their sample cases moved across the land. Persuasive skill was less important in those days of unsatisfied demand, and orders were readily . By 1900, however, with the increasing supply of manufactured goods, buyers became more in their . Greater attention was given to training the sales force and to providing buyer . The growth of industrialization and urban living led to the development of merchandising as a business endeavour. The use of sales practices has experienced steady growth in the 20th century.