Making the Best Use of Your Catalog Printing Budget
5. Expand the reach of your catalog creative by producing a virtual edition that you post on both your website and send out as a link in email campaigns. Produce an email campaign around each catalog version. Plan on your virtual catalog delivering an added 2 percent in top-line sales.
6. Consumers are increasingly using the iPad as a shopping device. You need to have an iPad app and a virtual catalog that's iPad compatible to cash in on this trend. Consumers have come to expect that brands will have an iPad app in addition to their catalog.
7. Work with your printer to plan your co-mail pools. Insist that each catalog drop have the maximum co-mail savings — even if you have to shift around in-home dates slightly. Make sure your printer knows you're flexible on your in-home dates but need maximum co-mail savings. Have your printer estimate your co-mail and postage costs with the same focus that it estimates your printing and paper costs. Make sure your co-mail estimates include all associated costs so you get the total catalog printing cost of manufacturing, paper, postage and co-mail expenses.
8. Review your pagination with your merchandising team to see if you can get by with fewer pages. You'll save on both printing and paper costs if you drop pages that are performing below breakeven.
9. Think through your in-home dates around the presidential election. Some catalogers are reluctant to be in-home before the election, but keep in mind that right after the election there will be a lot of catalogs competing in your customers' mailboxes.
10. Do you have a remail planned to your best customers to arrive in-home after Thanksgiving? Holiday buying is starting later each year, so you'll want a remail to your prime buyers after Thanksgiving to get wallet share from your housefile. Remails are usually the most cost-effective circulation you will mail.
