Cover Story: Finding the Perfect Balance

While continuing to tilt the balance of catalog mailings more heavily to customers than prospects, Gaiam has cut its frequency this year from 24 to 14 mailings. That reflects the discontinuation of the Gaiam Living Arts spin-off title. "We wanted to reduce our overall impact on the environment," Marshall says, "so we consolidated the main catalog and Living Arts to one slightly larger book called Gaiam Living."

In fact, in listing Gaiam's most notable challenges ahead, Marshall points to the rising costs of producing and mailing catalogs as challenge No. 1. "Mailing catalogs profitably is our biggest challenge," he says. "But figuring out how to conduct that orchestra of channel integration is right behind it."