A Chat With April’s Profile, Tim Burns, brand manager of Edmund Scientific
Catalog Success: Where’s the company headquartered?
Tim Burns: Tonawanda, New York.
CS: What’s the catalog’s demographic?
TB: We’re about two-thirds male, 35 to 55 [years of age] and they’re typically a professional. So a teacher, engineer, lawyer, doctor. We index really high in terms of those professions. So that’s pretty much what it looks like.
CS: What year was the first Edmund Scientific catalog published?
TB: The company was founded in 1942 and the first catalog was mailed in 1948.
CS: What’s the primary merchandise offered in the catalog?
TB: Science-related products, gifts and toys. So innovative, educational and science-themed.
CS: On average, how many SKUs are offered in the catalog?
TB: We have about 2,000 SKUs, 1,500 of which are in the catalog. [All of the products are offered on the company’s Web site.]
CS: How many catalog mailings per year? How many the company had in ’07 and what’s projected for this year?
TB: We do eight a year; and that’ll be the plan again this year.
CS: What’s the catalog’s circulation?
TB: About three million catalogs a year.
CS: What’s the number of employees at Edmund Scientific?
TB: That’s a tough one for me to answer. There’s a lot of shared resources and everything in the building [at VWR, the parent company of Edmund Scientific]. If I had to guess, and if we stood out on our own, which we don’t, it would be about 30 people.
CS: Can you cover your personal background. How long have you been at Edmund Scientific? How did you get your start in the catalog business?
TB: I’ve been with VWR the past 10 years. And I started with Science Kit, which is actually the parent company of Edmund Scientific. Science Kit is really everything a science teacher uses in the classroom — from chemicals to frogs to microscopes. I started with them 10 years ago in their bid sales group and then left for a brief period of time to do the dot-com thing, and then came back in 2004 to manage the Edmund Scientific business. I’ve been doing that for the last four years.
Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.
