Good circulation planning and merchandising are the keys to success for a catalog company. Knowing how many books to circulate can be determined by calculating a catalog break-even point. But determining the number of pages your catalogs should include can be more difficult and somewhat more arbitrary. This month, Iโll look at basic criteria that can help determine the best page counts for your catalogs. Iโll also review the economics of adding pages to a book. Pages increase response, and the economics generally are favorable, provided thereโs enough good merchandise available to support additional square inches of selling space. The decision to
Merchandising
The most unlucky cataloger I ever knew was a food cataloger who watched helplessly in 1994 as its retail store in Northridge, CA, turned to rubble in a disastrous earthquake. A year later, the same cataloger was again forced to watch as its retail store in Japan literally slid into the ocean in the Kyoto earthquake. Next time you think the gods have singled out your catalog for special torment, remember this cataloger. Cataloging has seen its share of recent collapses and closures (e.g., Fingerhut, Springhill Nursery, Willis & Geiger, Balduccis). Several others have come right to the brink of disaster before
Focus On: Merchandising & Creative The year was 1943. World War II was raging across Europe. Norway was occupied by Germany. The Nazis needed access to open ocean and the deep-water fjords to shelter their great ships. Next door, Sweden remained neutral and relatively untouched by the conflict. In the town of Elmtaryd, Sweden, in the parish of Agunnaryd, an ambitious 17-year-old boy named Ingvar Kamprad traveled from farm to farm selling seeds from a box on the back of his bicycle. He had other items to sellโfountain pens, pencils and matchesโbut couldnโt inventory them all on a bicycle. So he hit on
Trying to maximize profit contribution can conflict with trying to grow your business. In other words, do you want profit or growth? Of course, you want both. Unfortunately, one of these goals comes at the expense of the other. Maintaining a balance of mailings to your customer file (where the profits come from) versus mailing to prospects is critical to your bottom line. How do you evaluate contribution from mailings to the housefile and catalogs you circulate to prospects? This month, Iโll discuss the incremental break-even point compared to a fully absorbed break-even point as they relate to contribution to profit
On the surface, itโs a typical American success story: an immigrant family fleeing religious persecution arrives in the United States and starts a business; 85 years later itโs not only successful, but still family-owned and operated. Today Omaha Steaks is a meat dynasty, making the merchandising and fulfillment challenges it faced from the beginning uniquely significant. How it continues to survive those challenges highlights strategies for other catalogers hoping to conquer the perishables market. On-site Processing Omaha Steaks enjoys the advantage of processing most of its own product offerings. The company sources itsโliterallyโraw material mainly from Midwestern producers, and then ages, trims and
The relationship you have with your printer can be crucial to your success. After all, your printer may be your largest unsecured vendor. Todayโs printers do more than just put ink on paper. They ink-jet addresses and efficiently distribute catalogs through the mail stream across the country, often for the lowest possible costs. When choosing a printer, price certainly is important. No cataloger should pay a large premium for the privilege of dealing with a particular printing company. Other factors, such as service, lead times and technology, should be considered. Following are suggestions to think about the next time you get
John Peterman ran some ads for a cowboy duster and built the $70 million J. Peterman catalog business. Mel and Patricia Zeigler discovered a cache of surplus French army shirts, ran small ads and parlayed them into Banana Republic. Ditto Lillian Vernon with personalized womenโs belts and handbags. For Larry Brown, it was โฆ uh โฆ a toe-straightener for six-toed feet. Really. Brown, 55, started out as a rookie in the Great Old Days of mail order, and has a repertoire of wild and colorful stories to prove it. He says he never chose the mail order business. The mail order business
Buying paper is a topic that gets discussed frequently in any catalog operation. And since paper is such a large percentage of a catalogโs printing cost, the topic certainly requires frequent attention. Advantages: Buying Paper Price: Itโs often thought that buying paper directly from the mill or through a broker presents an opportunity for price per 100 wt. savings, especially if purchased in large quantities. Itโs assumed that if you buy the paper yourself, you can avoid a markup or administrative fee that the printer adds when it purchases the paper for you. However, these savings often are hard to realize. When you
At a Glance Catalog: Title Nine Sports Headquarters: Emeryville, CA Merchandise: Womenโs fitness wear Company founded: 1989 Best-selling items: sports bras account for 30 percent of sales Target demographic: 30- to 50-year-old women who work outside of the home and participate in sports or fitness. Title Nine Sports uses sports photographers to capture real-life modelsโcareer women who happen to love sports and fitnessโshowcasing merchandise. Named after the landmark federal legislation that prohibits gender discrimination in schools and their sports programs, the Title Nine Sports catalog markets high-quality womenโs fitness wear in a refreshingly casual and authentic manner. From the use of
It turns out you can judge a book by its coverโif itโs a catalog. Even small books must make big first impressions. โYou need to get [customers] to open your book, and youโve got about three seconds to do it,โ says John Rossiter, a senior sales representative from printing company R.R. Donnelley and Sons. And while design and copy undoubtedly play larger roles in grabbing customersโ and prospectsโ attention, without the right paper stock a catalog cover may go unnoticed or misrepresent your brand. Following is a rundown of what to examine when selecting a cover stock. Brand and Basis Weight Many consultants and