May 2006 Issue
A Chat with Paulette Jarvey, Owner and President, Hot Off The P
© Profile of Success, Catalog Success magazine, May 2006 Interview by Sharon R. Cole Catalog Success: When was the catalog established? Paulette Jarvey: The first issue went out February 2002. Catalog Success: Where are your headquarters? Jarvey: Canby, Oregon with distribution out of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Catalog Success: What is your primary merchandise? Jarvey: Supplies for scrapbooking: patterned papers, kits, embellishments and idea books. Catalog Success: Number of SKUS? Jarvey: 1,100 per issue Catalog Success: What are your primary customer demographics? Jarvey: Women who are passionate about scrapbooking, cardmaking and papercrafting. Our customer is usually college-educated with a job
A Continuity Mailer ... Who Me? Never! Why Not?
By Shari Altman Continuity programs can help catalogers reduce the number of customers who vanish after one or two purchases. Continuity mar-keting often isn't the domain of catalog marketers, but those who dismiss this marketing approach too quickly as "not for us" may want to reconsider. For the average cataloger or multichannel marketer, more than half of new customers never make a second purchase. Even if your stats are better than average, it's hard not to be intrigued by the fact that continuity customers buy three to six times per year. Continuities also can offer a valuable service, saving your customers time and
A-Listers
By Carolyn Heinze In recent years, managers and brokers have been playing a larger role in catalogers' success. List brokers and managers have been offering value-added consulting services to catalogers for several years. But as competition intensifies and catalogers' budgets continue to tighten, list firms have had to step up to the plate to give mailers more services than ever before. Help for Smaller Catalogers Take, for example, Garrett Wade Co. The seller of high-end woodworking tools and accessories signed on with Millard Group last fall, and its senior vice president, Pete Segal, notes that Millard offers a more hands-on approach than other services
B-to-B Cataloging Every Cataloger's Guide to Analysis
By George Hague Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on analytics and measurement. This month's column focuses on circulation essentials. Response analysis sets direct marketers in their own class. Of all the marketing professions, we have the best opportunity to be precise in our response analysis and predictive in our forecasting. Whether the analysis examines circulation efficiency or product profitability, direct marketers pull the numbers together to help guide their companies with strategic plans and forecasts projected from actual results. For marketing analysis to be effective — for both circulation and merchandising — we first must look
Boston Proper Billion-Dollar Opportunity
By Donna Loyle Unique merchandise, exceptional visual branding and a textbook e-commerce strategy give Boston Proper a leg up on its competition. Boston Proper CEO Michael Tiernan calls it "The Billion-Dollar Opportunity." His vision encompasses a multichannel strategy targeting affluent, self-assured, baby boomer women — a generation notorious for its conviction that it will stay vibrant and sexy long into old age. Tiernan's Boston Proper catalog and e-commerce site offer unique, fashion-forward and sexy apparel, shoes and accessories to well-educated and busy women primarily in the 35-to-55 age range. They may have children, husbands and
Catalog Success Datebook
AUGUST Aug. - List Vision 2006. New York. (212) 790-1500, www.the-dma.org/events Aug. - Directo Days West. California. (212) 790-1500, www.the-dma.org/events Aug. - Catalog-on-the-Road Midwest Conference. (212) 790-1500, www.the-dma.org/events Aug. 7-10 - eTail 2006. The Downtown Marriott, Philadelphia. (888) 482-6012, www. wbresearch.com/etail/. Aug. 9 - Effective Internet Marketing in a Dynamic and Competitive Environment. Marriott Hartford, Farmington, Conn. (866) 388-8377, www.timberlineinteractive.com. Aug. 9-10 - Database Marketing. Doubletree Downtown Boston, Boston. (212) 790-1500, www.the-dma.org/events Aug. 15-16 - Profitable Customer Retention and WinBack Workshop. Allerton Crowne Plaza, Chicago. (212) 790-1500, www.the-dma.org/events Aug.
Contributions to Profit Profit From Your Returns
By Jim Gilbert There tends to be a collective mind-set among customers that the return process always will be a giant hassle. Anyone who has bought a product via mail has at least one horror story about returns. But I've also heard the opposite. In fact, I've heard people brag about how easy the return process is when they've had a good experience. A clear, concise return policy, with exceptional customer service, is a must if you want to compete today. And that return policy needs to be seamless throughout all your channels, no matter where the purchase was made. So where
Do You Know How They Want to be Contacted?
Test the following to help gauge customer contact needs/wants. 1. Simplify everything. 2. Change [your catalog] cover and opening spread. 3. Decrease circulation by raising the standards of sales per book. 4. Allow "cost of customer acquisition" to determine prospecting strategy. 5. Consider creating a prospecting catalog. —Michelle Farabaugh, partner, LENSER
Great to Be Back
I'm writing this, my first column for Catalog Success, on a train from New York to Philadelphia, a day before formally joining the magazine. Although I'll focus my future Editor's Takes solely on the catalog business, please bear with me this go-round as I reintroduce myself to you all. I started covering the catalog business as a journalist back in 1986. Over the years, I reported on various goings-on in the field, such as the mainstream use of 800 numbers, credit cards, and express delivery; the advent of co-op databases; the rise of Williams-Sonoma, CDW and The Sharper Image; the stunning collapse of
Promote From Within
By Les Gore Reap big benefits by rewarding your best performers. Now that the economy and job market have rebounded, you might have to work harder to retain your top employees. After all, if you don't reward your best performers with new roles in the company, you could be at risk for greater staff turnover. During times of low unemployment, employees can view job hopping as a quicker, easier path to career advancement. Yet most catalogers value loyalty, and the best growth opportunities often are internal, particularly among those companies that recognize the morale and productivity benefits of promoting from within. And make
Special Report Web Marketing New, Usable Web Marketing Ap
By Matt Griffin, Alan Rimm-Kaufman and Joe Dysart There's never a lack of new ideas in online selling. The trick is finding those approaches that work for your business and implementing them properly. Everyone's looking for the next big thing in online marketing — namely, a tactic that will allow marketers to connect with their online customers in hitherto unparalleled ways. And while you're searching for that singular method to drive customers straight to your checkout page, this special report is designed to expose you to a few tactics you may not have considered. Or, if you've considered some or all of these ideas,
Strategy How to Revamp Your Marketing Strategy
By Stephen R. Lett Changing your marketing strategy is one of the most difficult and risky things you can do as a cataloger. Is there a right time to do it? And just which way will work? Some would argue that a change in strategy should be gradual and implemented over time. Others might recommend making all strategy adjustments at once — a precarious move. This month, I'll discuss how to effectively change your marketing strategy and identify ways to best accomplish your objectives. Time For a Change When sales have been flat or in decline two or three years in a row,
