Mission, Kan. Reach

By George Hague Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on analytics and measurement. The first article appeared in Catalog Success, May 2006, pg. 91, and covered circulation essentials. Part II covers merchandise analytics. Regardless of what you sell, your merchandise is the reason people purchase from your catalog. Appealing product can give your catalog a 20 percent to 30 percent lift in sales with no additional marketing expenses. Since merchandise is the driving force behind your catalog's success, product development and selection should receive the most attention in terms of strategic planning and analysis. The state-of-the-art tool for merchandise 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