Katie Muldoon

Although he passed away in late January, word of Dick Hodgson's death caught a number of attendees at the May Catalog Conference in Chicago by surprise. I heard about it right away, but I hadn't joined Catalog Success yet. So I felt it appropriate to set aside this month's column to finally give this catalog legend the industry recognition he deserves. Not many who knew him realized that Richard Sargeant Hodgson, who spent the last three years of his life battling myelodysplasia, a rare bone marrow disorder affecting blood cell production, got his start in direct marketing by operating his own lettershop and

While a great merchandiser has developed predictive instincts to guide her through planning her next great catalog, a smart merchandiser will supplement those instincts with a well-thought-out strategy, writes Katie Muldoon, author of “The Catalog Strategist’s Toolkit” (Racom Communications). Muldoon identifies some elements critical to any merchandiser’s strategy: * Have a game plan. “This means a written strategy based on known sales for the year before,” Muldoon writes. In combination with your circulation plan, this game plan will help you decide which product categories and price ranges should be increased, decreased or re-tested. * Get the right analysis. Many catalogers still don’t conduct enough