Mark Swedlund

Catalog Success: What are the catalog’s customer demographics? Ann Killeen: We have a split demographic — we service Montessori teachers and schools as well as the parents of the children who attend Montessori schools. CS: What classifies as a Montessori school? AK: Montessori was started by Maria Montessori 100 years ago. She was the first woman physician in Italy and she observed children. From there, using sort of a scientific approach, she developed a very hands-on method for education where essentially it recognizes that children learn by doing things and repeating. One child might want to do something only once or twice,

Putting aside for a moment the criticisms about its overall business model, Amazon.com offers numerous lessons for Web retailers—namely, the inherent beauty of Internet partnerships. Indeed, Amazon set the standard for this mainstay in the e-commerce world, and numerous catalogers have adopted these principles to great success. In fact, 10 percent of all Internet sales and 3 to 5 percent of all online catalog Web sales come through affiliate sites—and these numbers are rising rapidly, noted two consultants at the recent Direct Marketing Association Annual conference in Chicago. In their seminar entitled “Internet Partnerships: Understanding the Key to Catalog Growth,” John Deneen, president of