A Chat with Arnie Zaslow, executive vice president, ATD American Co.

CS: What is your current biggest business challenge and how do you plan to resolve it?
AZ: I’d have to say that with the consolidations we’ve seen out there... well, this isn’t a challenge so much as a windfall. As many catalogers become bigger through consolidation, and they lose that personal touch, it’s been a strong plus for us. I’m struggling as I’m thinking here what our current challenges are. I suppose I’d have to say the cost of producing and mailing catalogs, particularly the postage aspect. It’s gotten so huge, as the Web continues to grow and as e-mail solicitations develop more solidly, there are great temptations to mail fewer catalogs. But maybe UPS will come along one day and tell the U.S. Postal Service, “Let us deliver bulk mail because we can do it more cheaply than you.” Don’t quote me on that. But it’s a challenge. And constantly trying to improve response rates and dollar returns per catalog. Those are the greatest challenges today.