A Compendium of the Year’s Top Tips in Cataloging and E-commerce

By The Catalog Success Staff

Compare late-order customers.
To see how service affects your business, take a sampling of customers who placed last-minute orders a few years ago. Divide them into groups by whether they received their orders before or after the holiday. Calculate the lifetime value for each group and compare the two. Conduct the same analysis on customers who placed orders during the off-season. Divide them into two groups by whether their orders shipped immediately or not. The results will provide you with a good reason to gear up for the holidays.
—Debra Wilson Ellis, Wilson & Ellis Consulting, “Last Minute Readiness,” June, Catalog Success