And the Winner Is...Nose-hair Clippers! (788 words)

A proven leader can help guide your product selection

By Denny Hatch

"Creating direct mail without studying other people's successful direct mail is like trying to do brain surgery without studying brains."

—Axel Andersson

"Even top catalogers with years of experience seldom beat the Rule of Thirds: For any given catalog, one-third of the merchandise will sell well, one-third will sell OK and one-third will bomb."

—Susan McIntyre

So you wanna beat consultant Susan McIntyre's "Rule of Thirds"? In my opinion, the greatest single source for merchandise research for catalogers is the SkyMall catalog—found in the seat pockets of just about every domestic airline.

Between the covers of this single 172-page catalog you will discover individual page layouts of more than 40 major and minor catalogers who are offering up their proven best sellers at the best prices in order to seduce new customers. Here are marketing and creative gold for merchandisers, copywriters and designers!

While SkyMall polices its catalog members to make sure identical items do not appear in its pages, the casual browser will find a ton of analogous items (see chart at right) including wrist watches (five varieties), telephones (five), CD storage systems (five), shower heads (four), even mahogany waste baskets (two) and dog beds (two)! Plus, so many varieties of luggage were offered that I found them to be unquantifiable.

Logic dictates that if you want to beat McIntyre's Rule of Thirds, offer the items that appear the most times in SkyMall.

Curiously, the most numerous items were nose- and eyebrow hair clippers—seven in all, ranging from $24.95 to $99.95 (two versions at the highest price). If you add the Body Service "No Tweeze" wax removal system ($29.95) and the "No Shave" squirt-on depilatory ($9.95), the total reaches a whopping nine hair removal items.

Clearly, these mail order merchants have tapped into a deeply-felt need on the part of Americans to remove unwanted hair. Clearly, too, these items would most certainly bomb in France or Germany.

Let's look at how these seven analogous items are presented.

Hammacher Schlemmer, The Sharper Image, IGIA and Traveler's Selections rely entirely on "it" copy; they talk about "it"—the trimmer—without ever using the word "you." And these companies show pictures of the product only—not of a person using the trimmer.

"Surgical-steel blades inside a protective guide whirl faster than 4,000 rpm to safely cut hair a close 1/16 of an inch... without ever touching sensitive skin. " —The Sharper Image

"After a month-long at-home consumer panelist test, this nose hair trimmer was chosen Best again by the Hammacher Schlemmer Institute … Its rounded head comfortably cuts nose and ear hairs easily and quietly." —Hammacher Schlemmer

InteliHealth is the only catalog of the seven that uses copy that involves the customer and shows someone using the product.

"Now you can remove problem hairs in the comfort of your own home and enjoy the silky smooth skin you've always wanted." —InteliHealth

Be On the Lookout

Two catalogs offered wrist watches with two faces for travelers; one face is for hometown time; the other is for destination time. Orvis talks about "Our dual time-zone watch..." while Traveler's Selections talks "you": "With just a glance, you'll know what time it is at home and in your destination city."

One other set of double doubles? Absolute Amenities and Traveler's Selections offered shower heads with double nozzle-sprayers.

Okay, so what are my favorite items?

For an off-the-wall concept, I loved "The First Vibrating Tongue Cleaner" from Traveler's Selections. The most intriguing was The Sharper Image's "Space-Saving Stereo" for $199.95 which looked disturbingly like the Bang & Olufsen unit that cost me 12 times as much eight years ago. Am I interested in comparing the sound of Sharper Image's stereo with that of our high-end Danish version? Let's not go there.

Merchandising Hunt

Items to consider putting in your catalog based on their frequency in SkyMall's Summer 2001 Catalog

Nose-Hair Clippers & Tweezers 7

Telephone 5

Wrist Watch 5

CD Storage Rack 5

Lounge Chairs 4

Letter & Bill Desk Organizer 4

Shower Head 4

Floor Mattress/Cot/Body Pillow 4

TV Mounts 4

Door Mat 4

Men's Belts 4

Large Tool and Garden Storage Holder 3

Magnifying Glass 3

Men's Trousers 3

Leather Satchel 3

Men's Shirts 3

Key Ring 3

Hair Dryer 3

Luggage Tags 3

Magnet Therapy System 3

Dog Bed 2

Travel Wristwatch with Two Faces 2

Shoe Storage Container 2

Mini Voice Recorder 2

Pool Floating Lounge Chair 3

Fire Escape Ladder 2

Mahogany Waste Basket 2

Women's Separates for Travel 2

Denny Hatch, consultant and freelance copywriter, founder of Who's Mailing What! (now Inside Direct Mail) and former editor of Target Marketing, can be reached at dennyhatch@aol.com.