Dive Into a New Product Category

Revello’s experience includes posts at Federated Department Stores, Gump’s, Good Catalog Co. and the former Panache catalog. She recalls one incident while at Panache: She was using props (e.g., rugs, furniture) to showcase the tabletop and party-related items for sale; but she soon found that people wanted to buy the props. “I learned not to waste catalog space showing items we didn’t sell,” she notes, “Plus, all the informal customer requests for the props led us to think there were further product opportunities there.”