By combining the online channels of Wireless, Seasons and Signals catalogs, Target Corp. serves up a streamlined shopping experience

By Allison Eckel

Linda Bauer, controller for target.direct, says, “In the 1980s, mail order was really much easier than it is today, and we were in a list-growing mode.”

The runaway success of the direct mail efforts led to a full-blown catalog. Featuring product tie-ins to radio shows on MPR, the catalog was called Wireless. By 1987, the success of merchandising and the Wireless catalog endangered MPR’s non-profit status, so catalog operations were spun off to become Rivertown Trading Co.