Catalogers Adapt Their Print Editions to Online Success

Calculate and Coordinate

Lois Boyle, president of Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based consulting firm J. Schmid & Associates, expands on that point, noting that the most important change catalogers should make with regard to their print books is how they gauge sales results.

“The old benchmark said a cataloger should capture 95 percent of all source codes,” she says. “But most catalogers now are lucky to capture 60 percent, what with the steady increase in online orders. This causes real problems when trying to test offers, covers, formats, outside lists, reactivation efforts, etc. So catalogers have to find alternative ways to match back these uncoded orders to make educated decisions.”