Crisis Drives Innovation for Catalog Mailers

* Catalogers also reacted positively to news of the USPS' “summer sale.” While not perfect — many smaller-volume-mailing catalogers don't qualify — the sale is a first step in the post office recognizing that lower prices might mean greater volume and actually increased profitability.

* Arandell rolled out a prospecting catalog with page counts aimed at maximizing the cost efficiency of catalogs, letting catalogers prospect at a whole new level. Putting out a high-quality, low-cost prospecting catalog allows mailers to continue to reach out to new customers profitably. Working on minimizing the “in-the-mail” costs of catalogs also recognizes that Web-savvy customers may not need as many pages of merchandise to trigger Web traffic.