Going From Square Inch Analysis to Setting the Number of Pages for Your Catalog

What are the issues in using square inch analysis to set the number of pages? Consider the following:

1. Are all the items in the catalog profitable? Are the categories profitable?
2. Does the square inch analysis tell you to cut pages, add pages or maintain the same page count?
3. Are all sales being included in the square inch analysis or just sales driven by the catalog? If web sales are a substantial portion of your business, sales may be overstated when calculating catalog square inch.
4. The best products (i.e., the most profitable) should get the best real estate. Are you giving your best real estate to your best-selling categories?
5. Are product categories being ranked by sales or profit?
6. Is there a second tier of products that can be profitable when listed on the web but don't meet the threshold to be included in the catalog? Are there some items or categories that can be included in the catalog seasonally or less often than every catalog?

Catalogs are a simple business. If all the list segments you mail and each item of merchandise is above breakeven, your business should prove profitable. Draw the line at lists and merchandise that aren't profitable. Setting the number of pages for your catalog involves allocating enough real estate to those profitable products, and the number of pages should flow from the amount of space needed to merchandise all the profitable items.