Help Ensure the Success of Your New Catalog

During his seminar "Growing a Catalog and Internet Business," held at the fall conference of the New England Mail Order Association, Jack Schmid of catalog consultancy J. Schmid and Associates offered a few survival tips for catalog entrepreneurs.

"The things that new catalogers need most are the right skills assigned to the right tasks," said Schmid. Some jobs easily can be outsourced to professionals, he continued. "But you should keep some tasks in-house by either doing them yourself if you're the catalog owner or hiring personnel with appropriate skills and experience." Following are Schmid's general recommendations:

Keep These Tasks In-house

Merchandising. Product sourcing, selection and forecasting should be kept close to the vest, said Schmid, in addition to inventory management and forecasting. "These are crucial to your success, and as such, you should keep these jobs in-house," he said.

Analysis and Financials. Tasks such as budgeting, cash-flow management, campaign post-analysis, breakeven calculations and buying inventory also should be done by senior-level executives employed directly by the catalog.

These Can be Outsourced

Circulation. Jobs such as building your housefile, determining customer mailings, planning promotions, testing and forecasting can be outsourced to catalog circulation professionals such as catalog consultants and list brokers, said Schmid.

Creative. Catalog execution, design, copy writing, product photography, print buying and mailing also can be outsourced. Schmid cautions, however, that before outsourcing your catalog's creative, get references from the agencies you're considering, and ask specifically if they've ever done catalog work. Ask to see samples.

Fulfillment. Call center, order and data processing, warehousing, pick-pack-ship, and returns handling also can be handed over to one of the numerous vendors that specialize in this type of work. As always, be vigilant in your selection process, said Schmid, especially when choosing a call center operator, as this is a customer-facing duty. Schmid added that, in time, fulfillment should be brought in-house so that you can guarantee exceptional service to every customer and every order.

Web/Internet. Designing your catalog's e-commerce site and e-mail campaigns also can be outsourced to one of the various third-party providers of these services.

"In short, merchandising and financials should be kept in-house," said Schmid, "but everything else can be outsourced in the first five years of a catalog startup."

—Donna Loyle, editor, Catalog Success magazine