Maintaining the Gold Standard

National Geographic’s yellow rectangle is recognized worldwide for its authority and credibility as a source of exploration information.

Consequently, the pressure to feature similarly authentic catalog products runs high. But the catalog staff welcomes the challenge.

“You have to be willing to follow the process of approval for each item,” says Linda Berkeley, president of National Geographic Enterprises, of which the catalog is a subdivision. “You have to be willing to walk away from items that are inappropriate, even if you think they might make a lot of money.”

By featuring only merchandise that can support its tagline, “Products that bring the world and its wonders to you,” the catalog seems to please both longtime Society members and newfound customers. Since its relaunch in 1998, the catalog’s revenues have risen 144 percent, and its buyer file has doubled to 309,390 consumers. Such results can be at least partly credited to building the organization’s brand mission into every step of the merchandising process.

Product Hunting and Gathering

The catalog’s streamlined merchandising begins with the fact that it employs only two primary product buyers, each of whom has the brand ingrained in them, according to Ed Coleman, catalog vice president and general manager. The buyers source from domestic and international trade shows, keeping in mind the brand’s major themes: photography, history, nature, culture, science and exploration.

The buyers also are mindful of the coordination between catalog products and editorial initiatives. Before leaving for shows, they review subject trends within the society. While at the show, they search for items that can supplement those initiatives. For example, the Holiday 2002 catalog features a two-page spread of videos, ornaments, board games and furniture that highlight the Society’s recent television and magazine editorial focus on Egypt.

But it’s not enough for a product just to match up with the mission; its vendor must be brand-worthy, too. Those hoping to provide catalog products must agree in writing to adhere to certain standards and practices, including research to ensure product accuracy, product testing, provision of references, and certification of fumigation for products made of wood sourced from overseas. These measures add another two weeks to the usual sourcing process and may explain why the company uses only about 10 percent of the product samples buyers bring back from shows, notes Amber Molholm, director of creative and merchandise planning.

In fact, she says, National Geographic doesn’t source product from many international vendors because of these standards. Though it uses leather products from Italy and weather instruments from Germany, the company doesn’t yet source from Asia simply because the catalog lacks enough in-house staffers to ensure that fair labor practices are being followed there.

Tested Inside and Out

The process is considerably easier for National Geographic’s own branded products. Along with the catalog’s exclusive products, these comprise about half of the book’s holiday offerings. Such products include videos of National Geographic programming, the Complete National Geographic CD-ROM, language-learning software, world music CDs and books.

The cataloger makes full use of the Society’s skills when testing items. “We have resources no other catalog has,” says Berkeley. For instance, dinosaur items get checked by in-house paleontologists, and map-related products are verified by the Society’s cartographers.

Items that come to the catalog via the Society’s licensing program endure more strenuous quality control—they’re taken into the field by actual National Geographic explorers as part of the “Gear On Assignment” program. About 300 explorers, researchers, writers and photographers participate in the program, 30 of which are in the field at any one time.

The marketing department gives products to explorers who send feedback from the field via e-mailed questionnaires. Catalog items such as the Women’s Walking and Octavian Travel shoes (which include amenities such as antibacterial treatments, memory-foam arches and climate control systems) actually have been modified based on the explorers’ reports.

Products deemed inaccurate are either fixed or pulled from the lineup. In one instance, the first version of a children’s five-layer U.S. map puzzle had omitted Washington, D.C. (which, in addition to being the nation’s capital, also is the location of National Geographic’s headquarters). The puzzle originally was slated for the Holiday 2001 edition, but instead it appeared in the Holiday 2002—after it had been fixed. Proprietary products are subject to the same treatment.

When a product’s inaccuracies can’t be resolved, the item is taken out of the catalog. “Anything that compromises the brand is unacceptable,” insists Coleman. That includes toy dinosaurs whose forearms are inaccurately proportioned and stuffed animals with the wrong number of toes.

Post-sale Satisfaction

This all-or-nothing mindset persists beyond the product sale.

“We have a very simple policy: 100-percent satisfaction,” says Coleman. “We don’t argue [with customers], we just take it back.”

Though the catalog’s call center operations are outsourced to Keystone Internet Services in Hanover, PA, the catalog’s staffers at headquarters often are required to listen to monitored calls. Last year, the catalog also began what aims to be an annual mail survey that asks 2,000 customers to rate their overall product and sales experience. In response to some of these findings, the catalog expanded its variety of lower price point merchandise and children’s products.

Staffers also read and respond to customer mail. One customer who wrote to dispute the accuracy of the battle information presented in the copy for a set of Civil War figurines received copies of the group’s own product research, which proved to be correct.

National Geographic even recalled two products in 2000 and 2001 (a lantern and a wooden vase, respectively) that prompted mild quality and functionality concerns from customers. The company sent each customer who’d bought the items a refund, an apology letter and a gift certificate for future purchases.

“That’s the kind of standard our customers hold us to,” Coleman says. With an average magazine subscription-renewal rate of 12 years, adds Berkeley, the Society, and by extension its catalog, has an extremely loyal and perceptive customer base. Officials at National Geographic take that loyalty very seriously and work hard to maintain it.

Best-selling Items

The catalog has increased its product offerings by about 80 percent since its 1998 relaunch, and can credit its best-selling items with enabling it to do so. Top sellers include telescopes, atlases, books, shoes and licensed children’s T-shirts.

Of course, animal-themed products form part of the book’s core offerings, although Molholm is quick to note that certain animals sell better than others. “National Geographic is known for elephants, tigers, birds, penguins and polar bears,” she affirms. “Things like monkeys tend not to sell as well.”

Coleman characterizes the non-animal product trends as veering toward nostalgia and nesting, noting that sales from items such as the pinball-style Nostalgic Baseball Game, World War II Bomber Jacket, 1950s-style Radio and CD Player, and Mountaineering Monopoly have picked up considerably in the last year. Coleman attributes the trends to post-Sept. 11 consumer patterns: “Customers are looking for ways to reconnect with family and friends.”

On the Horizon

The catalog heads into its fifth year with several objectives in mind. Expanding its customer base is high on its list of priorities, says Coleman. The company currently uses consumer databases from Abacus and Experian for modeling and customer acquisition, and has expanded list rentals and exchanges.

A by-product of this expansion is that it brings more people into the National Geographic Society, a goal that Berkeley hopes to further. She states that this year alone, the catalog brought in more than 40,000 new customers that weren’t otherwise associated with the organization.

And, she says, the more people who become familiar with the National Geographic mission, the better. “With recent events, the mission is more relevant than it’s ever been,” she affirms. “And the value of the catalog is related to how it can support the mission.”

It helps that the book’s revenues don’t have to meet the profit margins of most catalogs; all of its net proceeds benefit the Society’s research, exploration, conservation and education initiatives. This way, staffers can concentrate on what they do best—finding and testing products that encourage consumers to explore and learn about the world.