Profile: All in the Family

BACKGROUND: Howard Flax, CEO of FLAX art & design, comes from a long line of art supplies dealers, stretching all the way back to 1938. The first Flax art supplies business was a store in San Francisco founded by Herman Flax, Howard’s grandfather. Other family members followed suit, with stores popping up from New York to Phoenix to Los Angeles. After Herman passed away, his sons Philip and Jerry ran the business. Now, Philip is the chairman, and his sons Howard and Craig, vice president of marketing, run the only Flax store that boasts a catalog.

Here, third-generation Flax businessman, Howard Flax, offers his thoughts on the business.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: “Finding that balance between the product offerings and markets into which we mailed,” says Flax. “We’re always trying to have consistent and strong metrics to put forth the merchandise that the customers are looking for.”

HOW HE HANDLES THAT CHALLENGE: “We’ve always put a product or two in the catalog to test a new category,” Flax says. “Otherwise, you become predictable. You need to break out of the mold and test the waters.”

KEYS TO SUCCESS: “It’s critical to remain receptive to everyone,” says Flax, regarding merchandise assortment as well as customer attention. “We genuinely try to be different. The mailbox is a crowded place, and we like to think that things like the contest on our catalog cover help set us apart … [as well as] build loyalty.” (The cataloger annually runs a design contest in which the winner receives a featured cover on a print-run of the catalog as well as a gift certificate for $1,000 of FLAX art & design merchandise.)

WHAT ABOUT THE BUSINESS APPEALS: “The creative process of putting a catalog together and managing the various initiatives that push the company forward.”

CURRENT CHALLENGE: To increase the self-sustaining business generated by the Web site. “We’ve entered into new relationships to expand pay-per-click revenue,” he says. “New data feeds are improving sales results in shopping search engines. We’ve begun targeted e-mail marketing and have taken a more hands-on approach with our affiliate program.”

BIGGEST MISTAKE AND SUBSEQUENT RECOVERY: When catalog sales started to decline about three years ago, “We reacted late because we blamed external factors,” he says. “In truth, the catalog had become dated and stale.” They recovered by rebranding. The result: “a fresh, newly designed catalog and a new companion Web site that wound up winning a Webby award. Our customers responded quite favorably to the change. The catalog took on more structure; the product groups were more thematically oriented or departmentalized. So there was a more logical feel as one went through the book.”

ON KEEPING FUN IN THE WORKPLACE: “We have a basketball hoop and ping-pong table,” he says, “but they get surprising little use. Most of the staff has been here for years, and we’re a close group, so there are a lot of potlucks and birthday celebrations.”

Company founded: 1938
Catalog established: 1984
Headquarters: San Francisco
Primary merchandise: arts and crafts supplies; gifts and design products
# of SKUs: 600, catalog; 3,000, Web site.
Customer demographics: 82 percent female; 38 to 61 years of age; 58 percent have income greater than $75,000; 79 percent are married
# of employees: 70

For the complete interview, look under Related Items!