Launching a Maternity Catalog In Print and Online

It is happening more often—an interesting reverse trend. New e-commerce companies recognizing the need to create greater awareness are producing print catalogs to help accomplish that task.

Flush with Internet success, the exciting reality of creating a Web site and actually attracting visitors from everywhere who browse and buy spurs these companies to create new categories of catalogs.

The Naissance maternity catalog is typical of this phenomenon. Naissance began operations two years ago as a retail maternity shop in a prestigious mall in suburban Los Angeles. The Internet site, www.naissancematernity.com, was developed soon afterwards. While the retail shop new business from as far away as Beverly Hills, CA, the Web site is pulling in new business from all over the country.

Even more interesting is that average Web site orders have a higher ticket value than in-store sales. Pregnant women in Texas are especially supportive and generous spenders.

The Internet is mysterious and wonderful, in many ways like direct mail. But in mail order the basic assumption is that buyers are out there and the catalog (or offer) must reach them to create a sale. The reverse proposition applies to Internet sites, especially those that are not heavily backed by advertising and promotion. The Internet sale takes place when buyers reach the Web site. Either way, it is buyer responsiveness that creates the impetus for growth and expansion.

With the retail operation launched and running well, Naissance faced three growth choices: 1) opening more bricks-and-mortar store locations; 2) developing a wholesale business by representing new maternity designers; or 3) creating a catalog in the store’s hip merchandise image to reach the entire domestic market.

More Stores?

The first option, opening additional retail outlets, presented several major stumbling blocks. The first was a combination of the cost of opening new retail stores and finding the proper locations at affordable lease rates. Second was learning the techniques of multi-store management. A third problem was becoming attuned to the likely changes in merchandising and accessorizing from location to location.

Go Wholesale?

Developing a wholesale business featuring designer labels was an attractive alternative but represented a major change in business methods from retail or a catalog. The prospect of continuing to grow a retail operation while developing a wholesale business seemed a little conflicted.

Winning Combination

The most appealing expansion was the combination of catalog and Web site. Naissance’s retail brand equity—Stylish. Sexy. Pregnant.—would be reinforced, and the merchandising activities would be complementary. While the up-front costs of Web development and creation-to-dissemination of the catalog are considerable, it is a kinder cash flow than that needed for brick-and-mortar expansion. There are separate bills for many of the catalog elements: concept, design, layout, photography, models, copy, creating the digital files, printing and mailing.

Naissance established the Web site first. The goals were to establish the brand on the Internet and determine if the position (Stylish. Sexy. Pregnant.) had carrying power beyond Southern California.

Would the positioning that attracted customers from tony Beverly Hills to the upscale suburban Los Angeles retail store carry over as well to the rest of the country?

The answer was a resounding yes. Without too much Web-related advertising, other than listing with the major search engines, the site began receiving orders from all over the country. And as previously noted, the women of Texas found the site and the merchandise so attractive that average orders soared to two to three times in-store sales. Another interesting positive was that repeat sales from Web customers handily topped repeat sales from retail customers.

The Catalog Launch Challenge

While the launch of the Web site required Web design and technical skill to translate the brand image to the Web, the move to creating the catalog was more akin to starting a new business.

First, Jennifer Noonan, founder and CEO of Naissance, developed a separate business plan for the catalog. She recognized that her biggest problem in building a catalog business was the never-ending requirement of prospecting and converting buyers.

“Customer” is almost a meaningless term in this business. A more descriptive way to look at a maternity catalog venture is that it is a hunt for success in prospecting for buyers and multi-buyers in a single season. Maternity cataloging is the antithesis of cataloging in the sense that even your best customers breeze out of the buying window in just a couple of months.

Choosing the Right Vendors

Then there is the problem of selecting fulfillment and inbound telemarketing vendors. While our economy is bounding along in strength, many support vendors bear the scars of start-ups that faded away and robust operations that went belly-up. As a start-up business, you need to fight your way into vendor consideration. That means possessing one of several attributes: an impressive balance sheet, a solid credit rating, and/or available abundance of cash to front the start-up costs and hurdle vendor concerns.

Design, photography and copy are the easier problems, since those services are traditionally paid for as they are completed. Model selection, however, is different. Noonan insisted that all the models be pregnant. This means moving quickly between interviewing, selecting and beginning photography because you are dealing with growing figures.

Peter King Robbins, creative director of Bird Design of Hollywood, handled the design of the catalog—his wife Harriett is also one of Naissance’s designers. And Robert Deutchmann, also of Hollywood, did the photography. The design, layout, photo selection and copy processes, although elongated, moved the project into shape for printing. The catalog was delivered as Quark files to the printer, who prepared materials for direct-to-plate printing.

The first Naissance Catalog is 24 pages, four color throughout, and self cover, with an order form insert. The catalog was mailed in waves.

Naissance selected Moulton Logistics Management of North Hollywood, CA, as the fulfillment vendor, and Corporate 800 of Tampa, FL, as the inbound telemarketing vendor. Naissance wanted fulfillment handled by a local vendor for several reasons. The inevitable problems would be easier to solve by being close to the vendor—there’s nothing quite like being able to dash over and put your hands on a problem. And since all Naissance’s clothing is manufactured locally, having a local fulfillment vendor cut down on shipping costs and sped up delivery.

One of the problems in Southern California is that there are very few experienced, independent full-line catalog fulfillment vendors. In Naissance’s situation, they integrated three systems with the fulfillment system to achieve a seamless order handling system: the inbound telemarketing system, the credit card approval system and the Web site system.

You can count on the fact that multiple vendors, working with the best of intentions, have a difficult time with the integration process. This is partly a result of every vendor wanting the corresponding system to bend to its needs, and conversely every vendor wanting to avoid special programming for just one client or to solve one hitch. More than anything else, the difficulty seems to be getting the various vendors to clearly understand each problem and then communicate.

Special Considerations

The list selection is critical. There are not many lists to choose from, and timing needs to border on the exquisite. Think about it. Lists have to be so current that the name you’re mailing to needs to be prenatal and needs to be in that four-to-five month window of purchasing. In addition, since Naissance is an upscale catalog, it needs to employ demographic overlays to assure that it is reaching a target audience that has the capability of purchasing its somewhat pricey merchandise.

The catalog emphasizes the Web site address and the toll-free number. In addition, the Naissance catalog has an additional toll-free assistance number that connects the caller to a special customer service representative who can help customers select their proper sizes and coordinate outfits.

The order receipt-to-shipment standard is 24 hours or less. The daily order cut-off has been established at 2 p.m. EST. The files are electronically transferred to the Southern California fulfillment center, where they arrive before noon. The fulfillment center also sweeps orders from the Web site and begins its processing at noon. By 4 p.m. PST all orders are picked, packed and ready for shipment.

Every outgoing order is mailed via Priority Mail, unless second day or overnight service is requested. Naissance discovered that women ordering maternity clothing want to receive their purchases quickly. Even Saturday delivery is a mainstream option.

Naissance receives about 100 requests for catalogs every day. Interestingly, the Web site and inbound telemarketing group receive about the same number of daily requests. The catalog requests are harvested on a daily basis and mailed First Class in 24 hours, six days a week. In addition, every requester with an e-mail address receives an immediate e-mail acknowledgement and a special offer available through the Web site only.

The result is that 50 percent of the orders are received through the Web site, and their average order value is 25-percent higher than catalog orders received through the inbound telemarketing group.

The Naissance Fall Catalog is now in preparation. The systems are working well, although there are occasional glitches. Naissance is applying the lessons learned during this start-up period. The Naissance Fall Catalog will be at least 25-percent larger, but produced more efficiently. The circulation will more closely mirror demand and depend even more heavily on the Web site.

There are several ways to judge success/failure with a pioneering start-up. The measurement that’s most satisfying is the recent order Naissance received from Madonna!

Bruce Weyne is president of B.A.S.C. Direct in Torrance, CA, a direct marketing and catalog consulting organization. He can be reached at (310)618-1298 or by e-mail at bruceweyne@earthlink.net.