Strategy: Circulation Planning

Growing a catalog business is becoming more difficult. One reason: prospect list universe limitations. Catalog housefiles haven’t been growing, which affects how many names are available for other catalogers to prospect to. Response rates to outside prospect lists have been declining for many catalog companies the past few years. In some cases, results to tried and true continuation lists are off by as much as 50 percent. The most significant reason we feel response rates are flat (or declining) is due to the lack of housefile growth. Last 12-month buyer file counts are flat and/or declining from year to year, a trend that’s not easy to reverse quickly or without cost to the list owner. Therefore, when you mail continuation lists, i.e., prospect lists you’ve used previously, you’re mailing many of the same names over and over again.