OutFront: People on the Move & Letter to the Editor
Sears Holdings: Alan Lacy has resigned as Sears’ CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors for both Sears Holdings and Sears Canada. Former AutoNation and iVillage.com CFO Craig Monaghan has joined Sears as CFO.
Williams-Sonoma: Howard Lester, this multichannel home furnishings merchant’s chairman since 1986, has been named CEO, a post he previously held from 1979 to 2001. He replaces Ed Mueller, who resigned in late July after less than three years at the helm. Mueller will remain with the company as director. Laura Alber has been promoted to president of Williams-Sonoma from her previous role as president of Pottery Barn Brands. Sharon McCollam has added the title of COO to her other positions as EVP and CFO of Williams-Sonoma. Dean Miller, SVP, global logistics and sourcing, has been promoted to EVP and chief supply chain officer.
Experian: Ralph Sherman has joined this data and marketing services provider as SVP of finance and administration for the marketing solutions group. He previously served as SVP and CFO of ACNielson.
Please send your People on the Move announcements to mgriffin@napco.com.
Dear Editor,
The article by Stephen R. Lett, “Prepare For the Postal Hike” (August 2006 issue, pgs. 38-39) shows a nice table relating a paper test, suggesting there is a $13,000 postage savings to offset the $943 loss (possibly due to the lighter catalogs being a little less acceptable). The $13,000 is based upon 1 million catalogs, yet the test is for just 46,579 catalogs.
My calculations would show that the firm mailing the 32 lb paper catalog saved about $605, while losing $943.
No doubt, a reduction in enough weight could bring a significant savings, but the key is “enough” to make a difference. It would have been a much more enlightening article if Mr. Lett provided a table of size/weight versus cost differences using a more reasonable circulation figure in the 10,000s range.
— John Sangster,
vice president,
Miners Inc. (www.minerox.com)
The Author Responds:
A test was done first in order to determine the potential savings that could result from a rollout of 1 million copies due to the lightweight catalog. Our test includes two panels of 46,579 each, a perfect A/B split. One group received the 34 lb paper, while the other group received the 32 lb paper. The total savings was based on the full rollout as a result of this test.
The caption under the chart should have been clearer since the sales decrease refers to the test and the postage savings to the rollout. It’s the potential loss of gross margin dollars, not the total
revenue, that is critical to determining
if a rollout should be done.
— Stephen R. Lett,
president,
Lett Direct Inc. (www.lettdirect.com)
To send a letter to the editor, write to Editor in Chief, Catalog Success, either via e-mail, pmiller@napco.com, or: 1500 Spring Garden St., Suite 1200, Philadelphia, PA 19130-4094.
