A Chat With February's Profile, Margaret Moraskie, vice president of e-commerce, Boston Proper

Catalog Success: Where's your company headquartered?
Margaret Moraskie: Boca Raton, Florida.

CS: When was the company established? Were catalogs mailed right away?
MM: Our company actually originated in 1951 as a retail chain called Mark, Fore & Strike, started by our president's father. That was established to be a resort store, so it was like north and south with the sun. We were in the Cape [Cod, Mass.] and the Hamptons [Long Island, N.Y.] in the summertime, and then Florida resort towns in the wintertime. That was expanded through the ’50s and ’60s, and the Mark, Fore & Strike catalog was started in the late ’70s by our founder's son. In the ’80s we had the Mark, Fore & Strike catalog and retail stores, and we acquired Boston Proper, which was basically a mailing list and a name from a company that had gone out of business.

Skip Hartzell, who's now our chief creative officer, and Michael Tiernan [chairman and CEO of Boston Proper] had this concept … because Mark, Fore & Strike was for an older customer, they wanted to target their own generation — the baby boomers. They found that there was a need for apparel, age-appropriate apparel, for the baby boomer woman who was busy and active. That was the concept behind Boston Proper.

When the name and mailing list became available on some old merchandise reports, they were able to acquire the company. They revamped that catalog and remailed it, and that has grown into today's Boston Proper. We also acquired at the time a home furnishings catalog called Charles Keath. In the late ’90s, early 2000s we made the decision to divest of Mark, Fore & Strike and Charles Keath because it had become apparent that Boston Proper was really the growth vehicle, and we wanted to put all of our infrastructure behind that brand. And that's exactly what we did — the first Boston Proper Web site came out in 1998, the first interactive Web site in ’99. After we divested, we all focused on Boston Proper, and it has grown into the brand that it is today.

CS: What year were the first Boston Proper-titled catalogs mailed?
MM: About 1992 we mailed the first Boston Proper catalog.

CS: What demographic is Boston Proper targeting?
MM: She's an affluent woman, 35 to 55 [years of age]. She's fit, active, busy. Our sweet spot's around 45. She's highly educated, she travels a lot, has a high average household income, she lives in the major population areas. We have a big customer base in California and New York, but it's really more where there's population concentration.

CS: What's the primary merchandise offered by Boston Proper?
MM: It's women's apparel, shoes and accessories — sportswear, dresses, swimwear. We have two spin-off titles: Boston Proper Travel and Boston Proper Sport. Sport has a heavier weighting towards the fitness lifestyle: two-piece sets, yoga and golf. And then our travel catalog is obviously travel-friendly fabrics, packable … still maintaining the core of the brand, which is age-appropriate, sexy, unique, distinctive clothing, but not for your daughter.

CS: How many times a year are the catalogs mailed?
MM: Sport and Travel are mailed once a year, and then the core catalog is mailed 17 times a year.

CS: What's the average SKU count in a Boston Proper title?
MM: There's about 220 items, depending on how many pages are in a book. Two hundred and twenty five unique products per catalog.

CS: What's the overall SKU count the company offers?
MM: There's 2,000 items online at any given time, which translates to about 45,000 SKUs.

CS: How many employees are there at Boston Proper?
MM: It's about 150.

CS: How do sales breakdown by channel?
MM: We're doing about 57 percent, 58 percent of our business online.

CS: And the other 42 percent is catalog-driven?
MM: Yes. It's call center and a little bit of mail, but primarily phone.

CS: What's Boston Proper's annual catalog circulation?
MM: 50 million.

CS: And its annual sales figure?
MM: One hundred million-plus.

CS: How did you get started in the catalog/multichannel business?
MM: I was in retail. I started with Federated [Department Stores, parent company of Macy's and Bloomingdale's] out of college in their executive training program. I worked stores, and then I was an assistant buyer for Stern's in the Northeast. I then moved to Florida and was hired here to be an assistant buyer for Mark, Fore & Strike Men's at the retail level. That was about 14 years ago. I moved to catalog not long thereafter. I was an assistant buyer for ladies sportswear, and then I bought some classifications — I moved into inventory control. I've had a lot of different roles here. And then I joined the e-commerce team in ’99.

CS: How do the different divisions (i.e., catalog and online) operate at Boston Proper? Are they separate entities?
MM: It's one big team. We're not a separate P&L; we're sort of channel agnostic. That's how we really like to think of it. We're a true multichannel retailer — our contact strategy is developed across channels, our merchandising isn't siloed. The ultimate goal is to reflect a single experience to our customer. We have to work very closely together to achieve that. One pool of inventory, one pool of photography, etc.

CS: Could you provide a few examples of how the two channels work together?
MM: When the books are put together, from the very beginning when they're concepted by merchandising, the merchants indicate what features they want on the Web site, because they know what's going to be the key presentations in the catalog. They let us know that and we work with them. And we photograph those items differently, so we turn them over to creative.

So there's sort of the catalog version, but the same item is shot horizontally for the Web. All the way down to when the catalog is finally put together. When we mail a front cover, you'll see that same item on the homepage. And the e-mail announcement will be the same again. It's all very effortless for the customer to know she's in the same place no matter what she does. Now her experience is a little bit different, because we're able to do things online, but she's being presented the same offerings.

CS: What do you enjoy most about the catalog/multichannel industry?
MM: I love that in the Internet and catalog business you put an offer out there and you get immediate gratification — you see what's selling. I could send an e-mail today and see what's selling tomorrow, and then change the store around. You can see the shifts that you make; you get immediate results. That's especially true of the Internet business.

CS: What role does e-mail play in Boston Proper's marketing mix?
MM: It's completely rolled in with all of our contact strategies. I oversee the e-mail marketing calendar as well, and not only contact circulation but concepting — what the customer will see and when. It's just ingrained as part of the overall offering.

The e-mails that surround a catalog mailing are in support of that mailing. So the first one [e-mail] is the front cover. The next one maybe … certain times of the year our merchants are focusing on swimwear, so of course we're promoting swimwear. Again, trying to create that seamless experience for the customer.

CS: What do find most challenging and enjoy least about the catalog/multichannel business?
MM: I don't think there's anything I don't enjoy. There are things I find sometimes challenging and frustrating: you put something up and maybe you rushed it and it's not quite right. You can turn too quickly. Sometimes not being able to get to data across all channels really quickly. But I love what I do; I'm lucky. It's a fun place to come every day. Sometimes I don't like looking at the models in their bathing suits. You have to have a strong sense of self surrounded by beautiful women day in, day out.

CS: What's been your most difficult challenge in the catalog/multichannel business, and how did you overcome that challenge?
MM: As a company, one of the hardest decisions for the senior management team was to divest of the other brands. Mark, Fore & Strike was a family brand, so to make that decision and get behind the winning horse was difficult. However, it didn't take very long for sales to continue to skyrocket and you reap the benefits of those rewards. But that was a very difficult personal decision, too. I started with Mark, Fore and there were a lot of us that were here that grew up with Mark, Fore. That was difficult all around.

Personally, with the Internet, in the beginning you were kind of like the stepchild. Everyone was like, ‘What's going on, you're taking our business.’ Or you were like the kid whose parents went away for the weekend. So we could do not just about anything, but we were running under the radar for a long time because it wasn't a huge percentage of sales in the beginning. When sales started to pick up, and it happened very quickly, all of a sudden your parents have come home from the vacation and they want to see what you're doing, how you're doing it. So we had always operated effectively and efficiently, but it was a challenge to be ignored and then it was a challenge to have a spotlight on the division, too.

CS: What year did Boston Proper divest itself of Mark, Fore & Strike?
MM: We closed Mark, Fore & Strike in 2001, and by 2003 we had divested of Charles Keath, too. So by 2003 everything was done.

CS: Over time, do you fell the right decision was made to divest of these businesses?
MM: Absolutely.

CS: What are the best things about working at Boston Proper?
MM: It's fun to work for a growing brand — constantly improving sales, a pretty open philosophy. As long as you're true to the brand, they're very encouraging of ideas and opportunity. I started as an assistant buyer for stores and now I'm VP of e-commerce. So I think when you have initiative and you work with other folks — all the departments here work together well — that's what's great about it.

It's nice to be part of a winning team. And that even means when things aren't great, everybody kind of bands together and figures out how to make it so. To the point where we answer phones when it's our busiest time. We all kind of help each other pitch in.

CS: Is the fourth quarter your busiest time of the year?
MM: No, we're actually on sort of an opposite calendar. Spring is our busiest time of the year. Fourth quarter is busy for us, but January, with the launch of our spring season. We're spring-heavy. Fortunately right now we don't have to rely on Christmas to bring in 30 percent of the annual revenue. It doesn't happen that way.

Because she's shopping for herself, and we really excel in the spring season at that sort of evocative, creative … our customers have told us that they love to be transported and taken away. And they look at the catalog almost as sort of a magazine. There's this escapist quality to it. So that's a lot of fun, too — looking at the pictures.

CS: Is the seasonality of the business a problem for Boston Proper?
MM: No, it used to be. We've steadily and consistently improved the selling in the fall season to balance it out. It still is more balanced to spring, but we've definitely brought the level of performance in the fall season up.

CS: If you hadn't gotten involved in the catalog/multichannel business, what do you think you would've done professionally?
MM: Oh, I don't know. I guess I'd probably still be working retail. I don't know; I wanted to be a teacher. It's hard to imagine. I've been so fortunate that I haven't figured anything else out.

CS: Where do you see your professionally in five years?
MM: Hopefully still here as part of the team of an even bigger brand — more nationally recognized —taking on whatever the newest challenges are.

CS: What's your approach to help set Boston Proper apart from its competition?
MM: We have a very clear branding mission — the difference starts with the product. Our customers love that we offer distinctive and unique product that they can't find in the mall. She doesn't look like everybody else walking down the street. We start with the product and then the creative team really takes it to the next level.

That fabulous photography, whether she's in a hammock, between palm trees, running in the ocean or lounging somewhere that makes you think she's in Morocco, whatever it may be, it's that really unique product with that very sort of sensuous creative that sets the brand apart. We're not a promotional brand because she will buy what she really wants. It's that kind of “gotta have it.”

CS: Is all the creative done in-house?
MM: Full in-house creative team, so everybody's fully immersed in the brand. There are some freelancers — the stylists, the hair and makeup. But even there we have a team that's been with us for a really long time. Everybody's really in tune as to what the brand should look like.

CS: Is the creative work done at your Florida headquarters?
MM: They shoot in the [Florida] Keys, they shoot in Mexico, depending on what time of year sometimes out in California. But a lot of it is done here in Florida. And all of the production work, the building of the files by our creative team, is all here. It's the photography that sometimes happens elsewhere.