Sitting Pretty

Interestingly, Toscanini notes the full-page ads often get up-front right-hand page placement without paying a premium. She explains, "Fortunately for us, our ads being full pages with great images often get great placement."

Sure Fit's space ads are purely for catalog requests. "We haven't sold any product directly," says Toscanini. The complexity of buying slipcovers (i.e., colors, fabrics, sizing) has so far negated that possibility, she notes. "There's some question as to how we would do that since our customers want selection above all else, and you can only show so much product [in an ad]," Toscanini says. "Ours is definitely a two-step buying process."