Six Trends to Watch in 2005

1. Luxury items are still hot, and mass marketers are doing well. “It’s the middle slice of the market that will continue to have trouble,” said Perez during his presentation at the Catalog-on-the-Road conference, held in Cambridge, Mass., in February.

2. Scrapbooking is hot. “Collecting is becoming a popular activity,” he observed. “Things like photo albums and storage systems are becoming popular products because baby boomers are starting to save their memories for their kids.”