Smart selections in merchandise and staffing are driving Acorn Direct’s exponential growth rates.

By Matt Griffin and Catalog Success

While growing the documentary business, Edwards formed relationships with British video distributors. Ten years after he founded the company, one of the first major merchandising shifts was about to occur. In 1994, sensing a need to diversify, he considered licensing drama titles in addition to documentaries. The problem, says Edwards, was that drama-title licensing was far more expensive than the documentaries he’d dealt with thus far, so it would be a tough leap to make.