Catalog Doctor: Spur Response With Unit Drivers
Consumables. If it’s a type of product that gets used up, and customers really liked the first one they got from you, they’ll often come back for more. This buying cycle creates unit drivers. Examples include food, notebook refills, a classic turtleneck shirt, among other products.
Signature product. Food catalogers sometimes have one signature product that drives 20 percent to as much as 80 percent of their sales. Other types of catalogers have signature products, too. Signature products are often unique and steeped in history. If you have a stable of quality signature products that get worn out or used up — and are also great values — you’ll likely find those in your top-10 unit driver report year after year.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
