Strategy-Hurdling to Profitability (1,147 words)

Now, let's assume you mail 525,000, 24-page catalogs. You first need to calculate a hurdle rate as follows:

$.0685 x 24 pages = $1.644 per catalog

$1.644 x 525,000 = $863,310 in sales required

to break even.

$863,310 divided by 24 pages = $35,962 per

page needed to break even.

Let's assume you have an item that occupies one quarter of a page and $9,500 of gross sales. For an item to occupy 25 percent of a page, it must do $8,991 ($35,962 x .25) in gross sales to meet the hurdle rate.