Kayaking, Partying & Profits

Despite reeling in its circ, After 5’s ’06 sales came in level with ’05, States says. “We’ve developed an asset, our housefile,” he says. “We have a brand, we’ve gone through the school of hard knocks. Now it’s time to leverage and refine that.”

In addition to mailing catalogs more profitably, After 5 will focus more heavily on the Internet going forward. “We’re also putting greater emphasis on search engine optimization and search engine marketing,” States says, “because we’ve recognized them as much cheaper ways to acquire customers. We can bring in 20,000 to 30,000 more new customers a year with a very small outlay. On the other hand, on 1 million books, you’re lucky to get 12,000 to 15,000 new buyers.”