Top brokers describe today’s challenging catalog list market

Papalia: With mailers cutting back on circulation, it will have a domino effect on list universes. Added to this already shrinking universe are the privacy issue constraints—it is going to be an interesting year. Catalogers will be exploring profitable lists—examining new segments rather than tweaking and re-testing marginal lists. The quantity of catalogs being received is watering down results. In other words, the hotline names consist of many multis and not as many new-to-file names.