Case Study: Visual Data Makes Squinch Analysis Picture-Perfect for Patterson Office Supplies

Problem: The B-to-B catalog/multichannel marketer Patterson Office Supplies was overburdened with too much data resulting from the 9,000-plus SKUs in its quarterly catalog. This data overload resulted in the catalog remaining static for years and, as such, it wasn’t optimized to peak efficiency and profitability.

Solution: Implemented a software product to simplify its data.

Results: Improved data and square-inch (squinch) analysis has led to a tighter merchandising mix and more profitable catalog. Catalog page count has been reduced by 20 percent, resulting in a 20 percent cost savings on paper, 30 percent savings on printing and 25 percent savings on postage.

Inundated with data points from its quarterly master catalog, St. Paul, Minn.-based Patterson Office Supplies struggled to get a grasp on what it all meant. Were page layouts optimized to their full potential? Did certain product categories deserve to be allocated more pages in the book and others less? These questions often went unanswered because analyzing the data was too cumbersome.

So beginning in May 2007, Patterson turned to Tableau Software’s Desktop personal edition software to help make sense of its data. The visual software provided instant analysis that Patterson couldn’t get from an Excel spreadsheet. Of utmost importance was the squinch analysis this software allowed Patterson to perform on all 9,000-plus SKUs in its catalog.

“The biggest negative was a tendency to keep things exactly the way they were, even if it wasn’t an optimized layout or page count or layout of space,” says Rich Giambrone, market manager at Patterson Office Supplies. “We’d say, ‘Let’s focus on this one section and leave the rest of the book like it is because we can’t go page by page and item by item.’” There was a tendency to keep it status quo — the catalog hadn’t changed in two years.

Tableau’s data visualization analytics tool lets Patterson see its data in multiple ways — more than facts, numbers and lines on a report. It uses charts to better identify trends and patterns within the catalog sales data, leading to well-informed decisions.

“It instantly helps them zero in on the SKUs where, ‘Gee, the profits are low, the costs are high, the sales are low; we’re not going to upset a lot of customers if we drop this product because it’s expensive for us to carry, and we’re not making that much money,’” says Elissa Fink, vice president of marketing at Tableau Software.

Cut Products, Pages
Squinch analysis led Patterson to adjust its merchandising mix, including dropping several items. As a result, the catalog shrank by more than 100 pages. But that doesn’t mean all product areas were cut. Filing and accessories was one category in which sales justified more space in the catalog. Therefore, its page count has increased by nearly 25 percent.

With the redesigned catalog in the mail since September, the returns have been favorable, Giambrone says. Although at press time in late December it was too early to compute improved profitability, Giambrone’s forecasting a nearly 5 percent lift in sales for the entire book. Some product categories could see a 10 percent to 15 percent lift.

The improved data analysis has yielded significant cost savings for Patterson, too. The company reports a 30 percent cost savings on printing, 25 percent savings on postage and 20 percent savings on paper as a result of the more compact book.

Those savings won’t go to waste, Giambrone says. Patterson plans to launch a miniature catalog while also funneling the savings into some of the company’s online programs. And if all goes well with this latest catalog, Patterson will increase circulation and frequency this year.