Enter the Private Investor

3. A catalog is an integral part of a multichannel business. “For a company that wants to grow an Internet business, the catalog provides a leg up in multichannel marketing,” says Libey. “Plus, catalogers have a huge advantage in customer service levels over retailers.”

Brooke Ablon, partner in private equity firm the Riverside Co., New York, also believes the expansion of the Internet has played a role in the emerging trend of acquiring catalogs. “There’s been interest in direct marketing firms by the private equity community for a while,” Ablon recounts. “It started to accelerate over the last few years due to the effect of the Internet and online sales becoming more important to retailing. Catalogers typically have established a foothold in the Internet. And conversely, many Internet companies now have started catalogs. So there’s a natural synergy between the catalog and Internet businesses.”