The Editor's Take: An Industry's Eureka! Moment
One morning a few months ago, I experienced a true moment. I realized that, after spending the majority of my 25-plus-year career covering the catalog business, that business can no longer be treated as such. Today, it's really about selling and serving any way the consumer wants you to.
It's a new day, and to both our existing Catalog Success readers and our new readers I say, Welcome to our new publication, All About ROI: Retail/catalog Online Integration. We're all about the trade of selling products and services through catalogs, online, stores, brand marketing — above all else, through any combo of these.
As our name implies, whether you consider your business first and foremost a retail or catalog operation (thus the "R"), or an online operation (the "O"), what matters most is that you properly integrate (the "I") your channels.
I'm particularly excited because we're going to help you build your business through expert advice, objective case studies, and detailed profiles and trend stories — all with channel integration in mind. Consumers' shopping habits have changed considerably, and I have no doubt that all forms of retailers can do a much better job maximizing and integrating the various marketing channels available to them than they do today.
The subject of our cover story, Gaiam, exemplifies what we're all about. This seller of personal health and yoga-related products optimizes most channels and tools, all neatly integrated to maximize sales and service.
Also inside, we've retained most of our popular columnists — including Stephen R. Lett, Susan McIntyre and Reggie Brady, among others. Moving forward, their columns will reflect the changing nature of this business. Carol Worthington-Levy (creative), George S. Isaacson (legal affairs) and Kathy J. Siviter (postal) will periodically contribute updates and pointers to our revised IndustryEye section.
Among our departments, you'll see a mix of new and not-so-new. We've expanded our IndustryEye section to include a page focused on different prospecting efforts, a case study and some other informative short takes.
We also welcome Melissa Campanelli onto our staff. Melissa is the editor-in-chief of our sister Target Marketing Group publication, eMarketing and Commerce (eM+C). She worked with me on the cover story and will be a regular contributor — including her back-page column, Check it Out. I encourage you to check that out, as well as all the other great things All About ROI has to offer.
At a time when things are changing faster than the latest social media fad, we all need to adapt quickly. Bottom line: You need to sell more stuff, and you're going to need more trailblazing ideas. Count on our monthly magazine, our rebranded e-newsletter, the All About ROI Report, and our Web site, www.allaboutroimag.com, for plenty of that, and then some.
