Merchandising

During a session I led at the ACCM conference last week in Boston on how smaller catalogers can compete with the “big guys,” Terry Powers and Mark Mackaman of ComputerGear, a 15-year-old cataloger of computer-related t-shirts, gifts and accessories, said their key to success is “unique product, unique product, unique product.” They emphasized the importance of protecting those products via copyrights, trademarks and patents. The ComputerGear executives also stressed developing efficient operations. They cross-train CSRs to pull, pack and ship, and they make many of their own products, subcontracting manufacturing that they can’t handle efficiently in-house. They also recommended testing at least one thing —

This is my 21st go-round attending ACCM, the Annual Conference for Catalog and Multichannel Merchants (did I get that whole thing right?), being held May 21-23 in Boston. For my first 18, I was part of the assorted parent companies that co-sponsored the event with the DMA. But for the past two, as a press attendee and not a part-host, I’ve picked up a different perspective on this event as well as on some other conferences. Actually, I take that back: This year, I’m sort of a part-host again on the other side of the partnership since I was recently named chairman/editor of the

For companies that ship to residential locations, it may behoove them to take advantage of the U.S. Postal Service, which can still provide cost-effective shipping despite the recent rate increases. That was the message of Alicia Berry, COO of DVD Empire, a Web-based DVD retailer, at a session during the recent National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment in Schaumburg, Ill. “The most important thing you can do to control costs is to figure out where each of your packages is going and how much it costs — the daily numbers,” she said. “That way, you’ll be able to take advantage of what the USPS has

Consumers plan to spend considerably more on Mother’s Day gifts this year compared to last. The National Retail Federation’s 2007 Mother’s Day Consumer Actions and Intentions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, shows that the 84.5 percent of respondents who said they intend to celebrate Mother’s Day will spend an average of $139.14 on mom, compared with last year’s average of $122.16. Below are some other findings from the survey, which drew nearly 7,900 responses. * 37 percent of respondents said plan to buy apparel; combined, they’ll spend nearly $1.6 billion on clothes and accessories * 32.8 percent who said they would buy jewelry will spend $2.1 billion

Although far from new, polls are a greater part of the American fabric than ever before. Consumers have become more comfortable with polls conducted via e-mail, on Web sites and via text messages (as much as I loathe the show, two quick words come to mind here: “American Idol”). In fact, it’s pretty rare these days when we’re not subjected to some sort of poll at least once a week, sometimes even once a day. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Polls aren’t like those delightful 6:30 p.m. telemarketing calls we often have to answer with a mouthful of pasta. They’re there; you

In the ever-improving world of coffee, the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters catalog has a clear focus, which is simply stated in the opening of the president’s letter: “Coffee is more than just something to drink; it’s a powerful connection to each other, and to the rest of the world.” In this catalog, coffee is the world’s language. You read it in the letter. You see it in the merchandise selection. Green Mountains’ mission is to support the global community. Many businesses make this their intention, but with Green Mountain, it’s a reality, evidenced on every page of its catalog. From the onset, I felt

The Boston Proper catalog has come a long way since it was liquidated back in 1991. So, too, has the company that bought its name and list for a song at that time ($100,000) and propelled it to greater heights ever since. That firm — once known as The Mark Group, so named after its former flagship catalog, Mark, Fore & Strike — renamed itself Boston Proper three years ago, based on the success of the catalog and divestiture of the country club apparel title, Mark, Fore & Strike, as well as the gifts and home furnishings catalog, Charles Keith. Through it all has been

In a roundtable discussion held on April 11 during a Hudson Valley DMA luncheon in Greenwich, Conn., Hanover Direct Vice President of Corporate Marketing Amy Schilder led a group on the best practices involved in partnership marketing. Specifically, she pointed out that partnerships with other marketing companies require several key components in order for them to work for both parties. Below are several take-away pointers from the discussion in which she focused primarily on Hanover’s own partnership with Sears, in which Sears offers a line of clothing from Hanover’s Silhouettes catalog. * Make sure both partners’ goals are in line with one another. In the Sears-Silhouettes

As catalogers, you know the importance of search engine marketing for your Web sites and ultimately on your revenue. But technological advances and users’ preferences can make a difference in search engine results, page algorithms and spiders, as well as search engine optimization and overall SEM strategies. Manoj Jasra, director of technology at Enquiro Search Solutions, a search engine marketing firm in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, recently shared his thoughts on SEM changes in a blog entry. He warns marketers of some key factors to watch for: *Growth of personalized search. Because this is becoming more prominent, Web site operators have to work hard on Web

As you can see, the contents in this month’s issue are quite operations-heavy. We’re always trying to balance our coverage, and with a more general focus for our big double-issue next month, as well as a broadly focused June issue, we’ll turn to technology-related issues in July. Perhaps the most interesting thing we found in putting this month’s issue together was that, although there typically aren’t a lot of drastic changes in the whole area of catalog/multichannel operations, fulfillment and management, there are nevertheless noteworthy changes taking place. For instance, take a look at consultant Liz Kislik’s feature on necessary changes in catalog order takers’ approach