Merchandising

On the surface, it’s a typical American success story: an immigrant family fleeing religious persecution arrives in the United States and starts a business; 85 years later it’s not only successful, but still family-owned and operated. Today Omaha Steaks is a meat dynasty, making the merchandising and fulfillment challenges it faced from the beginning uniquely significant. How it continues to survive those challenges highlights strategies for other catalogers hoping to conquer the perishables market. On-site Processing Omaha Steaks enjoys the advantage of processing most of its own product offerings. The company sources its—literally—raw material mainly from Midwestern producers, and then ages, trims and

John Peterman ran some ads for a cowboy duster and built the $70 million J. Peterman catalog business. Mel and Patricia Zeigler discovered a cache of surplus French army shirts, ran small ads and parlayed them into Banana Republic. Ditto Lillian Vernon with personalized women’s belts and handbags. For Larry Brown, it was … uh … a toe-straightener for six-toed feet. Really. Brown, 55, started out as a rookie in the Great Old Days of mail order, and has a repertoire of wild and colorful stories to prove it. He says he never chose the mail order business. The mail order business

Buying paper is a topic that gets discussed frequently in any catalog operation. And since paper is such a large percentage of a catalog’s printing cost, the topic certainly requires frequent attention. Advantages: Buying Paper Price: It’s often thought that buying paper directly from the mill or through a broker presents an opportunity for price per 100 wt. savings, especially if purchased in large quantities. It’s assumed that if you buy the paper yourself, you can avoid a markup or administrative fee that the printer adds when it purchases the paper for you. However, these savings often are hard to realize. When you

At a Glance Catalog: Title Nine Sports Headquarters: Emeryville, CA Merchandise: Women’s fitness wear Company founded: 1989 Best-selling items: sports bras account for 30 percent of sales Target demographic: 30- to 50-year-old women who work outside of the home and participate in sports or fitness. Title Nine Sports uses sports photographers to capture real-life models—career women who happen to love sports and fitness—showcasing merchandise. Named after the landmark federal legislation that prohibits gender discrimination in schools and their sports programs, the Title Nine Sports catalog markets high-quality women’s fitness wear in a refreshingly casual and authentic manner. From the use of

It turns out you can judge a book by its cover—if it’s a catalog. Even small books must make big first impressions. “You need to get [customers] to open your book, and you’ve got about three seconds to do it,” says John Rossiter, a senior sales representative from printing company R.R. Donnelley and Sons. And while design and copy undoubtedly play larger roles in grabbing customers’ and prospects’ attention, without the right paper stock a catalog cover may go unnoticed or misrepresent your brand. Following is a rundown of what to examine when selecting a cover stock. Brand and Basis Weight Many consultants and

Type the word “Gift” into any Internet search engine, and you’ll be faced with more sites than you know what to do with. From Gift.com to SendAGift.com, online gift retailing has become a hot-button business. With such a crowded field, why would the executives of retail giant Target Corp. decide that three of its strongest print catalog brands—Wireless, Signals and Seasons—would do better under one URL, GiftCatalog.com? The answer lies in the shopping experience. Market researchers told Target’s online division, target.direct, that potential for cross-selling among the three catalogs was high, but that navigating three different sites was not as easy it should be.

To prospect for new buyers cost effectively, a catalog company needs to know its break-even point (BEP). I like to express breakeven on a per-catalog-mailed basis—that is, how much gross (or net) revenue must you generate per catalog mailed to hit your desired break-even target? This becomes your stake in the ground. All outside lists and housefile segments should be evaluated and measured against this break-even criteria. Two BEPs Two BEPs can be used: *an incremental (sometimes called variable) breakeven, and *a fully absorbed BEP. Mailings to prospects should be evaluated using an incremental BEP analysis. The fully absorbed BEP can

One night in 1950, a truckload of grapefruit was late in arriving at Ed Cushman’s tiny fruit packing business in West Palm Beach, FL. Cushman was there supervising as the grower’s truck was being unloaded. As the last 20 bushels came off the truck, Cushman asked the workers, “What the devil is this? These aren’t grapefruit!” Said the driver, “I don’t know. I just deliver what they give me.” Turns out this particular grower had a few trees of Mineola tangelos, and they almost looked like orange bells. “My dad came up with the name ‘HoneyBell’,” says Allen Cushman, now president of

When we consult with catalogers about merchandise, we’re asked questions about products that didn’t sell as well as expected. Some clients often wonder if they should try selling the product again, and if so, how many times and in how many different ways before finally giving up on it. These are legitimate questions, and some time should be spent on determining the answers. However, catalogers often waste too much time trying to revive losing items when they should instead spend time on those things that offer a bigger bang for their efforts. Questions & Answers The question “Should you try selling the

Melissa Payner is a risk-taker. The 43-year-old retail industry veteran has been president and CEO of Spiegel Catalog for only 10 months and already has turned the place on its head with new merchandising, catalog creative, advertising and promotions. It doesn’t matter that the economy remains in a slump and catalog industry sales are down: Payner is excited to be breathing new life into Spiegel Catalog by refocusing on its customers and strengthening its brand image. There’s no arguing that Spiegel needed a change when Payner took the reins. Looking back five or six years, one might describe the catalog’s branding as