Omnichannel

Welcome to our groundbreaking benchmark survey on catalog/multichannel mailing and marketing practices! This is a joint venture with multichannel ad agency Ovation Marketing, and the first in what will be an ongoing, quarterly series of surveys covering different aspects of the catalog/multichannel business. The survey contains a statistical analysis of a questionnaire we sent to the entire Catalog Success e-mail list in late August. The first two questions screened out any noncatalog decision makers. That left us with completed surveys from 175 catalogers — 97 consumer, 78 B-to-B. Click on any or all of the sets of responses under “Related Content,” to the right.

Operating in a market specifically designed for handling large sums of money, National Bankers Supply Corp. was faced with one ironic problem: It wasn’t generating enough of its own money. Having acquired the 23-year-old bank supplies catalog company in 1996, President Roy Shields, along with his business partner Steve Perhacs, had their work cut out for them. Consider these hurdles: * The housefile at the time was well below 1,000 buyers, most were inactive or one-time buyers; * The catalog hadn’t been reprinted in over six years; * The philosophy and culture within the company was stale and lacked vision; and * Not surprising, growth was limited or

The 1st Catalog Success Latest Trends Report on Multichannel Mailing & Marketing Practices (October 2007)

The 1st Catalog Success Latest Trends Report on Multichannel Mailing & Marketing Practices (October 2007)

The 1st Catalog Success Latest Trends Report on Multichannel Mailing & Marketing Practices (October 2007)

In the September (print) issue of Catalog Success, I discussed the opportunity catalogers and multichannel merchants have to aggressively pursue the older end of baby boomers, some of whom are now in their 60s. In Portland, Maine, on Sept. 20 for the fall NEMOA Conference, I was taken by the opening presentation given by Claire Spofford, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Orchard Brands unit of Golden Gate Capital, (formerly Appleseed’sTopCo). Having joined Appleseed’s earlier this decade to bring a retail and brand accent to the mature women’s apparel cataloger, Spofford now presides over a thriving multititle multichannel business that’s as

Consumers are increasingly drawn to rich Web content — information that’s engaging, visual and intuitive. And online retailers and brand marketers are responding by building dramatic, fun and innovative marketing micro-sites, as well as interactive product displays to meet this desire. According to Forrester Research, the largest interactive marketing firms are growing at annual rates between 20 and 40 percent. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even the leaders often fail to make commerce a seamless part of these interactive marketing experiences. Instead, customers usually are faced with a disjointed experience where they browse and interact with the brand in

A recent Forrester Research survey shows that more than 60 percent of commercial Web sites waste their investment in search by not backing up their marketing with landing pages to create visitor engagement. Landing pages are the most important element of a campaign, says Sue Chapman, director of merchandising solutions at Mercado Software, who along with Brian Beck, CEO of Broadspan Commerce Brian Beck, CEO of Broadspan Commerce, hosted a recent webinar presentation, “A Soft Landing Creates an Easy Sell.” Chapman and Beck provided several pointers on how to make landing pages more effective. 1. Make it quick and easy for the consumer. Consumers

Rule of thumb: A catalog company can’t break even on the initial orders generated from prospects. Catalogers must be willing to invest to acquire new buyers to grow, or at least maintain, their 12-month buyer count. This month, I’ll cover the cost to acquire a new buyer, why it’s important to invest in prospecting and why you shouldn’t expect to break even on the initial order. Catalogers tell me they don’t want to prospect below the incremental break-even point. That’s a nice goal, but it’s not realistic. Today’s economics, such as postage costs, paper prices, etc., combined with lower response (an ongoing trend

Remember those old TV announcements, “It’s 10 p.m., do you know where your children are?” Those have come to mind lately as my son Marc, 17, enters his senior year in high school. He, my wife and I have hit the ground running searching for colleges. Like any parent, to me it seems like he grew up practically overnight. But it’s the college search thing that’s really hit home with me lately — namely, that a generation has passed. This column isn’t about him; it’s actually about my generation. See, my thought process seems to naturally flow from this, “Wow, you’re growing up; you’re