Omnichannel

Certainly over the years, the retail shopping experience has endured many peaks and valleys — plenty more valleys than peaks. But the changes I’ve noticed more recently have gone in the other direction, and catalogers need to adapt quickly. Retail shopping ain’t so bad these days. More stores look better. Even the Lands’ End department in a Kmart I visited in July didn’t look so bad. Service has improved, too. So the gap may be tightening on the edge catalogers/multichannel marketers have long enjoyed with regard to service and shopping ease. Certainly, there always have been exceptions to the notion that retail shopping is a

Last week, I got an e-mail from a former student of mine telling me he was starting a company with mail order as one of its distribution channels. He had a neat idea, and I thought the items he was about to sell had merit. Clearly he had his product line thought out well.

It pleases me to no end when this happens: a budding entrepreneur, about to stake his claim in the business world. Then I get the question that I dread: “How do I buy a list so I can grow the business?” How do I buy a list? Oh man, haven’t I

All of us are struggling these days to find new tactics to increase our catalog response rates. With postal rates increased, we’ve all been working hard to reduce our catalog costs. But how many times can we cut trim size, reduce paper weights or cull our mailing list? What new tactics are there to help increase mail and e-mail response rates to help us offset those higher postal costs?
Many B-to-B catalogers have tested sending an e-mail announcing the arrival of a new catalog. I’ve seen some success with these programs, especially when the e-mail is well-targeted, relevant, properly executed and contains

As has been its annual custom, B-to-B list firm MeritDirect’s annual co-op event in White Plains, N.Y. on July 12 was kicked off by a provocative and entertaining presentation by catalog veteran and futurist Don Libey. Having heard Don speak plenty of times in the past (and despite his frequent speaking appearances, rarely does he repeat a single concept, strategy or idea), I’ve long since learned how to filter through his motivational pep talk and the meat of what he delivers. While always entertaining, his shtick is always chockfull of meat, but it often looks beyond tomorrow. And after all, we all want to

Many online businesses have become successful without using catalogs. But they also find that they’re only reaching a certain audience and demographic — those people that are Web savvy and already shop online. They’re missing potential customers who might still worry about shopping online or those who are unaware of their products and Web offers. To build your online business, consider these ways to make the most of your print catalog to drive online sales. * Offer multiple ways to place orders. The obvious goal of the catalog is to drive traffic and ultimately increase your conversion rate. So it’s paramount that customers immediately go

Throughout my years covering this business, I’ve often had to elaborate to friends or family members on just what market I cover — or for that matter, what I do for a living. I’d try to explain and it would take them a little while to understand both what the catalog market is and what I do. “Catalog what? What’s yer catalog?” “No, no. I’m with a magazine that follows the catalog business. Y’know, L.L. Bean or Lands’ End. Or, surely you’ve heard of the old Sears Wish Book?” “Ohhhh! You work for Sears. Nice! Are you in the appliance department?” “Ughhh …” In the past, it wasn’t always

Every now and then, one of those wild cards comes along in this catalog/multichannel retail business we all cherish. Sometimes, it provides the more traditional players in the catalog business with a good kick in the pants; other times, it only provides opportunities for the bigger players who can afford the initial outlay. More often than not, such off-the-beaten-path concepts as selling catalogs alongside magazines in bookstores or newsstands, selling space ads in catalogs, licensing catalog names on cars, and offering private alternative postal delivery, among others, have worked for so few mailers that they’ve failed to catch on industry-wide. Here’s a new

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 —

The critiques at the ACCM’s roundtables and medical center in Boston last week that I took part in had some clear themes. The biggest creative challenges that surfaced this year seem to center around common areas. 1. Brand Identity. This, I concluded from giving these critiques, is a growing concern, as more catalogers realize that strengthening brand translates into sales. Goals include communicating a distinct personality and look as it relates to a “unique” positioning. Multichannel interpretation of brand is also top of mind. 2. Organization. This continues to be an ongoing challenge, especially with smaller catalogers that often have less experienced talent that just doesn’t

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