It is no surprise that catalogers rely primarily on the use of outside rented names to grow their housefilesโthe most proven and fastest way to generate new buyers. But there are other cost-effective prospecting methods that can be used to supplement traditional ways of generating new buyers. Itโs easy to stick with using outside rented names and cooperative databases for new buyers. Why should a cataloger consider alternative methods that take time to set-up and cost money to implement? Increase the Prospecting Universe Through the use of alternative prospecting methods, a cataloger can identify and attract a wider variety of prospects
Omnichannel
As successful catalog merchants, youโre using merchandising techniques every day to deal with issues such as โcanโt touch it, canโt try it on.โ Letโs face it, returns are a hassle. When it comes to selling products online, familiarity with these issues is just one advantage you have over both Internet-only โpure-playsโ and store-based, bricks-and-clicks e-tailers. Pure-plays have the formidable task of simultaneously launching and marketing a new brand, sourcing and perhaps stocking product, creating visual assets, implementing technology, handling fulfillment and developing a customer service component (no wonder so many have failed!). Bricks-and-clicks players have their branding and merchant skills in place, but
For the past two decades, I have written and spoken worldwide on the future of the catalog industry. My position has always been to challenge conventional thinking, and I have been right on some things and wrong on others, but hopefully always provocative. My early thoughts on the future of the Internet (1994) and its influence on catalog and direct marketing have been, for the most part, accurate. I predicted the growing importance of e-mail marketing, permission-based databases, proprietary databases and the surety of dynamic pricing as an outgrowth of self-directed, online commerce. In 1997, I was correct in my assessment of
Imagine this: You print 16 million catalogs a year that are seen by 500 million upscale prospects (average pass-along ratio is 20-to-1), often cooped up for hours with nothing else to read. Annually, 700,000 orders are placed, typically for 2.1 items at a $110 average order size. Oh, yes, a few more eat-your-heart-out ingredients of your catalog business: You warehouse no inventory, you ship nothing, take no returns and you donโt spend one penny for postage or list rental. Two words describe this model: yum-yum. If I were writing a novel about a high-powered entrepreneur, strategic thinker and brilliant builder of a multi-million dollar
Thereโs nothing like having a billionaire for a neighbor. Especially one that throws a little business your way, like Microsoft did when it named Multiple Zones International (MZI) its chief supplier of computer hardware, software and services. The contract is one of many changes taking place at MZI. Since moving online in 1995, MZI has seen fast growth in revenue and transactions, creating a $115-million company. What began in 1989 as a three-title catalog company with PC Zone, Mac Zone and The Learning Zone, has grown into a multi-channel retail operation that includes a new business-to-business division. The new Zones Business Solutions division is
As senior vice president of marketing and strategic planning for West Marine, Michelle Farabaugh is one fast moving target. Her day begins with a 40-minute a.m. commute, during which she returns a entire voice mailbox of calls. In charge of creating and executing sales and marketing strategies for the Watson, CA-based companyโs online, catalog, retail and wholesale sales channels, she typically works a 12-hour day, not including her morning drive. Farabaughโs mission is to create new programs that drive profits and increase customer loyalty. As a young senior vice president, she subscribes to the motto that to succeed, you need โwrinkles or results.โ Having
Producing and mailing a catalog can be a most expensive undertaking. With alternate media you can achieve some of the same goals as with a print catalog: Testing, driving customers (new or existing) to your e--commerce site and building awareness/loyalty. Speaking at the Annual Catalog Conference in June, Kevin Kotowski, of Olson Kotowski & Co. in Los Angeles, named some top reasons catalogers use alternate media, or โnon-catalog pieces:โ 1) cheaper prospecting than with full-sized catalog drops, since most alternate media are cheaper to produce and mail; 2) building and strengthening your customer relationships with name and product awareness; 3)
Goops and scrubs, loofahs and lipsticks. All presented in bright colorful layouts. Seductive copy (โitโs more than treats the eyeโ) makes you want to buy this stuff so you, too, can feel good. And then thereโs BlissGirl. She may not be perfect, but this illustrated character sure has fun living the spa life and trying out all the latest products the beauty world has to offer. Founded just four years ago, BlissOut catalog has come a long way in such a short time, due in large part to the vision of Bliss spa founder, Marcia Kilgore, and the know-how and enthusiasm of the catalogโs
Two things are common to many database marketers. First, they can measure acquisition cost well (what it takes to turn a prospect into a customer), but they donโt employ a sound method of judging lifetime value (LTV). Second, they emphasize prospecting rather than retention/cross-selling/upselling. The combination of these two traits, measuring acquisition but not LTV and concentrating on prospecting rather than retention, often leads to profitability problems when testing new media. For a โtraditionalโ cataloger, who sells only through direct mail and prospects only with rented lists, there can be a major difference in the long-term profitability of buyers from different sources. For
Nestled at the base of Utahโs Mount Timpanogos, among the giant pine trees lies a small 6,000-acre village. Established in 1969 by Robert Redford, the area has become an educational resource for artists and a place of recreation that fosters social and environmental responsibility. The resort area was purchased by Redford with his earnings from the 1967 film โButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,โ from which the village gets its name. In the past 30 years, Sundance has become more than a tiny village of beauty. It is now home to a host of non-profit organizations founded by Redford, including The Sundance Film Festival,