Head: Lillian Vernon: Back to the Future Lillian Vernonโs year-plus road to recovery has seen a mix of return-to-roots and get-with-the-times changes. Many have worked, as president/CEO Mike Muoio reports. Here are three additional improvements the company has made: 1. Change the catalog size to preserve the brand. In 2004, Lillian Vernon changed the trim size of its catalog from its traditional 8-inch-by-8-inch format to an 8.5-inch-by-11-inch size. But the change had almost no impact on sales, and since the brand had been associated with 8-inch-by-8-inch books for more than 40 years, Muoio and his team reverted back to the old format last October. โPeople recognize
Order Fulfillment
Having topped out at $287 million nearly six years ago, Lillian Vernonโs sales have been falling ever since; itโs expected to finish out its fiscal year at about $170 million. But the bleeding could stop soon. A public company until 2003, the general mer-chandise cataloger was sold to investment conglomerate Direct Holdings, led by media company Zelnick Media. But despite an aggressive game plan to broaden Lillian Vernonโs reach, Direct Holdingsโ initiatives largely backfired. Direct Holdings bailed out in May 2006 and sold Lillian Vernon to investment firm Sun Capital Partners, which installed former Miles Kimball CEO Mike Muoio to turn the company
Before 2000, every aspect of back-end support operations for the direct marketing industry was tailored to meet the needs of typical catalogers and their customers. In the 1970s and โ80s, direct marketing was limited to the mailbox. The costs and requirements for information systems, fulfillment operations, inventory management and transportation functions were limited by technology and developed exclusively to meet the expectations of catalog customers. Consumer catalog orders were generated over a 12-week selling season. Inventory planning was based on historic patterns of sales and procurement, with sufficient lead time to forecast needs, buy products, transport them to the fulfillment center and fill customer orders.
When it comes to processing returns, itโs all a matter of approach. Certainly, nobody wants a lot of returns and processing. But if you approach returns processing as more of an opportunity than a burden, you may be surprised at the results. โThe biggest mistake I see with the returns process is that returns are treated as an operational procedure. But itโs an excellent marketing opportunity,โ says Debra Ellis, president of Barnardsville, N.C.-based Wilson & Ellis Consulting. โItโs personalized contact with the customer that you donโt get when a customer orders online or through the mail.โ The bottom line is that customers whoโve had positive
As you can see, the contents in this monthโs issue are quite operations-heavy. Weโre 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, weโll turn to technology-related issues in July. Perhaps the most interesting thing we found in putting this monthโs issue together was that, although there typically arenโt 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 Kislikโs feature on necessary changes in catalog order takersโ approach
We all recognize that inventory usually is one of our largest assets. Yet many of us donโt give it the importance or priority it deserves. Inventory management impacts almost every area of the company and can help contribute substantial hidden profits or losses depending on how itโs managed. The effect of poor inventory management often is hidden when business is good, and although quite evident when business is bad, businesses donโt have the resources at that point to address the issues. Unfortunately, this cycle is repeated far too often. Establishing a sound inventory management process within the ongoing company culture will cushion
As the holiday season orders pour in, catalogers at this time of year find themselves seeking ways to maximize the use of their contact centers. One potential solution for peak ordering periods worth considering is voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), which enables catalogers to increase the size of the contact center at will, or even hire additional reps to work from their homes, when physical space in their existing contact center runs tight. VoIP allows contact center managers to deliver both phone service and broadband Internet connectivity to customer service reps (CSRs) along the same connection. Voice and data both are converted to packets of
Iโll keep this column brief (I know you want this week to end. I canโt wait for the advanced stages of tryptophan sleepiness to set in after the turkey is done). Want to add some revenue before the end of the year? Try the following:
1. Add an extra mailing in before the end of the year. Try it this way: After your last mailing is complete, mail one more catalog just to your hotline buyers, those who just responded from your last mailings of the year. If itโs too late to get your printer involved, grab some of your bounce back and office copy
As the holiday season approaches youโre no doubt battening down the hatches for the season that is both the bane and blessing of every business. According to the National Retail Federation, one-fifth of all U.S. retail sales are holiday sales and with a 5 percent increase expected in 2006, itโs sure to be a busy time for any catalog business. Itโs in this pre-holiday calm before the storm that planning, creativity and smart investments will help you get the most out of the season. Here are three tips to help multichannel merchants do just that: 1. Cut down on undeliverables. Whether itโs crazed online
Problem: The order entry system for My Grandmaโs of New England routinely transposed data from one order to another, causing shipping errors and other assorted problems. Solution: The company implemented a new order entry system. Results: Shipping errors were virtually eliminated. My Grandmaโs of New England had an order entry system (OES) that was wildly unstable, often causing data errors that resulted in shipping methods from one order being applied to another order, disappearing entirely or customer greetings placed on an order to end up on the wrong order. So last November, the company implemented Morse Dataโs InOrder OES to reduce shipping errors caused by its legacy