Shipping

Donโ€™t Take This Yearโ€™s Postal Increase Lightly
February 29, 2008

Earlier this month, catalogers and other businesses that rely so heavily on the USPS realized a โ€œdreamโ€ more than a dozen years in the making. They were โ€œtreatedโ€ to their first postal rate adjustment under the new postal reform law. Under its new rate-making powers, giving it the freedom to set rates as long as theyโ€™re no greater than consumer price index (CPI) levels, the USPS announced the increase for noncarrier route flats, the key catalog category, would be less than 1 percent. The worst news was that it would take effect this spring, just a year after the final postage increase under the

Measuring the Impact of Mail Pooling and Co-Mailing on Cost Savings, Part 2 of 2
February 12, 2008

In the final part of this two-part series on helping catalogers realize maximum postal discounts, Iโ€™ll look at how to compare the differences in postal costs when comparing printers. Iโ€™ll also provide a checklist of questions you should be asking your printer to guarantee youโ€™re maximizing your postal savings. (For part 1, click here.) Understanding potential postal savings is a critical part of comparing a printerโ€™s total cost. Printing costs used to consist only of printing and paper costs. Now a third โ€œpโ€ has been added โ€” postal costs. Print buyers need to know how to compare the differences in postage when comparing printers.

Webinar โ€˜Addressesโ€™ a Problem
February 12, 2008

In its recent webinar, How Casual Male Keeps Customers Coming Back, international name and address software provider QAS, an Experian company, provided insight on how the multichannel merchant has profited from front-end address verification software and how the collection of incorrect address data can cause significant problems. Geoff McGehee, director of database marketing for the Casual Male Retail Group, reeled off several things his company has learned from acquiring customer addresses accurately and efficiently at the point of sale. Here are some of his observations. 1. Customer experience comes first. Customers want to receive the information theyโ€™ve signed up to receive, whether it be

Measuring the Impact of Mail Pooling and Co-Mailing on Catalog Postage Costs, Part 1 of 2
February 5, 2008

In the first of this two-part series on helping catalogers realize maximum postal discounts, Iโ€™ll examine the various techniques you can use to save in postage โ€” including co-binding, co-mailing and mail pools. Last yearโ€™s postal rate increase of almost 10 cents/piece left catalogers scrambling to offset the impact to their bottom lines. For many, printing has become an area to trim costs. Printers can deliver postal savings when mailing from their plants. Increased attention is focused on mail pool and co-mail programs. Postal savings can be realized in three unique ways: 1. Weekly destination-entry, drop-ship mail pools. Catalogers bind and address the

Behind NEMOAโ€™s Backing of New Catalog Group
February 1, 2008

In announcing its formal backing of the recently created American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) on Dec. 18, NEMOA board members are making a bold statement that the half-year-old organization can best represent their 110-plus catalog membersโ€™ interests, particularly in postal matters, going forward. Positioning itself as a catalogers-only group, ACMA is also focused on do-not-mail legislation and privacy. โ€œACMA will represent our specific needs relative to postal affairs, do-not-mail, privacy, environmental [policies] and whatever else comes our way over the coming year,โ€ says Jon Fleischmann, president/CEO of the Potpourri Group and a NEMOA board member. Fleischmann believes potential benefits offered by the ACMA include

Five Ways to Bring Your Catalog/Multichannel Business in Tune With 2008
January 18, 2008

Thereโ€™s that old Bob Dylan song about times a-changinโ€™ that I wonโ€™t bother to quote further. But it seems to hold true moreso year after year, and 2008 is no exception. So while some of us continue to exchange โ€œhappy new yearโ€ greetings with one another, Iโ€™ll send along one last new yearโ€™s greeting with what I believe to be the top five actions you should act on, examine or just ponder to bring your catalog/multichannel business in sync with the times. 1. Get your matchback system working smoothly at once. Assign someone in either your marketing or operations departments to do nothing

Show Me the Numbers; Better Yet, Iโ€™ll Show You
January 11, 2008

Over the past few months, we at Catalog Success have been hard at work to further develop a hefty well of research data for our readers. In October we launched the Catalog Success Latest Trends Report, a quarterly series of original benchmarking research weโ€™ve been conducting with the multichannel ad agency Ovation Marketing. In the coming months, weโ€™ll also be running a series of mail volume charts provided by several catalog co-op databases. Like the Latest Trends surveys, these will run in the IndustryEye section of our print magazine. And for the past year or so, weโ€™ve been running a regular reader poll.

12 Creative Tips to Pump Up Catalog Sales and Cut Costs
January 2, 2008

1. Place more emphasis on your exclusive merchandise. 2. Exploit the โ€œcollectibleโ€ mentality that may be inherent in your product. 3. Emphasize guarantees, security policies and anything that makes your customers feel safer shopping with you. 4. Promote special offers, freebies and premiums that make your customers feel special. 5. Mail an exclusive, smaller-sized catalog to special customers introducing them to a new or special niche product. 6. Include Web sales drivers to encourage browsers to look at your entire assortment. 7. Incorporate a slim-jim format for sale or clearance items rather than changing the size of your main catalog. This can serve