Abacus

From improved data hygiene practices to a better print contract, a little savings here and there really can add up. Last month’s postal rate increase of 5.4 percent should have caught no one by surprise. If you’re looking for ways to save on other parts of your operation in order to pay for your higher postal bill, you’ll find many options. In the first part of this article, you’ll learn about list hygiene tools that aren’t just important to offsetting the postal rate increase, but are good strategies to keep your housefile healthy and responsive. In the second part, we’ll offer tips and caveats

© Profile of Success, Catalog Success magazine, February 2006 Catalog Success: When was the catalog established? Sue Landay: The business was started in 1993 and our first catalog was in 1994. It was a two-color catalog. CS: Where are your headquarters? SL: Natick, Mass. About 20 miles west of Boston. CS: What is your primary merchandise? SL: We have unusual tools and toys for classroom teachers and trainers. For example, beyond what you might expect such as easels and markers, we have reusable name cards. We have signs for the classroom, such as “Cell Phones Irritate Learning,” and other funny, off-the-wall signs. We have

"There's not a software vendor or data services provider out there that doesn't have sophisticated tools to eliminate bad addresses from your mailings or make better use of the good addresses. It's the cataloger's responsibility to work with its existing vendor and just flat-out ask, "What am I not using that might be valuable to me?" Your vendor is the party that knows what you're trying to do, what your lists represent and what actions should have incremental gain. And if they don't know, they should follow your lead and test those actions." —Dan Minnick, director of postal operations, Abacus

The adage, “80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers,” is as true today as when it was coined many years ago. The real questions are how to identify those prospects and one- and two-time buyers who may have a strong affinity for your merchandise, and then how do you keep them buying? That is, how to turn prospects and one-time buyers into gold customers. Following are some strategies to test, roll out and then measure. If They Look Like Customers … Tactics such as calculating average order value (AOV) and/or lifetime value (LTV); modeling; and segmenting buyers

Rising costs, changing customer demographics and the privacy paradox will continue to impact merchants in the years ahead, said Chris McDonald, executive vice president and general manager, North America, at marketing solutions company Abacus. He offered tactics to help alleviate the impact of these trends on your business. 1. Rising cost structures and low inflation will continue to put pressure on merchants. Energy, healthcare, postage, paper, fuel -- all are adding to your costs, McDonald said during his talk “Charting an Upstream Course” at the New England Mail Order Association’s fall conference, held in Groton, Conn., last week. Compounding these cost increases, consumer discretionary income

Looking for industry groups that are most likely to buy your products? Following are the results of an Abacus Alliance study of b-to-b purchases in 2004: ¥ Electronics, gadgets and tools are five times more likely to be bought by officials in heavy industries. ¥ Seminars and training classes are five times more likely to be booked by government agents. ¥ Books, newsletters and magazines are 18 times more likely to be purchased by those in the healthcare industry. ¥ Cards and stationary are more likely to bought by executives in finance/insurance and healthcare. ¥ And computers are more likely to be purchased by

By Stephen R. Lett If yours is a business-to-business (b-to-b) or a business-to-institution (b-to-i) catalog, no doubt you have questions about effective prospecting techniques. Below are some tips on how to use your housefile as a prospecting file, such as mailing by name of individual vs. by functional title. The Income Statement One of the significant differences between a consumer and a b-to-b catalog company is the income statement. The EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of a typical b-to-b company ranges from 10 to 12 percent. Consumer catalogs tend to be less profitable at 3 to 6 percent.

How the co-ops can improve your revenue per catalog mailed By Stephen R. Lett Are you a stock picker or a mutual fund investor? If you can select specific stocks that always yield a good return, you're among the few. Most of us feel safer buying mutual funds to minimize risk while still yielding a good return. You're probably wondering what this has to do with using cooperative databases. Well, buying mutual funds is a lot like prospecting using co-op databases. While it's always a good idea to continue to prospect via rented or exchanged lists, it sometimes can be safer to mail

Only 43 percent of sales attributed to catalog mailings were recorded at catalog call centers, according to the “2004 Abacus Annual Catalog Industry Trend Report.” Of the remaining catalog-driven sales to existing customers, 33 percent were recorded on Web sites and 24 percent in retail stores. These customers are more familiar with the brand and therefore more likely to trust and take advantage of additional sales channels, said Abacus analysts. The study also showed the shift from call centers to Web sites is increasing. Thirty-two percent of direct sales from multichannel merchants were conducted online in 2003, up from 28 percent in 2002.

About 10 percent of all consumer catalogers and an estimated 25 percent of business-to-business catalogers don’t rent or exchange names with any outside companies, according to a leading list-management company. This month I’ll discuss the different aspects of putting your No. 1 company asset — your customer list — on the rental market. Caveat: I believe it’s healthy and necessary for a catalog company to rent and exchange names with others — providing the proper controls that govern the use or unauthorized use of the names are in place. Consumer catalogers that don’t rent their lists often rationalize this practice