Boston Proper

By Donna Loyle Unique merchandise, exceptional visual branding and a textbook e-commerce strategy give Boston Proper a leg up on its competition. Boston Proper CEO Michael Tiernan calls it "The Billion-Dollar Opportunity." His vision encompasses a multichannel strategy targeting affluent, self-assured, baby boomer women — a generation notorious for its conviction that it will stay vibrant and sexy long into old age. Tiernan's Boston Proper catalog and e-commerce site offer unique, fashion-forward and sexy apparel, shoes and accessories to well-educated and busy women primarily in the 35-to-55 age range. They may have children, husbands and

By Alicia Orr With all of the excitement of the Internet in the past few years, some catalogers have forgotten the most basic rule of direct marketing; that it must first focus on providing customer satisfaction. One company that has not forgotten this is The Mark Group, the Boca Raton, FL-based company that publishes the Boston Proper, Charles Keath and Mark, Fore & Strike catalogs. As company CEO Michael Tiernan projected a year and a half ago: "As e-commerce evolves... ultimately success is not dependent on Web traffic, click-through rates or market capitalization, but on earning customer trust on every single transaction." Today, a