Spencer Press

Year founded: 1969 Headquarters: Cleveland Merchandise: women’s apparel, shoes, beauty products, health products, jewelry and accessories Catalogs: Anthony Richards, Complements by Anthony Richards, Essentials by Anthony Richards, Windsor Collection, Beauty Boutique, Healthy Living, Time for Me Membership plans (125,000 members): Passport to Savings, Passport to Health, ID Sentinel Alert Price point range: $2 to $999 Average order size: $51 Annual circulation: 120 million Mailings per year: 75 to 80 # of SKUs: more than 100,000 # of employees: 600 Customer demographics: primarily female, 60 years and older, middle to low income; Time for Me target audience is younger, more upscale women Sales per channel:

At the end of each year, I like to look back at the seminal events and to thank those who have enriched our lives. To be sure, this was another interesting year for the catalog industry. The Can Spam Act went into effect Jan. 1, and forced many direct marketers to rethink their e-mail campaigns. Indeed, the term “opt-in” took on a whole new meaning in 2004. Radio frequency identification (RFID) gets my pick as the “technology of the year.” While it’s been around for some time, this was the year many distribution center and supply chain managers sat up and

Cautiously optimistic is how I’d describe the mood at the Annual Catalog Conference held in San Francisco last month. Cost-cutting tactics have helped many catalogers to weather this economic downturn, although everyone understands that such strategies are not the path to long-term growth — only short-term survival. Catalogers know they soon will have to invest again in their businesses to kick-start the growth trend. I found it encouraging, then, to hear that ad spending related to catalogs is up. It will exceed $15.3 billion this year, up 3.4 percent from 2002, according to a study from The Direct Marketing Association (DMA).