Transcontinental Printing

We all know that e-books are on the rise. If you had any doubts, Amazon squelched them with its recent announcement that the company's e-books sales surpassed sales of hard copies for the first time. E-books are definitely experiencing impressive gains, but even with that revelation, e-books only make up a small portion of total book industry sales.

After some volatile years in the catalog industry, confidence is emerging for better times ahead. Recovery actually started in 2010, when catalogers began returning to higher page counts and circulations. There will likely be some caution in the first half of the year as direct marketers continue to monitor the economy for signs of sustained improvement, but the second half could be much more robust.

Welcome to Retail Online Integration's annual Resource Guide. This special section offers all the crucial details, company information, contact numbers and addresses of product and service providers to the cross-channel retail industry.

We're excited to offer you Retail Online Integration's 50 best tips of 2010. Our editorial staff reviewed every word published in our print publication, e-newsletter (The ROI Report) and website over the past year. From there, we've extracted the best money-making and cost-saving pointers. Enjoy.

Whatever your personalization strategy, the key is to get started. Develop a personalization plan and keep working your way up the personalization ladder. Each step will bring new benefits and help generate the return on investment you need to justify further investments.

Retailers and direct marketers must do more for less while providing concrete proof that their programs deliver results. That brings personalization to the forefront. Done right, personalization consistently delivers higher return on investment. But “done right” is the operative phrase.

No one has enough time and resources to do everything. That means you have to make decisions about what will bring you the best return and then spend accordingly. Focusing on good database marketing practices in combination with strong creative, high-level customization and integrated campaigns will produce the superior returns your company seeks.

Editor’s Note: Jim Coogan, a catalog consultant since 1993 and former VP of marketing at Woodworker’s Supply, among other catalog and retail positions, has been a regular contributor for Catalog Success and the Catalog Success: Tactics & Tips e-newsletter for the past year. He attended the May 19-22 ACCM conference in Kissimmee, Fla., and filed the following recap on the event. I’ll file my own personal reflections on the conference in the July print edition. — Paul Miller, editor-in-chief There’s nothing like an economic downturn to get people’s attention. And the state of the economy and how it would affect catalogers was topic A

Recently there’s been a groundswell of consumer support for sustainable business practices among marketers. And no group has drawn more ire than catalogers, whose efforts are visible to the public every day in the mailbox. Fortunately, the printing and paper industries have a wide range of tools and processes available to reduce the carbon footprint of mailings. Here are 10 key practices you should implement to make your business more sustainable: 1. Think big picture. It’s the whole supply chain, not just paper. What happens down the line starts at the design stage. Form a team and think the catalog through from beginning to

One could say that all times are times of transition, but nowadays with the online channel and its benefits still evolving, catalogers need to adapt more switfly than they typically have in the past. Nicky Milner, the V.P. of Premedia at Transcontinental Printing, has provided a list of ways for print catalogs to not only survive the current transition but prosper as well. Here are some of her thoughts. 1. Create a collaborative relationship between catalog publisher and printer. Establish a dialog, allowing you to agree on solutions such as online tools to maximize workflow efficiencies, Milner says. Such conversations can help implement these