Williams-Sonoma

As evidenced by recent surveys, including one in this issue’s By the Stats column, multichannel integration and customer acquisition across channels are both issues of increasing importance to catalogers, online merchants and brick-and-mortar retailers. Executives from several multichannel merchants gave their strategies for achieving success across multiple channels, brands and market segments in a panel session at last week’s eTail conference in Palm Desert, Calif. 1. On getting Internet marketing funds from reluctant executives: “One of the ways we raised awareness for e-marketing was to break out the sales that were attributed to Internet marketing on the formal P&L,” said Maureen Daney, vice president and

Over the years, I’ve made plenty of catalog purchases, but rarely simply because I was a catalog business editor. I only turned to catalogs when I needed something unusual or came across a killer sale. Otherwise, I bought my mainstream goods off the rack. Today, that’s changed. And the two vehicles that have impacted me the most have been the coming of age of e-mail and the remarkable ease of search engines. I find e-mail’s impact on me surprising, because less than five years ago, I’d delete any personal e-mail from just about any address I didn’t recognize. But now, I find myself looking

&000;&000; Over the years, I've made plenty of catalog purchases, but rarely simply because I was a catalog business editor. I only turned to catalogs when I needed something unusual or came across a killer sale. Otherwise, I bought my mainstream goods off the rack. Today, that's changed. And the two vehicles that have impacted me the most have been the coming of age of e-mail and the remarkable ease of search engines. I find e-mail's impact on me surprising, because less than five years ago, I'd delete any personal e-mail from just about any address I didn't recognize. But now, I

How can you get more e-mail sign-ups from your site visitors? E-mail sign-up is simple: a few clicks followed by a handful of keystrokes. But the same process of close comparative scrutiny also can improve complex processes, such as cart and check-out. This article focuses on the e-mail sign-up process at 45 multichannel retailers. For this study, I pulled 45 sites at random, taken from some of the larger merchants in the country. I signed up for e-mail at each using a fresh Gmail account. (For the full methodology and detailed scores and notes for each site, visit www.rimmkaufman.com/e-mail-sign-up-study.) I conducted these tests in

Sears Holdings: Alan Lacy has resigned as Sears’ CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors for both Sears Holdings and Sears Canada. Former AutoNation and iVillage.com CFO Craig Monaghan has joined Sears as CFO. Williams-Sonoma: Howard Lester, this multichannel home furnishings merchant’s chairman since 1986, has been named CEO, a post he previously held from 1979 to 2001. He replaces Ed Mueller, who resigned in late July after less than three years at the helm. Mueller will remain with the company as director. Laura Alber has been promoted to president of Williams-Sonoma from her previous role as president of Pottery Barn Brands.

Some ideas to try on your own, with real examples in parentheses: • Use a clean pop-up to collect e-mail information (Williams-Sonoma). • Let visitors sign up for e-mails from your retail stores (Crutchfield). • Tell visitors they’ll receive a discount coupon by e-mail right after signing up — it raises sign-up rates, and ensures the e-mail is valid (REI). • Allow visitors to select the content they want to receive (PetSmart). • After sign-up, tell the user to expect an e-mail confirmation (Vermont Teddy Bear).

Five customer-oriented merchandising tips. When it comes to merchandising, many companies have forgotten that it's not about them. They've forgotten why customers came to them in the first place, and their catalogs have simply become containers of items for sale. In essence, they're desperately in need of a revival and don't even realize it. I've been noticing this trend in my strategic consultation with companies across the country. Products are presented in a mishmash array — without emotional connections — and essentially are pushed onto customers. They're not created by and for customers, and they lack sensory appeal. "Me-too" imitation products.

I'm writing this, my first column for Catalog Success, on a train from New York to Philadelphia, a day before formally joining the magazine. Although I'll focus my future Editor's Takes solely on the catalog business, please bear with me this go-round as I reintroduce myself to you all. I started covering the catalog business as a journalist back in 1986. Over the years, I reported on various goings-on in the field, such as the mainstream use of 800 numbers, credit cards, and express delivery; the advent of co-op databases; the rise of Williams-Sonoma, CDW and The Sharper Image; the stunning collapse of

Each December I like to look back to see what the year brought, what news, trends and activities may have impacted the catalog/e-commerce industry. And 2005 was another eventful year. Mergers and acquisitions continued heating up. Kmart merged with Sears/Lands’ End. Private equity firm Bain Capital Partners bought multititle cataloger School Specialty. American Capital Strategies bought Potpourri Group. InterActive Corp. purchased Cornerstone Brands. In some ways this could be called the Year of the Private Investor. Private equity houses discovered something we already know: The catalog/e-commerce industry is dynamic and full of rich potential. My message to those private investors: “Welcome to

We here at Catalog Success are proud to once again honor a select group of merchants. The 2005 Catalog Success Catalogers of the Year represent some of the best minds in the industry. And their expertise runs the gamut: from branding to customer service to merchandising. Pat Connolly, chief marketing officer at Williams-Sonoma, is one of the catalog industry’s high priests of branding. Indeed, his skills in this area are legendary in the industry. And the results of his efforts are apparent: Williams-Sonoma’s direct division alone will account for about $1.5 billion of the company’s estimated $3.5 billion in sales this year. In our