August 2006 Issue
A Chat with Fred Meyers, President & CEO, The Queensboro Shirt
© Profile of Success, Catalog Success magazine, August 2006 Catalog Success: When was the catalog established? Fred Meyers: The company was founded in 1982, and we mailed the first catalog in 1987. CS: What is your primary merchandise? FM: Men's and women's shirts, hats and bags with custom-embroidered logos CS: How did the company get started? FM: The company started as a hobby when I was a college student in New York. The Lacoste alligator shirts were kind of at the height of their popularity. I had grown up wearing the shirts and had always liked them, but as they got to
Affiliate Marketing: Communication Strategies to Enhance Your Affiliate Program
If attendance at affiliate marketing sessions at industry conferences is any indication, many catalogers and online merchants struggle with how to effectively manage and grow their affiliate programs. In a Q&A with Catalog Success associate editor Matthew Griffin, Kelli Beougher, vice president of distribution services at Linkshare, a New York-based affiliate network, offers some tactics that can enhance your affiliate program, setting it apart from the the competition. Catalog Success: Say a cataloger has an affiliate marketing program; the merchant manages its affiliates well and communicates on a regular basis. What are some next-level steps to improve on an existing affiliate program? Kelli Beougher: Beyond the
Building a Digital Workflow Brick by Brick
When computer-to-plate (CTP) printing came on the scene a few years back and catalog content went digital, digital asset management (DAM) became the commonly used system it is today. CTP spawned new dilemmas: how to manage digital content (namely product data and images used for print and electronic catalogs); how to find the assets when needed; how to manage revisions; and how best to draw assets into the creative process. These emerging challenges created a ripe opportunity for DAM developers. Today, fewer
Catalog Doctor: Digital Remedies for Print Profits
We’ve refocused the Chronicles/Adventures in Cataloging column to a “problem/remedy” format and renamed it The Catalog Doctor. Do your photos look off-kilter? Is your printed catalog not as vibrant as it used to be? Is your image quality erratic? Just as good design and good copy increase sales, good image quality with bright, true colors will improve sales for most catalogs. Since the switch from film to digital photography, many catalogers have experienced inconsistencies or a decline in image quality. Digital doesn’t mean you have to accept lower image quality. You can capture and print great digital images, but you
Consolidation and You
The latest wave of consolidation in the catalog/multichannel business is quite different than consolidations past. That's always easy for us media folk to say, but if you're not among those doing the buying or selling, here's why this matters to you. The recent flurry of acquisitions has been driven by the need to secure large economies of scale. And like most things in our lives, all signs lead to one key factor: oil. Skyrocketing fuel costs are driving up freight costs. Many smaller and medium-sized catalogers can't — or soon won't be able to — afford rising shipping rates and
Contact Centers If Money Isn't the Answer, What Is?
If Money Isn't the Answer, What Is? By Angela Wolfe How to motivate contact center reps beyond the almighty dollar. If you think that contact center representatives are only interested in a paycheck, you're dead wrong. In today's competitive job market, leaders do well to understand that compensation is only one of many factors in retaining reps, despite what reps tell you at first blush. Reps shop the contact center job market like customers shop catalogs. They want more than just money. Find out what non-money motivators affect a rep's performance by asking them. Try this test: Create an informal environment and ask
Contributions to Profit The 40-40-20 Rule
There's a rule in direct marketing that states: In order to positively impact the success of a direct marketing business, concentrate 40 percent of your efforts on list analysis and selection, 40 percent on offer (merchandise and promotions), and 20 percent on creative development. As it plays out in many catalog companies, there's a disproportionate effort placed on the creative process. Obviously, your creative is the vehicle that reaches the consumer, sets the tone for your brand and your company, and drives the selling process. After all, if you have
Contributions to Profit: The 40-40-20 Rule (Extended Web-only Version)
There’s a rule in direct marketing that states: In order to positively impact the success of a direct marketing business, concentrate 40 percent of your efforts on list analysis and selection, 40 percent on offer (merchandise and promotions), and 20 percent on creative development. As it plays out in many catalog companies, there’s a disproportionate effort placed on the creative process. Obviously, your creative is the vehicle that reaches the consumer, sets the tone for your brand and your company, and drives the selling process. After all, if you have only one chance to make an impression, your creative has to be perfect,
E-mail Marketing: Four Ways to Improve Transactional E-mails
From catalogs to package inserts to shopping cart checkout pages, direct marketers by their very nature seek to make the most out of every customer touchpoint. One touchpoint that’s gone largely unused, however, is the transactional e-mail, claims e-mail marketing solutions provider e-Dialog in its recent white paper “Unleashing the Power of Transactional Messages.” Below are four strategies e-Dialog recommends to turn transactional messages (e-mails sent to update customers on the status of their orders) into branding, promotional, customer-engaging opportunities: 1. Enhance messages with HTML. Because most transactional e-mails are automatically generated by an IT or e-commerce system, they often are plain text messages
M & A: To Combine Brands or Not, That Is the Question
Brand awareness is certainly not a topic to be taken lightly, especially during the acquisition of another company or brand. Should you operate that brand as a separate entity or incorporate it into your brand? Victor Hunter, founder and president of catalog consultancy Hunter Business Solutions, offers his thoughts on delivering the brand promise after an acquisition. Once you acquire another company, Hunter recommends asking whether each brand delivers on a different promise before deciding whether to merge the brands into a singular entity. “If two companies have grown and flourished in the same market with the same type of customers, I’d think they aren’t
No Surprise Here: Rising Fuel Costs Lead Consumers to Shop More At Home, Survey Shows
Rising fuel prices are naturally affecting consumer buying behavior. A recent survey conducted by research firm Harris Interactive for returns management company Newgistics reveals that 25 percent of adults are more likely to shop from home due to the increased cost of gas. Other data offered by the survey include the following: * 50 percent are curtailing discretionary spending due to fuel costs. Changes to discretionary spending include: * 85 percent are cooking at home rather than going out. * 55 percent are renting movies rather than seeing movies in theaters. * 25 percent are shopping at home instead of shopping in stores.
Picture Perfect
How the right photographer factors into the catalog production equation. In the catalog business, a picture isn't just worth 1,000 words — it can seriously affect your sales. Product photos, therefore, must give consumers an accurate idea of what you're selling, as well as drive them to make a purchase. Choosing the right photographer can make all the difference in how well your catalog is received. "The products being shot have to be well represented, and the photos need to show the subtleties of the fabrics and the things that are important from a consumer perspective," says Chris Price, president of
Prepare For the Postal Hike
When postage rates increase, catalogers really feel the pinch. For example, in January of this year, we experienced a 5.4 percent rate hike. This was the first rate increase since June 2002 (which, at the time, was the third increase in two years). Brace yourself for yet another increase in 2007. What’s more, rumor has it the U.S. Postal Service wants to increase rates again in 2008, which would make three rate hikes in three years. These increases could be steep enough to push some smaller catalogers over the edge. They could mean the difference between profit and loss on an income statement.
Shaped Up, Shipped Out
When cutting tools manufacturer Kennametal Inc. sold off its J&L Industrial Supply catalog division to maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supplies cataloger MSC Industrial Direct Co. in a deal that closed June 8 for a cool $349.5 million, the seller said it would recognize an estimated $215 million to $225 million pre-tax gain in its fourth fiscal quarter ended June 30. These are striking figures, considering that as recently as five years ago, most people — both within Kennametal and on the outside — would've laughed at the idea that J&L could
Strategy Prepare For the Postal Hike
Postage costs represent about 40 percent of total catalog marketing expenses. Don't let next year's rate increase catch you off-guard. When postage rates increase, catalogers really feel the pinch. For example, in January of this year, we experienced a 5.4 percent rate hike. This was the first rate increase since June 2002 (which, at the time, was the third increase in two years). Brace yourself for yet another increase in 2007. What's more, rumor has it the U.S. Postal Service wants to increase rates again in 2008, which would make three rate hikes in
The Catalog Doctor Marketing Remedies for Multichannel Pro
Increase profits by improving your digital imaging process. Do your photos look off-kilter? Is your printed catalog not as vibrant as it used to be? Is your image quality erratic? Just as good design and good copy increase sales, good image quality with bright, true colors will improve sales for most catalogs. But since the switch from film to digital photography, many catalogers have experienced inconsistencies or a decline in image quality. Digital doesn't mean you have to accept lower image quality. You can capture and print great digital images, but you need to
The Catalog Doctor: Marketing Remedies for Multichannel Profits (Extended, Web-only Version)
Do your photos look off-kilter? Is your printed catalog not as vibrant as it used to be? Is your image quality erratic? Just as good design and good copy increase sales, good image quality with bright, true colors will improve sales for most catalogs. But since the switch from film to digital photography, many catalogers have experienced inconsistencies or a decline in image quality. Digital doesn’t mean you have to accept lower image quality. You can capture and print great digital images, but you need to understand how to manage the digital process. Why Is My Catalog Dull and Gray? Problem: All
