NEW CATALOGS

BuyParker.com

“Take it home. Don't steal it.” That's what the folks at Le Parker Meridien in New York are telling guests of the upscale hotel. In December it created BuyParker.Com, a 12-page catalog selling bedding, dinnerware, bath products, and home accents found in the hotel.

The hotel spent a lot of time selecting its furnishings, says Maureen O'Grady, vice president of accounts at Boxport, the San Francisco-based creative agency in charge of Le Parker Meridien's catalog. “Guests notice that when they're there, and they want to duplicate it at home.” Prices range from $10 for a calendar to $2,400 for The Parker Chair, a leather club chair alternative.

Le Parker Meridien placed copies of the catalog in each of its 730 guest rooms in addition to inserting a promotional card into each bill at Norma's, the hotel's restaurant for breakfast and lunch. It also offers a complete line of products on the BuyParker.com Website. In addition, nonguests can call and request a catalog be mailed to them.

O'Grady won't release sales but says they have met projections. A mention of the catalog in a USA Today article on Feb. 25 resulted in a sales spike.

Product category: home decor First mailing date: December 2004 Size of distribution: 730 Target audience: upscale consumers Competitors: Monarch Beach at Home, Park Avenue at Home, W Hotels The Store Number of pages: 12 Trim size: 5-1/2" × 10" Telephone: 866-328-9989

Shortie 1218

Can T-shirts, pants, and accessories empower teen girls? Clothing designer Honie Designs Unlimited believes so. It launched the Shortie 1218 catalog as a way to showcase its line of apparel emblazoned with socially conscious messages such as “Be Blessed” and “Girls Rule.”

The company distributed 5,000 copies of the 16-page “catazine” (part catalog, part magazine) in December to convenience stores, supermarkets, and video stores in six major urban areas. Kela Moran-Price, Shortie 1218 marketing director, says the Indianapolis-based company distributed the catazine through retail outlets because they are high-traffic locations for its target audience of girls ages 12-18.

In addition to merchandise, the catazine included editorial content with health and beauty tips and social empowerment messages.

Although Moran-Price won't release sales figures, she says revenue increased 10% since the catazine hit stores. The merchandise was previously available only on the Honie Designs Unlimited Website. Most orders include at least two items, with T-shirts costing $15 and jewelry costing $15-$20.

At press time, the company planned to distribute 15,000 copies of a spring catalog in April. Moran-Price says mailing Shortie 1218 directly to customers and prospects is not out of the question, but no plans have been made.

Product category: clothing First mailing date: December 2004 Size of distribution: 5,000 Target audience: girls ages 12-18 Frequency: seasonally Competitors: ELLEgirl, Beacon Street Girls Average order size: $35 Number of pages: 16 Trim size: 5-1/8" × 7-3/8" Telephone: 800-601-7857

Shepard Jones

To bring American women a line of European skincare, New York-based Shepard Jones mailed its first catalog. Shepard Jones, which acquired the U.S. distribution license rights to the P8N8 product line in November, in January dropped 40,000 copies of the 16-page book.

Named for a key ingredient in the line (P8N8 is the atomic formula for oxygen — eight protons, eight neutrons), P8N8 also uses Japanese green tea and vitamins in products that promise to smooth aged and sun damaged skin.

Shepard Jones mailed the catalog to names rented from direct mail company ADVO, says vice president of business development Jerry Haines. Most recipients were women 45 and older with incomes of at least $75,000 and who lived in Los Angeles, New York, and West Palm Beach, FL — cities perceived to be centers of fashion and beauty.

Although Haines admits the results to the first mailing were not stellar, with response of 0.2%, he believes that the catalog will break even in the future. West Palm Beach had the highest response rate at 1%. For the company's second drop of 21,000 catalogs in mid-March, Shepard Jones rented 7,000 hot-list buyers from apparel catalogs Boston Proper, Gorsuch, and TravelSmith, which yielded greater success. Haines says he learned that “you need to rent catalog lists if you want to be a catalog.”

Shepard Jones plans to test 6-10 catalog editions each quarter until it creates the correct formula; Haines hopes to ramp up circulation to 3 million in 2006.

Product category: skincare First mailing date: January 2005 Size of distribution: 40,000 Target audience: upscale women 45 and older Frequency: 6-10 tests per quarter Competitors: Kinerase, Perricone Average order size: $200 Number of pages: 16 Trim size: 5-1/2" × 8-1/2" Telephone: 866-355-7868