Operations & Management
Operations & Management
From call center technology to staffing issues, from picking and packing to customer service--if it has to do with catalog operations and management, chances are you'll find a recent CATALOG AGE article about it here.
Redcats USA Closing MA Call Center
Multititle cataloger Redcats USA is consolidating its call center operations and will close its West Bridgewater, MA, center at the end of June. ...
Negotiating a better parcel carrier contract
Now that postal rates are likely to be going up next year (see cover story), it's more important than ever to negotiate or renegotiatiate your parcel-carrier...
Returns Engagement
Catalogers know that a customer making a return isn't happy with the product. But if you can quickly and efficiently process the return, you may be able...
Unprecedented turnover ahead?
The days of telling workers they should consider themselves lucky to have a job are just about over, according to futurist Roger Herman, CEO of The Herman...
Live from NCOF: Negotiating a Better Parcel-Carrier Contract
Grapevine, TX—You probably put off negotiating or renegotiating your parcel-carrier contract until after your peak season so that you can devote more time and attention to it. ...
Live from NCOF: The Shotgun Approach to DC Design
Grapevine, TX—The most important consideration in designing a fulfillment center is choosing the correct weapon, according to Lawrence Dean Shemesh, president of OPSdesign Consulting....
Live from NCOF: “Unprecedented” Employee Turnover Ahead
Grapevine, TX—The days of telling workers that they should consider themselves lucky to have a job are just about over. ...
Payment (processing) in full
Online jewelry merchant Ice.com's wares include $1,300 diamond pendants, $3,000 engagement rings, and $4,000 pearl necklaces. Not surprisingly the company...
A hire authority
Hiring the right person is the first step to successful employee retention. So although the day-to-day challenges and crises of running your business...
Operation wholesale
Selling goods to other catalogers or retailers can be big business, since a reseller is likely to buy a lot more from you than an individual consumer...
Benchmark 2005 on Operations
Nowhere is the effect of the Internet on the industry clearer than when looking at how orders are received. The respondents to this year's Catalog Age...
Culture Clash: Managing a Bilingual Workforce
With nearly 7.8 million Hispanic workers employed in the U.S. not to mention millions more from Asia, Africa, and other overseas locales there's a good...
Slow and Steady...Wins the Channel Integration Race
There is a breakdown between the theory and the implementation of customer relationship management. The theory seems simple enough: Create a unique shopping...
Sell them more
Every executive knows that you make more money selling to your existing customers than you do chasing new ones. That's why so many companies place so...
Retail Report: Return to Retailer
Many more multichannel merchants accept in-store returns than offer in-store pickup, in large part because handling returns is simpler than implementing...
Small Catalog Adviser: Staffing Up for Success
Whether you're launching a catalog or growing an established business, the question remains the same: Do employees equate to expenses or revenue? Creating...
Operations and Management: Technically Teaching
Installing new, improved technology in your call center can greatly boost efficiency provided your workers understand how to use it correctly. State-of-the-art...
Operations and Management: First Class Technology
When training is in order for new technology, cataloger/retailer OfficeMax heads to the classroom. The Itasca, IL-based office supplier, which has six...
Retail Report: In-Store Pickup Pitfalls and Payoffs
Multichannel marketers that allow catalog and online customers to pick up their orders in one of their stores find the service hugely popular among shoppers....
Making the Rounds with a DC Supervisor
Richard Mini likes to hit the hot spots on a regular basis the hot spots, that is, of the distribution center of Branford, CT-based signage and safety...
Healthcare Hardship
Lynchburg, VA-based McFeely's Square Drive Screws is typical of most smaller catalog companies. Its owner/president, Jim Ray, is grappling with spiraling...
Corner Office, Call Center Changes at Office Depot
Office Depot's Oct. 4 announcement of the departure of chairman/CEO Bruce Nelson did not stun some industry observers. After all, comparable-store sales...
Orchestrating Change
When title 9 sports founder Missy Park called her own catalog's 800-number pretending to be a customer, she was shocked when she was asked for the code...
Operations and Management: Keeping A-OK with OSHA
Section 5 (a) (1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), states...
Office Depot Closing Call Centers
Viking Office Products, in conjunction with its parent company, $12.3 billion Delray Beach, FL-based Office Depot, is slowly outsourcing the handling of a portion of its incoming calls, a move that could mean closure for a number of the company’s 13 call centers. ...
