Customers of upscale apparel and home furnishings cataloger Garnet Hill “have been asking for a special catalog of children’s products,” says Matt Glerum, vice president of marketing and business development for the Franconia, NH-based marketer. But that’s not the only reason that Garnet Hill will on Aug. 2 mail a 64-page catalog titled Growing Up with Garnet Hill — a spin-off devoted to children’s clothing and linens.
Within Garnet Hill’s core catalog, Glerum says, the pages of children’s merchandise were less productive than those selling natural-fiber women’s apparel and bedding. “So by replacing kids’ pages with a larger offer of our core types of women’s apparel and ‘adult’ home furnishings, the mainline book will be more productive,” he explains. In fact, children’s clothing and linens account for less than 10% of Garnet Hill’s sales.
Garnet Hill conducted competitive studies “to make sure we’ll be reasonable with the market” in terms of product pricing. “At the same time, our prices in the children’s catalog will be consistent with our other product prices. We haven’t repositioned the business by taking the children’s products out of the main catalog.” Typical prices include $20-$25 for fitted crib sheets and $28 for fitted twin sheets. Girls’ summer dresses are $26-$58; infant and toddler items are $14-$48. According to its data card, Garnet Hill’s average sale is $170; customers have an average age of 40 and an average income of $75,000.
Founded in 1976, Garnet Hill is part of West Chester, OH-based catalog conglomerate Cornerstone Brands. Other Cornerstone titles include home products and decor catalogs Ballard Designs, Frontgate, and Smith & Noble, and apparel books The Territory Ahead and TravelSmith.