The Right Market Research
Tracking the success of each store you operate and the stores' share of their markets requires extensive research. Golfsmith International, an Austin,...
The Value of Lifetime Value
Most catalogers have used the term customer lifetime value (LTV), but few have actually calculated it, let alone used it in determining their marketing...
The Salary Survey Says...
If you’re a catalog circulation manager making more than $100,000, consider yourself lucky. On the other hand, if you’re a copywriter making less than...
The Mark Group Changes Name to Boston Proper
Having sold secondary catalogs titles Mark, Fore & Strike and Charles Keath last year, Boca Raton, FL-based Mark Group changed its name to Boston Proper—to...
The FAO Schwarz Saga Continues
Toys marketer FAO Schwarz, part of bankrupt parent firm FAO, may have narrowly escaped a shutdown when an 11th-hour buyer swept in just after Christmas....
The Sharper Image Expands Its DCs
To cut down on spiraling package delivery costs, high-tech gifts and gadgets cataloger/retailer Sharper Image Corp. has expanded its distribution center...
The CRM Balancing Act
If only there were a simple answer to the question How many times should I mail my customers and prospects? But because marketers have so many influences...
The Ruby Slippers of Search
If consumers find e-commerce appealing because it helps them find and buy products easier and in less time, then your Website is no longer the shortest...
The Metropolitan Museum Mails Kids' Book
Believing that you're never too young to appreciate art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in late September mailed 500,000 copies of a MetKids catalog....
The Three Phases of Photography
We've all heard the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. In the context of designing a catalog, this saying should be uppermost in one's mind....
The USPS Pitches Two Flats Automation Plans
Ever since it established an efficient automation program for letters in the late 1980s, the U.S. Postal Service has been under pressure to bring its...
The Market Is the Message
If you'd told me a few years ago that Alloy would be buying rival Delia's, I would have said, Are you sure you don't have things backward, and that Delia's...
The Judging Panel
Geoff Batrouneyexecutive vice president, Estee List Marketing John Bortavice president of marketing operations, NewarkInOne Jeff Campbellcatalog manager,...
The Fourth Annual I.Merchant Awards
The Web has become a far more competitive playing field this year, with companies revamping their sites and applying more-stringent metrics to measure...
2003 CATALOG AGE 100: Bigger and Better
If the Catalog Age 100 is any indication, the economy may be on the road to recovery — albeit slowly. Sixty of the companies on this year's list...
The New Trend: Catalogers Turning Private
Eyebrows raised when San Francisco-based gifts cataloger RedEnvelope filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission...
The Cybercritic: Party Supplies
An avid reader of glossy lifestyle magazines, The Cybercritic loves the idea of throwing theme parties. And in fact, The Cybercritic's parties do tend...
The Key to Kiosks
The conventional wisdom behind multichannel marketing is that the more points of contact you have with customers, the more likely they are to buy. So...
The Latest from Spiegel: Downsizing Bauer, Reintroducing Credit Cards
Less than two weeks after announcing that it would close 21 Spiegel and Newport News outlet and clearance stores, The Spiegel Group on April 28 announced...
The Sportsman's Guide Issues Preliminary Guidance
Outdoor gear cataloger The Sportsman's Guide (NASDAQ:SGDE) expects to report total sales of approximately $44 million and earnings per share of $0.18...
The Top 20 Stories of the Past 20 Years
In an industry as broad as the catalog business one that encompasses merchandising, marketing, fulfillment, and what have you it's tough to cull a definitive...
The Siren Song of Private Equity Money
After a lull during the past few years, private equity money is again flowing into the catalog industry. For shallow-pocketed catalogers, this can be...
The Cybercritic: Professional Beauty Supplies
When shopping for professional beauty supplies, The Cybercritic expected the home pages of the distributors to look professional and beautiful. In that...
The Cybercritic Ties One On
For some, the holidays bring to mind mistletoe, eggnog, and families gathering by the fire. For The Cybercritic, they mean novelty neckties. So in search...
The Softer Side of Sears: Credit Card Debt
Quarterly profits fell 28% at Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE:S), which owns apparel catalog Lands’ End, and the Hoffman Estates, IL-based retail behemoth...
