The more things change... Nov 1, 1998 12:00 PM
, Peter Girard
JobZone
Search and post jobs for the Multichannel Merchant. Including jobs for brand & agency marketers, e-commerce, catalog marketers, ops & fulfillment, direct marketing and more.
Ruth Anderson is vice president of Penns Creek, PA-based Walnut Acres
Organic Farms, a catalog of whole foods and health-related products. Annual
sales, $5 million-$10 million; annual circulation, less than 10 million.
The biggest change in our production process is that we're now using
digital photography for the entire book. It took us a while to start using
it because we're a food catalog, so our photographs have to be perfect. But
it saves us so much time-at least a week or two-and the process is so much
easier.
By reducing our production time, we're reducing the time our designer
spends on the book, so we are realizing some savings there. We're also
working with a copywriter who can just format the copy and send it to us
digitally, and that saves time, too.
One place we're definitely saving money is at the printer. We bid out our
printing for two-year contracts, and the discount is considerable. We've
also taken advantage of other services offered by the printer, including
color separations, and this saves us a great deal.
Don Snyder is president of Wind & Weather, a Mendocino, CA-based catalog of
weather instruments and garden decorations. Annual sales, approximately $5
million; annual circulation, 2 million.
For one thing, we went from using a remote service bureau with a drum
scanner to a local service bureau using a flatbed scanner. We gained some
savings, and we feel there's no distinction in quality between these
methods. We're also using lighter paper inside the catalog, dropping the
weight from 45# to 40# in the inner signature. We'll save around $32,000
between the lower paper cost and the lower postage cost. We're not worried
about a negative reaction from our customers. We'd have to lose about
1-1/2% in sales to negate the savings, but we expect not to lose any.
In general, our production costs have edged downward a bit. It seems like
the printers we deal with are experiencing some idle press time, so we
think we can keep reducing our production costs. We're considering a slight
reduction in trim size to further cut paper and postage costs. Right now we
buy paper from our printer, but we're looking at buying it ourselves, or at
least negotiating prices with our printer.
George Emmons is president of kite catalog Into the Wind, based in Boulder,
CO. Annual sales, less than $2 million; annual circulation, 600,000.
About two years ago I made the change from inhouse production to having the
book designed outside, and from laying out the book by hand to going
computer-to-plate. I'd been doing the production myself, so we definitely
didn't save any money by hiring an outside designer, but I'd been putting
off going digital for about three years. We were lagging behind the
technology, and we couldn't wait any longer. We still use regular
photography, though, because for outside shots the quality of the digital
camera shots isn't there yet.
We've also changed formats from a digest to a slim-jim, and this year back
to a digest. The costs don't vary significantly, but the digest layout just
works better for us because we don't want to show more than three items per
page.
Carole Ziter is president of Burlington, VT-based Sweet Energy, a mailer of
food catalogs and newsletters. Annual sales, $2 million; annual
circulation, 700,000.
Not much has changed, although the price of paper has certainly gone down a
bit. We still produce the catalog the same way that we've always done it,
and we've been using the same service bureau to produce film for the last
six or seven years. In fact, it actually costs less now, because we have
some products we don't need to reshoot. I'm in the food business, so
apricots are apricots, and if I have a good photograph, that's what I use.
Richard Zontag is president of McClure & Zimmerman, a mailer of flower
bulbs based in Friesland, WI. Annual sales, less than $10 million; annual
circulation, less than 500,000.
We added a separate spring bulb catalog this year, instead of including a
supplement to our fall book as we usually do. The new catalog did well
enough to mail again, and this year we're going to use a slim-jim format
instead of our standard 8-1/2" x11". The trim size reduction plus a break
in postal regulations will make it even cheaper than last year's mailing.
Like the core M&Z catalog, the bulb book will be black-and-white with a
two-color cover and illustration artwork-no photography. Our artist creates
the illustrations, and we scan them into QuarkXPress. From that point on,
we're already fully digital.
Bill Heyman is vice president/co-owner of Supreme Audio, a Marlborough,
NH-based catalog of professional audio equipment. Annual sales,
approximately $2 million; annual circulation, 140,000.
Our costs were not significantly different this year, although we've
increased circulation modestly. In fact, I was surprised that costs have
remained so steady. Our manufacturing costs per book increased exactly
7/100 of a cent.
As for changes, we're using more manufacturer-provided line art than
photos. Some of my suppliers send me a CD-ROM with line art illustrations
of all their products, and the result is definitely superior. You can now
read every function button on these units, and to my customers, that can
make all the difference. And our costs stay the same. We're not using CTP
yet-my understanding is the size of our runs is too small to really benefit
the way a bigger mailer would.
How has the production of your catalog changed in past year?
Catalog production has reached a peculiar crossroads. New technology such
as computer-to-plate (CTP) and digital photography can speed the process,
eliminate steps, and ultimately reduce costs, but not without some
investment on the part of catalogers and printers. Meanwhile, because
conventional printing technologies remain available and costs have held
steady, some catalogers haven't felt compelled to change their methods. So
at least for now, the new and the old will co-exist. But no matter how this
month's forum participants produce their catalogs, the one thing they agree
on is that amid all the changes and the new production options available,
their costs and their catalogs remain largely unchanged.
