The former TransAmerica Holdings has both a new name and a new sales channel. The Cleveland-based women’s apparel, accessories, and cosmetics cataloger changed its name to AmeriMark Direct in mid-October. At the same time, the multititle mailer, which traditionally targeted older customers, launched an e-commerce Website.
AmeriMark’s chairman/owner, Gary L. Giesler, says the company changed its name to bring together its Anthony Richards, Healthy Living, Beauty Boutique, and Windsor Collection book under a single brand name. In fact, “AmeriMark Presents” is now part of the catalogs’ names.
What’s more, the four titles share one Website, www.amerimark.com. “We’re easing the customers into the name change, and we’re getting them onto the Internet,” Giesler says. Selling the more than 5,000 products of all four books on one site “allows us to market more effectively to our customers and offers them the total breadth of our entire product range,” Giesler says.
The 31-year-old company mails more than 60 million catalogs a year, largely to consumers age 65 and older. Because seniors are less likely to shop online and have been later adapters to the medium, AmeriMark waited more than two years to debut its Website.
To appeal to its core audience, AmeriMark focused on making the site especially user-friendly, with detailed product descriptions and help pages, and step-by-step ordering instructions. The site, which is fully integrated into the existing catalog back-end, also lets customers check inventory status online. And customers can locate specific items by category, brand, or color.