Stamford, CT–Home textiles cataloger The Company Store is expanding into the home furnishings market–slowly. The mailer, part of Weehawken, NJ-based Hanover Direct’s stable of titles, rolled out its line of home furnishings, including rugs, couches, and lamps, in its core book last fall. And in an undisclosed number of the October 2001 edition of the catalog, the company included a 16-page stitched-in supplement titled At Home featuring the product line. “We targeted a subset of our universe” with catalogs featuring the supplements, says vice president of marketing Pete Bather.
While the appearance of the supplement, complete with its own title, could lead observers to expect a stand-alone spin-off in the future, Bather says there are currently no plans to launch a separate home furnishings book. “We don’t think the environment is right for an aggressive and significant launch of any great degree,” Bather says. “I don’t foresee a stand-alone home furnishings catalog in the upcoming short term.”
The Company Store does intend to continue developing the line within its core catalog, however, by playing with treatments such as the stitched-in supplement. “I would characterize our marketing plan for the home furnishings line as low-key for 2002,” Bather says.