Give first-time buyers a boost

| Gina Valentino

There’s an old joke about the devil being low on quota, so he decided to heavily promote special offers, free gifts and promises. With an immediate and

Co-ops crippling catalog list business

| Melissa Dowling

How are catalog list owners like the U.S. Postal Service? Both keep raising prices to make up for business shortfalls. And catalogers can’t ignore this vicious cycle, Bill LaPierre told attendees of the NEMOA conference in Portland, ME, in September.

Equity firm buys Caswell-Massey

| Mark Del Franco

Caswell-Massey, a multichannel marketer of luxury personal grooming products, has changed hands again. Private equity firm The Equitium Group on Sept. 21 acquired the cataloger/retailer/wholesaler.

CREATIVE

| KEVIN KOTOWSKI

In today’s multichannel world, designers, photographers and copywriters work on a multitude of projects. In addition to catalogs, you’ll find them creating Websites, direct mail pieces, newsletters, e-mail communications, space ads for print publications, banner ads, free-standing inserts (FSIs) for use in newspapers, trade show materials, retail store signage, and a host of other projects.

Neiman Marcus on the retail cusp

| Jim Tierney

Neiman Marcus is renowned for its elegant stores and superior service, but it’s never really been considered cutting edge. The upscale cataloger/retailer is addressing the issue with its new Cusp stores designed to appeal to a younger demographic.

CONTENT IS KING

| MCM staff

Want to make your customers happy? Stop selling for a minute and give them something to read. It can be detailed product information or even jokes. But it may be time to learn what other b-to-b merchants already know: that content is king.

August mailings take a tumble

| Tim Parry

Perhaps a sign that mailers were less than optimistic about fall, catalog mailings dropped 33%. Just 236 catalogs were received by Catalog Tracker in August. While that is 30 more books than July, it’s down considerably from the 349 catalogs the Greenwich, CT-based list firm received in August 2006.

Kick it up a notch

| MCM staff

From its name, you may think Revgear.com specializes in accessories for sportscars, but the cataloger actually sells products for boxing, kickboxing,

Slim-jim size suits popcorn mailer

| Jim Tierney

For Dale and Thomas Popcorn, it’s no longer hip to be square. Or rather, after the whopping postal rate increase this past May, it’s no longer affordable to be square. The popcorn mailer has cuts its costs significantly by changing its trim size to a slim-jim.