Choosing a software system

| Mark Del Franco

Your company is growing, and your catalog management software system-the nerve center of your business-is due for an upgrade. But with prices for systems

At deadline

| MCM staff

DRESS BARN TO LAUNCH CATALOG Discount women’s apparel retailer Dress Barn has begun recruiting executives for the catalog division it plans to launch

What consumer confidence?

| MCM staff

Despite booming consumer confidence throughout the spring and summer, the second quarter wasn’t particularly encouraging for most of the publicly traded

Few source in cyberspace

| Mark Del Franco

Using the Web to source for products would make catalog merchants’ jobs easier and more convenient-not to mention reduce travel expenses. But among respondents

In search of an ombudsman

| MCM staff

I long have preached the doctrine of having an outsider-someone not involved in product acquisition or product description-check catalog copy for logic.

Inquiring minds want to buy

| MCM staff

Catalog creative consultants always proclaim that “b-to-b doesn’t have to be boring,” yet few business mailers support their claim. But ice chest manufacturer

Bargains abroad

| Lynn Dougherty

Catalogers in the U.S. are enjoying at least one beneficial side effect from Asia’s economic ills: better prices on imports. But even as product costs

Fall Shortfalls

| Sherry Chiger

The stock market has become a manic roller coaster ride. Wall Street firms have begun mass layoffs. The President could soon be impeached. And as of September,

Delia’s buys Fulcrum lists

| Mark Del Franco

New York-based Delia’s, the $106 million teen apparel cataloger, in September paid $4.75 million for the trademarks and mailing lists of bankrupt Fulcrum