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by Jack Schmid and Lois Boyle Everyone who has spent any time producing catalogs knows that the process is truly a blend of right brain and left brain activity. In other words, there is almost no aspect of direct marketing that combines creative (the right brain side) and the analytical and numbers (the left brain side) quite like cataloging. Getting creative-types, writers, designers, photographers and even color separators and printers to understand the left brain aspects of cataloging is a definite stretch. This is not to say that the number crunchers are much better at being well versed on what makes brilliant catalog

by Kimberly Rengle What do you do if your models are overestimating the level of response you'll get? That was exactly the problem that Cabela's, a cataloger of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, was having at the end of 1996 when it determined that the models used for segmenting its mailing list were not stable and tended to over-estimate expected performance. Cabela's relies on its spring and fall master catalogs, as well as other promotions, for showcasing and selling its entire product line. Although the mailings were still profitable, the company decided to explore ways of combining data-mining methods to create more effective

by D. Hatch For occasional marketers, list rental is the main source of income. After serving time for salacious advertising, Ralph Ginzberg, formerly of Eros, started a newsletter called MoneysWorth. A huge part of his business then became gathering the names of literate responders and marketing the list. Recently, Boardroom bought the MoneysWorth name, and it was reborn under Martin Edelston's aegis. Some marketers, including AARP and the American Bible Society, do not allow their lists into commerce at all. For most, however, list rental represents icing on the cake. After all, to generate income, a mailer only needs to switch on a computer

By Stephen Lett Your catalog is like a piece of beachfront real estate: every square inch of space is valuable. And every square inch of space should be considered selling space—from the front cover to the back cover. On every page, every product must pay its way for the space it occupies. Some catalogers like to use a traditional "square inch analysis," fairly common in the industry. I prefer a somewhat different method to measure the performance of any given product, which is based on the calculation of a "hurdle rate" —the amount of sales a product needs to bring in, given its

By Donna Loyle For some unfathomable reason, I've become interested in the issue of online and off-line privacy. I actually don't have strong personal feelings about the topic; rather, I'm more fascinated with how our culture is grappling with the issue of data privacy during this era of the Networked Society. To learn more about the topic, I attended the Privacy and Data Security Summit in Washington, D.C., in January. Sponsored by the International Association of Privacy Officers, the second-annual conference offered educational seminars to help executives navigate their way through the minefield that has become customer data gathering and sharing. The list

--- Contact Centers: Keep the Hub Humming Three strategic questions every customer contact center manager must answer. By Curt Barry No doubt your catalog's customer contact center has changed dramatically in the past five years. Your employees probably now support e-commerce initiatives, respond to e-mailed correspondence, track outbound customer shipments, access digital product images via the Internet or terminal-based systems, and much more. Before you plot your contact center's future strategies, answer these three basic questions: 1. How are you defining, measuring and improving customer service? Every cataloger preaches the gospel of customer service, but how does your corporate culture uniquely deliver

Chinaberry's winning combination: soft on the outside, savvy on the inside By Donna Loyle Imagine for a moment that your catalog company's main competitors are book-selling giants Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The grueling price wars—behemoths battling for market share tend to inflict that on their industries—are driving the smaller players in your space either to bankruptcy court or to the arms of consolidators. But through it all, your niche catalog company continues to enjoy annual sales growth of about 13 percent—for 10 years running. And, in all but one of

Merchandise: Product-qualityAssurance By Donna Loyle Sweater snags, off-spec measurements, unglued sock liners in sneakers, moldy wooden toys, and incorrect care, content or country-of-origin labels — poor-quality merchandise can make a cataloger reluctant to buy again from a particular manufacturer or vendor. The quality issue has long plagued merchants, says Doug Easly, national sales and marketing director at Quality Corrections and Inspections (QCI; www.qualitycorrections.com), a Duncansville, PA-based firm that salvages and refurbishes goods for some of the largest catalog companies. What can you do when your goods arrive in less-than-top-quality condition, and how can you ensure