October 1, 2007
Travel catalogs: romance vs. bargain
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by Herschell Gordon Lewis
It's unlikely that Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck could have envisioned a catalog category that's now state of the art the travel catalog. For paper...
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Paginating with Punch
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Glenda Shasho Jones
We all know that merchandise is king in the catalog world. But we sometimes need a reminder that how and where we place product in a book is every bit...
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More pickup for price hikes
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Unlike the current housing market of high inventory and falling prices, paper supply is going down and prices are heading up. Several mill closures and reduced demand are two key reasons why the cost of paper is escalating....
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Copping a killer creative platform
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by Lois Boyle
Everyone talks and talks about building a consistent brand and creative platform across channels. But how many of you have actually accomplished this?...
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Merchandising 2.0
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by Curt Barry
As much as we hear these days about Web 2.0, e-commerce isn't the only facet of multichannel marketing to advance. The best retailers are taking their merchandising strategies to new and higher levels — a sort of multichannel merchandising 2.0 — in which channels neither mirror nor compete with one another, but support one another in driving company objectives....
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Reaping revenue from roving holidays
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by Gina Valentino
Are you counting the days until Christmas? You should be consumer merchants this year receive an early in the form of an additional selling day. In 2006...
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Straight-on e-mail
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Tim Parry
The Lenox Group was hardly what you'd call database-poor. It had one for its catalog, another for its stores, and still another file for its e-mail addresses....
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E-conundrum
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ken Magill
Call it the e-mail paradox. E-mail to a house file is far and away multichannel merchants' most cost effective sales tool. Yet the money most companies spend on it is barely a rounding error in terms of their marketing budgets....
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Tooling around on PTS
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Shopping for industrial tools online can be a major production especially if a site is not up to snuff. Production Tool Supply sells such complex items...
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Three analytics you'll meet in 2.0
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by Larry Becker
Are you ready for Web Analytics 2.0? It's okay to wince at yet another 2.0 buzzword, but open your eyes just wide enough to scope the opportunity. Like...
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Prime real estate
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Mark Del Franco
Boden, the British apparel cataloger, was nearing annual sales of $100 million in the United States. But it had to ship every order from its Leicester,...
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Batten down the hatches
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jennifer Lonoff Schiff
The people at Orient Expressed thought they were ready for anything. We knew that we would be able to contact each other in the event of a disaster, says...
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Inside storage and inventory control
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by Kate Vitasek
Distribution center storage and inventory control may not seem like the sexiest parts of a multichannel business. But unless you have the product in stock...
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Lillian to get even more personal
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Jim Tierney
It's no secret that Lillian Vernon takes pride in personalization. After all, the venerable gifts and housewares cataloger was founded 56 years ago around...
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Golden Boy
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Mark Del Franco
Beverly, MA is an unlikely setting for the center of the catalog industry. Thirty miles northeast of Boston, it's a sleepy town with old New England houses...
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A hankering for hard goods
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Melissa Dowling, Editor-in-Chief
When Golden Gate Capital started its catalog acquisition binge about three years ago, the joke around the office was that very soon the private equity...
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Thermo Fisher Scientific buys Davis Inotek Instruments
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Tim Parry
Business-to-businesses industrial products manufacturer/marketer Thermo Fisher Scientific announced Sept. 5 it has acquired the $30 million instrument sales business of Davis Inotek Instruments. ...
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Boden books make the news
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Mark Del Franco
U.K.-based Boden is continuing its own British invasion on the U.S. catalog market. The apparel merchant, which has been mailing into the States since...
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Redcats USA acquires United Retail Group
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Could Redcats USA be contemplating retail? The multititle cataloger announced on Sept. 11 it bought plus-size women's apparel retailer United Retail Group for $198.9 million, or $13.70 per share in cash. ...
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Pets United goes after new animal
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Mark Del Franco
First it was dogs and horses. Then it was fish and ferrets. Now Pets United is setting its sights on sites outside the pet industry by acquiring URLs...
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HD Supply a discounted done deal
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Mark Del Franco
As further proof that the dismal housing market is putting a crimp in the catalog/retail industry, Home Depot in late August finally sold its business-to-business division to three private equity firms — at an 18% discount....
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Movers & shakers
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Online furnishings retailer Home Decor Products has named Jon Bernstein CEO. Edison, NJ-based Home Decor Products includes the HomeClick.com, ChefsCorner.com,...
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Home, sweet home merchants
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Mark Del Franco
There's no place like the home market, or multichannel purveyors of furnishings, linens, floor and window coverings, tableware, and kitchen items. The...
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Sears stores find a fit for Lands' End
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Sears Holdings Corp. has taken a lot of heat during the past five years for the way it's handled the integration of the Lands' End apparel catalog brand. But the retailer seems to have found a strategy that works: the store-within-a-store....
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Stellar second quarter
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Nearly all of the business-to-business and computer marketers tracked by Multichannel Merchant turned in superb performances during the second quarter....
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Did July mailings go on holiday?
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Tim Parry
If the numbers reported by Catalog Tracker are any indication, catalogers are officially mailing less. In July, the service of Direct Media had just 206...
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Across the street and into the warehouse
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Time to visit the lifeblood of any catalog business: the distribution center. But to get to Orchard Brands' DC from headquarters, you must cross the street....
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Spotlight on NCOF
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Welcome to our continuing series highlighting the speakers of the National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment, which Multichannel Merchant co-sponsors...
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Should customer service reps sell?
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Joanna Brandi
Customers love to buy. We love when someone helps us solve a problem, meet a need, satisfy a desire, or do something nice for ourselves. If it's true,...
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Work It Out
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, by William Atkinson
Good help is always hard to find, but in retail, attracting and retaining workers is near impossible. How dismal is workforce loyalty in retail? According...
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Sale scotched by high S&H
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
You already know how most customers feel about shipping and handling, but here's a real world example of how shoppers can walk away from a deal because...
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More rage at Red Envelope critique
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
I wish to express my sincere disappointment regarding your August article, The Red Envelope, please. In the interest of thoroughness and journalistic...
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Back Word
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM
Get ready for Beaney World L.L. Bean's flagship store has long been the biggest draw in Freeport, ME perhaps because it's been open 24 hours a day, seven...
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