Despite an ever-growing Web and retail presence, print catalogs remain an essential part of Harry & David's marketing mix.
“The catalog is the way to talk about our product in the glorious color we need to talk about it in,” says Cathy Fultineer, executive vice president for sales and marketing at the Medford, OR food and gift company.
EYEING PROFITS
In 2007, Harry & David plans to continue to cultivate what Fultineer says are “stellar” retention rates, rather than go into an aggressive prospecting mode.
“[We need] to keep our eyes on our profit numbers. As you know, there's been an awful lot of discounting, an awful lot of shipping discounts. When you talk to other marketers, everybody is bemoaning those things, but everybody continues to perpetuate them. Our focus is making sure we have the best-quality product that's out there and charging a fair price.”
TOPS IN SEARCH
The company circulates more than 1 million catalogs annually, with about 40% devoted to prospecting to lists such as files exchanged with other catalogers. While the print book is Harry & David's best prospecting tool, search is becoming increasingly important for acquisition, says Fultineer. “If you poke around on engines, enter words associated with us and we'll pop up on the first page.”
Newspaper inserts are used on occasion, and regular postcard mailings are done as well. E-mail is sent to announce special offers, to invite customers to check out new products or remind them about holiday shipping cutoffs. “We're trying to be relevant to customers and not put things in their mailbox they don't want to see,” she adds.
CORE DEMOGRAPHIC
Harry & David's average customer is a woman in her late 40s or early 50s whose median annual income is in the $90,000 range. She's well-educated, well-traveled and likes to read.
The majority of orders are phoned in, a factor that may be somewhat attributable to the core demographic. However, most new customers place their first order online.
Often the way customers order depends on how many gift recipients they have, according to Fultineer. A regular buyer who has a 10-name gift list on file with the cataloger from last year might just call and talk through their order with an associate, while someone just sending a plant to a sick relative probably would find it easier to go online.
Web traffic and orders have been increasing year over year, and close to Christmas about 50% of orders come in online.
Numerous Web orders originate from catalog recipients. “We track it and we know if someone is using both channels,” she says. “It means we might send them a different page count or change [mailing] frequency.”
RETAIL/DIRECT CROSSOVER
The retail stores regularly communicate with their 1 million-name file of “preferred customers,” Fultineer notes. There's about 20% to 30% customer crossover between retail and direct.
“We find that the customers use both channels because they have different needs,” she says. “When they want to ship and send, they use the catalog. When they use the stores, they're buying for [themselves], entertaining or local gift giving. We work hard to encourage multichannel buying, and on occasion we will [offer incentives] to encourage that.”
All in One Basket
Busiest time of year: 65% of business is done in November and December.
Annual catalog circulation: 1 million plus.
In the mail: Every three weeks.
Number of retail stores in the United States: 135.
Online rush: Just before Christmas, about 50% of orders are placed on the Web site.
— BNV
