CATALOG

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THE METRIC SYSTEM

Remember the “good old days,” when figuring out a catalog’s ROI simply meant looking at the sales resulting from the actual paper catalogs you mailed? In 2009, papa’s got a brand new bag of metrics to contend with — and they’re definitely not as clear cut.

“We get into these debates about whether the Internet is just a transfer of sales from the catalog and a channel of convenience and so forth,” says Curt Barry, president, F. Curtis Barry & Co. “But today, about half of [traditional] catalogers’ sales come from the Internet, and that forces you to look at things differently.”

The key for catalogers is to look at what percentage of net sales they’re spending for the various kinds of media, says Barry. For many catalogers, the actual print catalog factors in at about a third of the spend, with 25% to 30% of net sales going into the creation, printing and mailing of the catalog. And by comparison, electronic media account for 10% to 15% of the net sales spend.

“Electronic media may be cheaper, but people need to consider whether it is generating sales,” he says. “Are these individual electronic promotions [really] producing sales? And what are the attendant costs?” And of course, the problem still exists of deciding to which channel to attribute each sale in the matchback process. In some instances, Barry says, he sees people working with a bias to attributing sales to print to help justify the expense of the print media.

“I also see a number of people who have given up on that, who look at the two channels together and say, ‘We know we can’t eliminate catalog, but it has to be smaller in terms of pages [based on the sales it creates],’” Barry says. “And the catalog’s function is different now, so you have to track media costs differently.”

It’s not an easy task. For Internet retailers who also operate paper catalogs, the allocation of costs back to various online media like affiliates, banner ads and search isn’t as systematic as the old school catalog metrics. “I’m not sure we’re getting the right kind
of decisions from it.”
— BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS

FATTEN UP

Thanks to new U.S. Postal Service modifications last month, the tall-skinny catalogs affectionately known as slim-jims may soon be scarce.

The main sticking point with the new rules is the requirement for three non-perforated tabs to seal the letter-size booklets shut. The tabs, several mailers say, make it harder for customers to open the catalogs. The seals don’t do the cover design any favors, either. As a result, some catalogers are ditching the slim-jim books.

Multititle gifts mailer Miles Kimball is shifting its Walter Drake catalog from a slim-jim to a full-size format, says vice president of marketing Vicki Updike. Walter Drake’s 96-page slim-jim catalog, which measured 5-3/8½ × 8-3/4½, is now a 56- to 64-page book with a 7½ × 10-1/2½ trim size, she says.

Smithfield Specialty Foods Group mails three of its five titles — Smithfield Collection, The Peanut Shop and Rocke’s Meating Haus — as slim-jims. The company’s Smithfield Hams and Basse’s Choice catalogs are full-size books.

The slim booklets have worked well for Smithfield Specialty Foods, says Alexa Arnold Ricketts, director of catalog marketing, and the format made sense from an economic standpoint. But because of the tabbing requirements, Smithfield will convert the slim-jims to full-size catalogs starting in the fall.

The company is also considering comailing, reducing circulation, lowering paper weights and even consolidating catalog brands.

“It’s gotten so complicated now,” Ricketts says. “I’m not sure what the right answer is anymore, but we’ve looked at it from a loss of sales versus a loss of profit from the increased expense of the postage and tabbing.”
— TIM PARRY AND JIM TIERNEY, MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT

DID YOU KNOW

After a five-year upward trend, the number of catalogs mailed annually dropped to 17.3 billion in 2008, from 19.6 billion in 2007, according to the DMA/USPS Revenue, Pieces and Weight Report.

The DMA’s Catalog Design report shows that the standard-size book is still the most popular format for catalogers, followed by slim-jim, digest, square, tabloid and oversize.