Sure, the big buzz is all about having synergy between direct and retail presences. But three speakers at Thursday's DMA Catalog on the Road Conference said their companies have no plans to move into the brick and mortar world, thank you very much.
During a luncheon panel, executives from HSN, Redcats USA and Lillian Vernon talked about the challenges facing their direct only operations.
Kris Kulesza, the new executive vice president of HSN.com, told the Cambridge, MA audience that her company is moving beyond television and the Web with a healthy catalog portfolio created through the acquisition of Improvements in 2001 and the Cornerstone Brands family of catalogs last year.
HSN started in 1977 on a Florida radio station. The successful sales concept moved to local access cable in 1981, and then to national cable in 1985. HSN.com launched in 1999, and was profitable in three months.
Kulesza is leveraging the Cornerstone catalogs – including Ballard Designs, Frontgate and The Territory Ahead – by promoting them on HSN's television programming. The network promotions are timed to add life to print catalog drops, she noted, adding that HSN recently began a real time television feed online and is testing a "click and buy" TV concept.
Mark Friedman, CMO, Redcats USA, said his group of catalogs – including Chadwick's, Lerner, Lane Bryant and Jessica London –has seen success with e-mail coupons, search (Chadwick's alone purchases between 2,000 and 3,000 keywords), private sale mailers and direct mail between catalog mailings to extend the life of books.
The former Brylane business – operating in 18 countries with 30 catalogs, 60 Web sites and 22 million customers – faces the common challenge of finding new customers. Friedman noted he's taking a hard look at things like whether it is necessary to be in five or six different cooperative databases, and keeping online initiatives effective
Jonathan Shapiro, president of Lillian Vernon, described his company's Web presence as being at the "Asteriods" level. "Two years ago we were at the Pong level, but we're not at Xbox yet."
The cataloger never considers its Web design finished, and is constantly testing and tweaking, he said.
But testing online can be challenging because there are so many possibilities and variables. To optimize the Lillian Vernon home page, Shapiro said the company is testing various combinations of logo, search box, links and shopping cart designs. The right iteration can mean a 25% increase in conversion rates, he said.
