Modern Catalog Marketing: 2014
Have you had a chance to review any of the presentations from the recent NEMOA conference? OMG, as the kids and social media experts say, what a refreshing array of content! Great job Janie Downey!
- Bill LaPierre of Millard, with a must-read on cataloging, absolutely awesome!
- Monica Smith on the mind of the multichannel customer. I've only met Monica once, she's a very bright individual.
- Mike Bowcut of REI shares a fantastic presentation of stuff he's learned at REI, a reasonable and professional and well-argumented discussion of the role a catalog plays in marketing.
These discussions lead us into the future. Think about cataloging in just five years, say in 2014.
It is likely that the circulation plan for a catalog marketer in 2014 will look very different than the circulation plan looks today.
For instance, in April 2009, this is what a typical plan might look like:
- Catalog (128 pages) in-home on 4/1, mailed to 300,000 housefile names and 500,000 prospects.
- Catalog remail of the 4/1 catalog (128 pages) on 4/15, mailed to 200,000 housefile names and 150,000 prospects.
- Catalog (96 pages) in-home on 4/1, mailed to 100,000 housefile names and no prospects.
- Catalog (32 pages) in-home on 4/15, mailed to 150,000 housefile names and 100,000 prospects.
- How will we acquire enough new customers to offset the 550,000 reduction in customer acquisition circulation?
- How will we offset the sales lost by a reduction in housefile circulation of 450,000?
The cataloger of 2014 becomes a media company. There's no reason to view Crutchfield any different than Martha Stewart. The multichannel view of the world is replaced by the micro-channel view of the world. The lines between merchant, media brand, and community developer blur. A catalog is just one of hundreds of micro-channels that in sum make up the "Crutchfield" brand.
That's a future that is actually exciting, a future where a catalog brand isn't dependent upon catalogs for growth.
Labels: Modern Catalog Marketing
2 Comments:
Great post. Yes, the NEMOA conference this year was great. Did you catch the reference to your blog in Bowcut's presentation?
Would love to hear more about your thoughts on the blurring of the lines between media outlets, social groups and catalog companies. The idea that my online catalog now has to have better content than the online magazines is exciting but daunting.
I'm publishing a few more thoughts later this week, Wed-eve or Thr-AM I think is when the story is published.
I did notice Mr. Bowcut's mention in his notes, how 'bout that?!
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