Recently we participated in a postal committee update sponsored by the ACMA. This call included a review of how the Coronavirus pandemic is affecting the United States Postal Service (USPS). You may have heard a rumor that the post office might be forced to close its...
Another postal rate increase is set to take effect July 9th, 2023, the third increase in twelve months. This is an unprecedented number of increases in such a short period of time and will impact our industry. Unfortunately, additional rate hikes such as the one in...
The pandemic caused people to stay home most of the year which created a large spike in orders for many direct-to-consumer companies, both catalog and digital. The increase in demand was so significant that it caused issues for the supply chain. Many firms scrambled...
I began my career in catalog marketing almost 50 years ago. Never can I recall the paper market being in such a state of flux. There is no way to sugarcoat it, it’s bad. I want to explain what has occurred, what the future holds, the impact of the paper shortage and...
There are two primary ways to grow a catalog business; by increasing either the page count or circulation. If you can do both at the same time, it’s a win-win. These two strategies work in combination with one another. They do not compete with each other for the...
There are two main ways to grow a catalog business. One way is to increase circulation. Another way is to increase page count, which is the focus of my article this month. If your catalog weighs less than 3.3 ounces, increasing page count will not increase your...
This could be a difficult holiday season. It could be a rough ride, especially for hard goods (non-apparel) catalogers, i.e., gift catalogs. With all the unknown variables from the National Election, European Union and Amazon, we need to be proactive this holiday...
As 2020 continues to be an evolving situation, one constant remains: People need goods and services. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the average online customer had grown accustomed to two-day shipping—and even next-day shipping in some instances. It quickly became...
Catalogers continue to face monumental challenges caused by paper, postage, and print manufacturing availability. These issues are a difficult road to navigate. Availability is one issue, price in another. Competitive pricing is a thing of the past, at least for now....
