The Catalog Chronicles Blog

June 27, 2008

That’s the way you do it and your clicks for free.

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Merchandising, Retail Developments, Winners and Losers — TheChronicler @ 3:02 pm
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Herrington: The Enthusiasts Catalog, promotes itself as “the leading mail-order purveyor of superior-quality items to those who share Lee Herrington’s passion for great automobiles, serious golf, hassle-free travel, fine photography, distinctive executive accessories, high-end audio/video, and physical fitness.” Although Herrington’s professes to maintain traditional customer service and personal retailer values, their effort online web is cutting-edge.

I spoke with Daryl Eames, Director of E-commerce for Herrington, about his use and integration of product videos, YouTube and the online catalog. About a year ago Mr. Eames began soliciting product suppliers for informational videos for items that Herrignton’s offered. “Vendor supplied videos are a quick, inexpensive and efficient way to get into online video”, Mr. Eames said. “I wanted to incorporate video cheaply.” He continued, “Some are good, some are bad and I have to do some in-house editing but the end result is it works.”

Herrington’s has a video channel on YouTube.: http://youtube.com/user/HerringtonCatalog where it offers 25 videos, an overview of and links back to the online catalog. http://www.herringtoncatalog.com/.

The most viewed video (8,471 views in 10 months) is for Res-Q-Me, with the compelling copy line “This pocket-sized rescue tool could save your life when the unthinkable happens.” The YouTube video, below, is also embedded on the product page in the online catalog.

Daryl Eames is still gathering data, but he says there is clear evidence that an embedded or YouTube video improves the related product’s online conversion rates and brings in new customers. Now that’s the way you do it on .tv.

June 26, 2008

Streaming Product Video: The New Marketing Medium

Filed under: Internet Marketing — TheChronicler @ 12:46 pm
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Recently I received an email from Marketing Profs, sponsored by Bulldog Solutions, a lead generation firm. The subject was “Video works in B2B.” The basic message, which I agree with, is “teach, not sell” and to “begin now, with the basics” as you “clarify your objectives”. Common sense in this new world.

This got me thinking about the use of video by B2C catalogers and online retailers. With the explosion of online networking and digitized information, video will be – probably already is -a powerful and valuable channel or platform for online retailers and catalogers to experiment with. So I set out to find who is using it.

My initial search did not advance the cause much, but … there was light at the end of the camcorder. My search uncovered tv.shopnbc.com, 2nd Wind Exercise, and Drs. Foster & Smith. (I dismissed NBC because they are all video anyway, so no big surprise here.) I checked out each site, trying to find product oriented videos and hit a wall. I could not find products with supporting video on these sites. In the case of Drs. Foster & Smith I did find videos on an associated website, peteducation.com, but even there I had to bring my years of search expertise to bear to find out how to brush my dog’s teeth. (She needs to brush better, by gosh, but that’s for another time.”) I never saw the video because despite having Flash Player installed on my computer Drs. Foster & Smith refused to recognize it. This needs some work.

Anyway, I then got the bright idea to visit YouTube, and bingo! After poking around I found two good examples of integrating informational video in a B2C catalog environment. Gadget freaks and plus sized women rejoice. I’ll tell you about them tomorrow.

June 25, 2008

Abandoned Shopping Carts

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Just for fun — TheChronicler @ 12:00 pm
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The approach taken by The Shopping Cart Whisperer may be the answer to the abandoned shopping cart phenomenon.

June 24, 2008

Freebie Jeebies

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Merchandising, Retail Developments — TheChronicler @ 4:48 pm
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Free shipping.org logoI have been sounding the alarm that the cost of free shipping is going to cut deep into retailers margins as we enter the Back to School selling season and beyond. In the face of looming FedEx and UPS fuel surges, uh fuel surcharges, a new site built completely around free shipping has hit the scene.

In December, 2007, FreeShipping.org was co-founded by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Luke and Maisie Knowles. The premise of the site is to offer in one spot only online free-shipping offers from their retail store partners. The look and feel of the site is like other coupon sites and has the feel of an affiliate program in reverse. The website states, “It is a site with one simple goal, to save online shoppers money by providing them with a list of trusted online retailers who are offering free shipping coupons.”

According to their media kit, “Online shoppers and retailers alike have found FreeShipping.org beneficial. Traffic on the site has doubled every month since it debuted last December. The sales FreeShipping.org has generated for the brands on its site have doubled every month, too. In May, FreeShipping.org helped create more than $250,000 in sales. Knowles expects to have more than 1,000 retailers offering free shipping deals on the site by year’s end.” At this time they publicly claim 700 retailers with a presence on freeshipping.org.

If my calculations are correct, that’s an average sales total of $357.14 per retailer during May. Wow! I am going out on a limb and guess that not every one of the 700 retailers got a sale. I’ll let you decide if that’s worth the effort.

Still, to the Knowles’ credit, they have a used social media (a blog) to discuss various retail partner’s free shipping offers, online websites, some brands and more to attract online customers via internet searches. http://www.freeshipping.org/blog/ . I Googled “Macys free shipping, expecting to find a return for freeshipping.org somewhere on page fortygazillion, but lo and behold, they checked in on page 1, # 1, better than the other 3,190,000 results. In contrast, I did a search for another online retailer, Coastal Contacts. They checked in on page 3, #10. Not so hot. But I’ll give the Knowles a score of 7 for doing some things right, having the guts to compete with fatwallet.com, UPromise’s “free shipping” category and all the other coupon portals that populate every mom’s browser bookmarks.

June 19, 2008

FTC Reviews Green Marketing Guidelines

Filed under: Green Cataloging, Industry News, Uncategorized — TheChronicler @ 4:06 pm
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Most catalogers are knowledgeable of the FTC’s role and rules in providing guidance for direct selling, ie the “30 day” rule. In this era of “green” marketing, the FTC has now turned its attention to the many claims and mis-perceptions thrown about the landscape today by advertisers/catalogers. For instance, is your catalog really recyclable? Can you “legally” claim “sustainability” and what does the use of the three arrow symbol convey to your customers? In order to bring its guidelines into the 21st Century the FTC is holding a series of public meetings to discuss various green marketing issues.

The first of these was on January 8, 2008, and focused on he marketing of carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates (RECs). I know of few catalogers who would be interested in this topic.

However, the second session held on April 30, 2008, and focused on various claims marketers use to position their product(s) as “green” is of more direct interest and application to catalogers. The workshop agenda, transcript, and webcast can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/packaging/index.shtml.

The goal of this session was to examine trends and new terminology used in packaging, various consumer perceptions and the need to update the FTC’s 10 year old guidelines. Transcripts of this session are available at the FTC’s Webcast Central website. For catalogers interested in knowing what the FTC provides consumers, there is a PDF version of “Sorting out Green Advertising Claims” available for download at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/general/gen02.pdf.

The FTC’s third workshop will be held on July 15, 2008, in Washington, DC, and focus on textiles, building products, and buildings.

I will summarize the findings most pertinent findings for the catalog industry and post these as they become available.

June 18, 2008

National Catalog Advocacy & Strategy Forum

Filed under: Associations, Fulfillment, Industry News — TheChronicler @ 11:03 am
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As pointed out elsewhere in The Catalog Chronicles, postal regulation and costs are huge challenges to the viability of the catalog industry as we know it.

Sponsored by the American Catalog Mailers Association, this forum brings together executives in the catalog industry with their counterparts in the USPS (US Postal Service) and PRC (Postal Rate Commission) and invited members of Congress.

Taking place June 26-27, 2008 near Washington, D.C. the forum is designed to provide the catalog industry with an opportunity to speak directly with those who regulate, legislate and control its destiny on postal and parcel access and costs, Do Not Mail and the ability to exchange list information.

To register and learn more, visit the ACMA website.

June 17, 2008

American Catalog Mailers Association

Filed under: Associations, Industry News — TheChronicler @ 11:05 am
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The ACMA was created in early 2007 and held its first meeting during the Annual Catalog and Multichannel Merchant meeting in Boston, May, 2007. Its intent is to provide undiluted attention to critical issues facing the catalog industry, as opposed to the direct mail industry overall. Executive director, Hamilton Davison, claims that ACMA is not in competition with The DMA (Direct Marketing Association), but rather suggests that some catalogers feel the DMA cannot effectively represent the interests of the catalog industry in all circumstances.

ACMA American Catalog Mailers Association

According to the ACMA website, its mission is the to be the Primary Voice of the Catalog Industry. Our mission is to provide our members with representation on issues that directly concern our immediate and long term commercial interests such as:
• Postal Rates, Regulations and Technical matters;
• Regulatory and Congressional Relations and;
• Innovative business oriented advances or external threats

Davison is quoted as saying, “Representing the entire catalog industry is our mission, and we do this by forming the broadest possible association of catalogers all working together “under one tent” regardless of individual competitive positions or allegiances”.

See related post announcing ACMA’s National Catalog Advocacy & Strategy Forum June 26-27, 2008, near Washington, DC.

June 16, 2008

Diesel Fuel Holds High and Steady

Filed under: Fulfillment, Industry News, Logistics — TheChronicler @ 9:11 am
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The average “on highway diesel fuel” price remained effectively the same as the prior week. The week of June 2 saw diesel averaging $4.70.2 and for the week of June 9, 2008, the average price nationwide was $4.69.2. With slim prospects of a significant decline over the upcoming summer months, catalogers should prepare for hefty fuel surcharges from their shipper of choice during August and probably September.

June 10, 2008

Social Media Addiction Rap

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Just for fun, Social Media — TheChronicler @ 8:57 am
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I just created a MySpace page for Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health as part of a social media marketing campaign for their upcoming Sacred Pulsemusic festival July 13-18. Social media marketing has become the hot buzz in the catalog industry for 2008 because it appeals to a newer, younger demographic and is less expensive than ink on paper in the mail. Somehow I don’t think that Krishna Das and Chuck at Pop Labs share the same addiction, although Krishna Das uses MySpace to brand himself. Chuck raps about social media tools like Myspace, Twitter and Virb. If Chuck’s social media style is not your bag, send me an email. I’ve reproduced the lyrics, below. Enjoy

Lyrics to Social Media Rap:

I surf the web, I used to watch TV
now I’m logged into Joost, it’s commercial free
lets see where I want to go
and who I want to know
connecting people with people with web 2.0
I don’t use email unless I’m at my job
want the next post, I subscribe to the blog
I’m easy to find
I’m always online
social networking sites, I think I have nine
I use myspace to promote my music
I get friends and album sales that’s how I do it
but tell me have you heard
about the new word
something like myspace but they call it virb
always something new, I’m a start creatin
I’ll make a brand new facebook application
uploading pictures and mp3’s
update my profile and hit ctrl D
can’t stop what I started, it’s getting ridiculous
social book mark it, add it del.icio.us
some can’t take it but I just can’t quit
go to Imeem and listen to my playlist
watching videos on my You Tube channel
clickin so much, my mouse smoking like a candle
I’m online for hours, addicted to the power
10 tabs open on a firefox browser
I must be going crazy cause I can’t get enough
I guess I’m addicted to social media

June 4, 2008

Rising Fuel Surcharge Likely to Jump 35% for Back To School Selling Season

Filed under: Fulfillment, Industry News, Logistics — TheChronicler @ 3:54 pm
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The June, 2008 UPS Ground fuel surcharge is now 8.50%. It was 7.75% for May.

UPS states “The surcharge will be based on the National U.S. Average On Highway Diesel Fuel Prices reported by the U.S. Department of Energy for the month that is two months prior to the adjustment.”

Accordingly, the average On-Highway Diesel Fuel Chart shows the price per gallon for May was $4.425, resulting in a projected July surcharge for July of 9.5% – up a full percentage point from the current 8.5%. This equates to a probable fuel surcharge increase from April to July of nearly 24%.

Looking ahead to August, the average diesel fuel cost for June 2 was $4.70 forcing UPS to issue a new chart. The current chart stops at $4.62 with a comparable surcharge of 10%. Assuming the new chart maintains the same 8cent and half point jumps, then shippers can expect a surcharge of between 10.5% and 11.0% for August.

(Note: Federal Express Ground surcharges follow a similar pattern although the shipper has not yet posted a new chart but must do so soon as the chart ends at $4.14 per gallon.)

Does this impact your “Back To School” and “End of Season” promotion plans? The end of Free Shipping? Price increases for Q4? Let’s hear your thoughts.



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