INTERNET & CATALOG MARKETING FOR SPECIALTY FOOD COMPANIES

• To determine the average sales per page the catalog has to generate to hit your sales goal, divide the sales budget (from your circulation plan) by the number of “live” pages you have planned for your catalog. For example, if the sales budget is $500,000, and you have 23 live pages (e.g., a 24-page catalog less a non-selling image cover), each page has to average $21,739 for you to hit your sales goal.


• Now look at each item on each page. Go back to last year’s results and add up each item’s sales. Make any necessary adjustments for changes in circulation, prices, etc. to forecast item sales. In the case of new items, use a “best guess” estimate to forecast their sales for the upcoming catalog. Add up the forecasted sales by item for each page in the catalog. How does it compare to your overall sales goal?


• Before moving on, ask yourself if your average sales-per-page goal is realistic based on the items you have selected for the page, the creative execution, and your planned circulation level. If the sum of your item sales by page balances with your overall sales budget you developed in your circulation plan, you are well on your way to hitting or exceeding your plan for the holiday 2006 season. If not, consider adding more products, reallocating catalog space to feature your best sellers, increasing product density in the catalog, or investing in better design and photography. If you can’t make any of these changes, you may have to lower your sales budget and re-project your P&L and cash flow forecast.

• Does the cover convey the purpose of the catalog and create appropriate expectations for the merchandise inside?


• Does the cover compel the reader to open the catalog?


• Is it easy for readers to understand what makes your company and your catalog better and different than your competition?


• Can readers tell you why they should and would order from your catalog and do business with your company vis-à-vis the competition?


• Is the product offering broad enough for most readers to find at least one thing for someone on their gift list?


• Do you have at least a few products in each of the key gifting price points that appeal to your target market?


• Is the copy believable and appropriate for the target market?


• Have you included all information on sizes, ingredients, storage, and food preparation in each product’s body copy?


• Is your guarantee and all of the other important customer service information (i.e., ordering options, shipping and handling charges, phone hours, and shipping cut-off dates) easy to find?


• Is the catalog design consistent with your positioning?


• Do copy blocks correlate to product photos?


• Is the design clean and free of superfluous graphic elements?


• Is it clear to the reader what you are selling in each photo?


• Is the product you are selling the hero on each spread?


• Is the copy easy to read, or is it printed over busy and dark backgrounds?


• Are prices and SKU numbers easy to read and in a clean format?


• Does the photography help “sell” the product, or does it just show it?


• Is the photography free of unnecessary props and other visual distractions?


• Is the choice of paper appropriate for your target market and positioning?


• Is the quality of your printing appropriate for your target market and positioning?

Note that many of the same questions apply to your website as well as your catalog. We will discuss proven techniques to add selling power to a specialty food website in the next issue of the Food-by-Mail Industry Update.

If you have any questions, would like more information on ideas to add selling power to your catalog, or want to share a technique you use to better manage your mail order food business, please drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.

Warmest regards,

Tony Cox
President
Catalog Solutions

ABOUT CATALOG SOLUTIONS

Catalog Solutions helps specialty food catalogers and internet marketers grow and make more money by developing, managing and implementing their mail order and online marketing programs. We are the only catalog/internet marketing consulting firm that works exclusively in the specialty food industry. Helping smaller companies or large companies with small mail order or internet divisions is what we do best.

Visit us online at CatalogSolutions.net to download a copy of our free booklet, The Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Catalogers, and for information on our fully guaranteed introductory program called JumpStart.