Catalog Solutions Services

Catalog Solutions' mission is to help owners and managers of small to mid-sized mail order food companies grow their businesses and make more money. We accomplish this mission by providing the following services.

Strategy and Marketing Plan Development
We evaluate your current program and analyze your business, target market, and industry trends. We develop an appropriate strategy and marketing plan to help you achieve your business goals. We help you position your company, product, or offer to be in tune with the interests of your customers and prospects, enabling you to effectively penetrate your target market and stand out from your competition.

Sales and Circulation Planning
Our sales and circulation plans identify all mail dates, mailing quantities, and lists to be used in your mailing program. We use proven direct mail techniques to mail more selectively and thus more profitably. We help you segment and code your lists to determine which names on your file are profitable and which ones are not. And we determine how frequently you should mail to each segment of your customer file to maximize sales and profits.

Sales and Order Forecasting
Catalog Solutions forecasts orders and sales for each mailing, as well as for your total plan. These forecasts will show anticipated activity week by week, from receipt of first order through the end of the plan. We help you project cash flow, inventory requirements and personnel needs in advance of the season. In addition, we track total program response compared to the weekly and cumulative budget, so you will know exactly where you stand in relation to the plan at any time during the season. This enables us to make mid-season adjustments to take advantage of emerging opportunities or reduce your exposure to risk.

Square Inch Analysis, Pagination and Space Allocation
One of the first steps toward increased profitability is to increase the selling power of your catalog. Catalog space costs you money, and with the utilization of square inch analysis, we help you determine which products are yielding the best results for the space and money spent on them. By balancing these results with your own business intuition, we can utilize pagination and space allocation techniques to optimize the profit potential of each product in your catalog. We help you decide how many pages your catalog should be, where to place each product, and how much space each product/category should occupy on the page.

Distribution Services
We give you a complete schedule for the entire mail marketing plan. We communicate this schedule to everyone involved to make sure deadlines and mail dates are met. In addition, we help you implement the marketing plan by performing a variety of functions including:

Order all approved mailing lists. Provide written instructions to suppliers for key coding, merge-purge and postal pre-sorting. Coordinate delivery of mailing lists and printed materials to the mail house. Provide detailed instructions to the printer for catalog quantities, versions, distribution, and mailing. Follow up to ensure that the mailing has been completed according to plan and on schedule.

Program Monitoring
Unlike consultants who often deliver a plan and then walk away, we work with you throughout the entire program to monitor the results as they come in each week. We provide you with monthly reviews of your key numbers. And we hold periodic meetings with you to evaluate your program's results, brainstorm new ways to grow sales, and begin planning for the upcoming season.

Catalog Solutions also acts as your eyes and ears within the direct response industry. We keep you informed about changes in legislation, postal regulations, and the newest industry trends and methods. Ultimately, Catalog Solutions can be viewed as an extension of your in-house marketing team.

Post-Season Analysis
We complete the process by giving you a comprehensive review and analysis of the season—what worked and what didn't. We analyze your lists, ads, mail dates, offers, creative presentation, and product sales. We detail how they performed compared to the budget and the prior year's results.

We crunch the numbers so you don't have to! Instead of sea of numbers and reams of computer printouts. We summarize the information. We explain what the numbers mean. We compare them to industry averages, putting your results in the proper context.

We also dig into your financials. How does your cost of goods sold, fulfillment expenses and fixed overhead compare to other food mailers? We show you where to focus your time and efforts to maximize your profitability.

This analysis is the springboard to a more profitable future season.