NEMOA Members Exchange

small run best customer mailing - need printer

Sarah Fletcher — Thur, 14 May 2009 14:01:26 GMT

I am looking for a printer to do a small run (14K) best customer mailing that would have a catalog, a gift list and either a folder with inkjetted personalization, or an envelope with a letter. Does anyone have any recommendations for printers? The client is on the west coast, the printer is in the mid-west and I am in RI so location is not an issue.

Thanks Sarah

Catalog Creative Freelance/Agency

Joan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:52:14 GMT

I'm looking for a catalog freelance art director or agency with experience in the beauty or fashion industry. Any recommendations? We are outside of Boston.

Customer Response Rates & Recency

Mark Lee — Thur, 23 Apr 2009 15:15:17 GMT

Hi all,

I'm trying to get a better set of "benchmark" curves for what typically happens to customer catalog response rates from different recency groups. For example, if your 0-6mo buyers pull 4.0%, what would 7-12mo, 13-18mo, 19-24mo, etc. pull? Anyone willing to share the ranges they tend to see (this could be on an indexed basis)?

Also, what steps would you take if you believe the fall-off seems too steep?

Thanks in advance!

Customer Response Rates & Recency

Mark Lee — Thur, 23 Apr 2009 15:14:26 GMT

3rd party prepress

Mary-Nell Bockman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:51:34 GMT

I'm interested in experience with using a 3rd party vendor (not your printer) for image color work and cloning/silo/Photoshop work and final file prep. We do all page layout and design in-house (not looking to change this) and currently have our printer do all the image work and swap out our lo-res images with hi-res once we send them page files. What experience do you have:
1. Doing this kind of work in-house?
2. Sending it to a service bureau/vendor?
3. Having your printer do this?

Do you have any recommendations for a service bureau/vendor?
Thanks.
Mary-Nell

Sales Tax on Paper

Bruce Green — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:46:02 GMT

Can anyone provide information regarding whether a sales tax must be paid by a cataloger for paper purchased from a paper supplier? Would this sales tax status necessarily change if the paper were purchased directly from the printer that is producing the catalog?

Website width for 1024 monitors

Chuck Thomas — Thur, 12 Mar 2009 18:56:42 GMT

We are redesigning our website targeting 1024px monitors and are currently considering either 960px or 990px as the width for the actual website.

Has anyone done any research, benchmarking, or have an educated opinion on what is the best website width when designing for 1024px monitor resolution?

Slim-Jim print and co-mail partners

Charles McAlpine — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:20:26 GMT

If you are printing and mailing a slim-jim catalog and wish to partner in the savings a combined print and mailing would offer please respond. I represent a company who has marketed jewelry for many years through a monthly mail order catalog.

Response Rate for a free gift

Marybeth — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:41:16 GMT

Is there an 'industry standard' % that should be used to measure response rate against for a free gift/item?

return postage-paid label

Bruce Green — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:54:06 GMT

For those of you that are supplying a return postage-paid label with each and every order that you send out, how much are you deducting from the value of the customer's return? Also, how are you dealing with the customer who insists that he or she sent back the return using the postage-paid label yet your warehouse has no record of receiving it?

Anyone know basic contest rules?

Andy Beall — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:58:00 GMT

Hi NEMOA's

We are thinking about doing a simple contest on our web site.

"Enter your email address to have a chance to win a Leather Briefcase!"

Does anyone know the basic rules that we need to comply with to make our contest legal?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Andy Beall
Empire Imports
Amherst MA

NY State Nexus case with Amazon and Overstock

Laura Hnatow — Thur, 22 Jan 2009 21:18:20 GMT

I'm sure many saw the article in multichannel merchant here regarding Nexus and online sales in the state of NY.

I'm curious to know if NEMOA is getting involved and partnering with the DMA on this issue. It has the potential to set a precedent for other states that could dramatically impact internet sales, thereby compromising multichannel marketers' growth strategies.

Interested to hear more on this and perhaps at the upcoming Conferences.

Laura

NCOA huge catalog return

Joyce Monaco — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:23:03 GMT

We are receiving a much larger address return with our January mailing than we have in the last 3 years. Is anyone else seeing this? And if so what do you think the reason may be.

Letter Writing Effort to Lower Postage Rates - We Need Your Help!

Chris Bradley — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:52:39 GMT

There is a chance right now to get a rollback of postage rates included in the Obama economic stimulus package. If we concentrate on getting Congress to eliminate the overfunding of the retiree health care fund, we have a shot at getting relief. This would not increase the deficit so it seems to be an easy way to give our industry a boost. Everyone in the catalog industry needs to get in touch with their senators and congressmen and make the case.

Below is a sample of a letter directed to a senator - please modify this for your use and send it to your congressional delegation ASAP:

I am writing to alert you to the effect that current postage rates are having on XXXXXXXXXX during these very tough economic times, and to make a suggestion as to what you can do to help us.

The rate shock that we experienced when catalog rates went up 20% in 2007 is now being combined with the weakest retail environment in several decades, and the effect is to put all catalogers in serious trouble. My company is cutting the number of pages in our catalogs and we have fewer names available to profitably mail: this trend is typical in the catalog industry as businesses are shrinking. Paper and printing prices are stable, but postage is the largest part of our catalogs cost and it remains high. If postage rates do not come down I expect the catalog industrys downward spiral will continue and XXXXXXXXXX to be under sharp pressure to cut expenses and jobs.

The USPS could cut postage rates for catalogs if they were allowed by Congress to stop overfunding retiree health care benefits this is where you could help.

The USPS is currently paying more than $5 billion each year (as required by PAEA) into a federal fund that now stands at $30 billion. These payments are currently scheduled to continue until 2016. In addition, the USPS pays the healthcare cost on a current basis for all the retirees on the books today. This amounts to some $2.2 billion each year, covering 100% of the current expense. Clearly the two payments are overkill and the effect is to put an unnecessary burden on current rate payers. This unnecessary burden is the underlying reason for high postage rates and the catalog industrys downward spiral.

The first thing Congress could do to help catalogers is to revisit the PAEA requirement and suspend it for a few years so the USPS could roll back rates and get catalog volume growing again. Requiring the USPS to only fund current retiree health benefits would free-up over $5 billon annually to be used to roll back rates. Congressmen Danny Davis and John McHugh have introduced bill H.R. 7313 to reduce the pension burden on the Postal Service and have asked House leadership to include this provision in the developing Obama economic stimulus package. I ask you to provide similar leadership on this issue in the Senate.

If Congress suspended payments to the health care fund you would also need to mandate that the savings be used to rollback rates, rather than diverting those funds toward higher USPS expenses. PMG Potter has made significant progress in driving costs out of the Postal Service and this work needs to continue. The viability of the catalog industry depends on an affordable USPS.

Rolling back postage rates for catalogs to 2006 levels would be an efficient technique to stimulate the economy. Lower rates enable catalogers to mail larger quantities, which in turn require longer print runs and more paper. Mailing more catalogs drives sales volume, keeping catalog workers employed, and the volume spreads to our suppliers as we buy more goods and services. A postage rate rollback would help boost the economy, but it would also allow the USPS and the catalog industry the time we need to develop the rate and volume structures necessary to turn the catalog industry around.

Suspending the overfunding of USPS retiree health care benefits makes perfect sense regardless of the economic impact, but we have a catalog industry in crisis and a nation in deep recession, so swift action on this matter is critical. Thank you for considering my request for your help. I will follow-up with your staff to answer any questions they may have.

Blogs

Joan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:16:47 GMT

Any recommendations on blog software? Internal hosting or external hosting? We're just entering this century and are creating a blog! Txs.