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Creating a Profitable Catalog: Everything You Need to Know to Create a Catalog That Sells

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Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 659.133 EAN: 9780658000645 ISBN: 0658000640 Label: McGraw-Hill Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: 2000-04-01 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Studio: McGraw-Hill
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Good direct marketing reference Comment: This is a great book for understanding all aspects of creating a Direct Marketing company or a direct marketing program within your company. The basics and then some are in this book. Well written in that it kept my attention from new ideas and way it was written. Customer Rating: Summary: Just About Everything You Need to Know Comment: Virtually every company that makes things has to ahve a catalog. It's the thing that tells your customers what you do and gives them the detailed information that they need to make a decision. Catalogs began with the mail order industry where the technology grew to measure sales return per square inch of paper. Over time, the professionals learned what worked and what didn't. Then when everything was working pretty well, the Internet came along and changed all the rules. All of a sudden space was endless, no more big checks to the printers. Communications was essentially free, no more big checks to the post office. The rules changed because the option to thumb through the catalog was no longer there. Instead sophisticated search and discover techniques needed to be worked out. Jack Schmid has been in the catalog business, both print and electronic for many years. In this book he passes along dozens, if not hundreds of points. The book covers quite a lot of ground. Much of the book is on the functions that have to be performed whether the catalog is printed, electronic or both. This includs things like product selection, fullfillment, customer service and finance. There is a goodly amount of material on the printed version of the catalog, as these are still required by most companies. There are several points interspersed throughout the book and finally chapters on things like database marketing, the Internet, and more. This is one of the most all inclusive books available on catalog marketing and includes just about everything there is to know. Customer Rating: Summary: The ultimate handbook of catalog selling Comment: If you want to read only one book on the catalog business, make sure you pick this one. I've read more than 5 books in English and German on the catalog subject and Schmid's book is in a class of its own. It promises to cover the entire catalog process, including strategic planning, merchandising, creative, marketing (circulation), fulfillment, testing, and measuring response and ROI. And it delivers on the promise to an extend that I've never seen before. I spend this summer in Cannes, France, and enjoyed Schmid's book in the hot sun. Just couldn't put it aside... His 11 pages long spreadsheet model in appendix includes everything for a new catalog start-up feasibility study ... and provides insight for the budgeting process to more experienced catalogers. [Why doesn't he provide a downloadable version in Excel on his homepage?] The only competitor to this book is probably Katie Muldoon's 1995-publication, which is out of print (her home page says that a new book on the strategic aspects of catalogs is forthcoming). One weakness that all books on cataloging have so far is their unserious treatment of the Internet. Schmid's book is from 2000 and it shows. It doesn't contain solid work on dynamic publishing, which is exploding via the Internet these years. It's not that Schmid doesn't accept that the Internet will be a phenomenal factor, but in this area so much of the catalog processes have been digitized since 2000. Thus, on this promise it doesn't deliver. I still recommend this book as the best source so far to understanding all the catalog processes and hints to improving the bottom-line. Peter Leerskov, MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business Customer Rating: Summary: Don't start a Catalog until you've read this book!!! Comment: This is such a great book for a company that is starting a Catalog business or thinking about it. It covers all aspects of the Catalog business and gives you a checklist of all the necessary tasks to launching a successful catalog. Great book... Customer Rating: Summary: Comprehensive Overview Comment: A wonderful overview of the catalog world with plenty of real-world examples including: ROI calculations, promotions, customer segmentation..... Worth its wieght in gold! More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: "Jack's in-depth knowledge of the catalog market and his exceptional talent for articulating a precise set of how-tos for seemingly every aspect of this complex business are unrivaled. . . . A masterful volume of a highly complex and challenging topic, written by one of the best catalog consultants around." -- Laura Beaudry, Editorial Director Catalog Age "Creating a Profitable Catalog is a comprehensive guide to modern-day cataloging. It includes up-to-the-minute information on concept and creative development, design and production, merchandising, circulation planning, database marketing, operations, and financial management. All of these topics are analyzed in intricate and careful detail as author Jack Schmid guides the reader through every step of building a successful catalog--either in print or on-line. This is a must-have for any aspiring cataloger's library and a welcome addition to the bookshelves of catalog industry veterans. Praise for Creating a Profitable Catalog by Jack Schmid "Jack Schmid is one of this country's best catalog marketers, and he has packed this book full of detailed, practical know-how on each and every aspect of cataloging. This book is important to anyone already working in our industry, but it is indispensable for someone just getting into the business." -- Bill Spaide, Partner Spaide, Kuipers & Company "I consider Jack Schmid to be the number one catalog strategist of our time. His magnificent new book, Creating a Profitable Catalog, is a treasure chest that starts with the year 2000 and goes beyond." -- Bob Stone, Chairman Emeritus Stone & Adler Author of the bestselling Successful Direct Marketing Methods