Catalogues Drop Prices for the Holiday
Catalogue companies are trying to pry dollars from cautious consumers with a broader selection of lower-priced items and delivery by Christmas for last-minute shoppers.
Lands’ End features 172 items for under $20. Neiman Marcus offers Federal Express delivery on most items at no extra charge. Lillian Vernon guarantees Christmas Eve delivery of any gift ordered by Dec. 21. L.L. Bean offers free gift cards and free gift boxes complete with “do not open until Christmas” labels.
Catalogue companies are hoping the strategy turns around a weak selling climate that has left some firms in tatters. Hit by the same shopping slump that has hurt retail stores, such well-known catalogue firms as Joan Cook and the Company Store have sought bankruptcy protection. The price of Lands’ End stock has fallen nearly 30% since April on disappointing earnings prospects. The Christmas shopping season is important to the industry, accounting for one-third of an estimated $50 billion in annual sales.
Though less important this year, hopelessly impractical gifts haven’t disappeared from sight. For under the tree, Neiman Marcus is selling a four-car miniature electric freight train decked with rubies, diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. The price tag: $100,000.
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As for unwanted catalogues: Christmas is the time of year when consumers think about removing their names from mailing lists. To prevent unwanted catalogues from piling up next year, you can write the Direct Marketing Assn. Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 3861, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10163. Give your name and address, and state that you no longer want to receive unsolicited mail. The DMA will put your name on a list that goes to 3,000 direct marketing companies.
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Interesting choice: Credit cards issued by department stores or consumer electronics stores may not be the cheapest choice for consumers planning to charge holiday purchases. While the average rate on bank-issued cards (Visa and Mastercard) has dropped to 16.9%, according to Ram Research of Frederick, Md., the rate on many department store cards remains in the stratosphere.
Circuit City charges 20.5% interest on credit purchases. Silo charges 22.6% on credit accounts opened to make holiday purchases. Bullocks, which raised its rate earlier this year, charges 21.6%, as does Montgomery Ward.
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Your money gets away: Who pays for the “free” air fare to Mexico or Hawaii in Mervyn’s “Get Away” travel promotion? Paul Brooks, the Culver City marketing specialist who put the promotion together for the department store chain, said the hotels aren’t picking up the tab, as he mistakenly told us two weeks ago. He said the air fare is covered by what Mervyn’s shoppers pay for their hotel rooms. (The deal, you recall, requires participants to stay at specified hotels for at least seven days.) Some deal.
