Catalogs Relying Heavily on Sales Statistics

As competition in the catalog business intensifies, companies increasingly are relying on sophisticated statistical analysis and complex computer calculations to figure out with tremendous accuracy exactly what will sell to whom and why. Techniques catalogers are using include sorting and cross-checking multimillion-name mailing lists based on what people have bought from which catalog, how they paid for it, how much they bought, when they bought it and even whether they returned it or wrote the company a thank-you note. In the catalog business, minuscule gains in the percentage of people who respond to a pitch can translate into huge sales. If a company sends out 100 million catalogs--typical for a large cataloger--and 3% of recipients place an order, that’s 3 million orders. If that catalog can increase its response rate by a quarter of a percentage point, that’s 250,000 more orders--and that business is gravy.