ACCM Attendance: The show had about 500-700 attendees from what I could tell.  Like many of the shows we have attended this year the number of attendance looked to be down 50% to 80% from prior years.  Penton took a bath on both NCOF and ACCM this year.  There is a question in my mind about the viability of two independent shows; I know they are two different audiences.

I will say that those who attended appeared to be decision makers.  In my speech on dashboards and KPIs more than 75% of the attendees were new to ACCM. Interesting mix of e-commerce and multichannel managers.  If you would like a copy of my PowerPoints, e-mail me at cbarry@fcbco.com.

Companies’ Results: As someone said to me, “The new standard is to be only 10% off plan.”  I met many where sales were off more than that even when plan wasn’t very aggressive.  Companies with unique product offerings are doing far better than companies with stock or open market product.  Jack Rosenfeld, Chairman, Potpourri Collection and Sheryl Clark, President, Boston Proper, during the Monday luncheon panel both emphasized the importance of this.  And they cited that their apparel businesses were doing well because they were tuned into the customer.

I did meet a number of niche businesses that seemed to be doing better than the average.  They struck me as having unique product niche’s and unique marketing approaches.  One of them has grown to $200 million in sales in 2008 from being a start up in 2000!  What’s interesting to me is that they aren’t catalog or category merchants.  They opportunistically market products that they think will sell – they don’t try to fit it under an existing title. They also test product and don’t buy product initially.  We can be critical of the customer service/inventory approach but it’s interesting in terms of sales growth and profitability.

Leisure and hobby product companies seemed to be holding their own.

While there are many companies which are losing money, there were comments about people being surprised that more haven’t shut down already.

Many people expressed increased optimism with the improved stock market of the last 5 weeks.  I think it’s really important for the leadership of this industry to remain optimistic.  Without hope we don’t have anything.  Some days I know it’s tough.

One of the largest business to business list brokers told me that many of their clients were doing OK (meaning flat to down 5%) until this past month when business declined further.  No idea why last month was out of the norm with the trend.

Prospecting: Many companies are excited about the possibilities of the USPS “summer sale” on postage.  My hat’s off to American Catalog Mailer’s Association (ACMA) for the work they have done with the USPS to help them understand the effects the postage increases have negatively had on our industry. Since July 2007 the ACMA estimates catalog mail volume is down 35%. The year-to-date net loss is $2.5 billion for the USPS compared to LY’s $35 million loss. To learn more about what the ACMA is doing for catalog businesses or to join this great association, please visit ACMA’s website, www.catalogmailers.org

Holiday 2009: Companies seem to be delaying Holiday mailing plans to see a few more “economic tea leaves”.  Paper and printing seems to be available.  It’ll be interesting to see how circulation plans pan up.

Measuring E-commerce promotional response: As we work with clients on our co-developed dashboard and analytical software product (with Taurus Software, Manage Metrix, managemetrix.com), we don’t see companies being very analytical about measuring E-commerce promotional breakeven.  Companies are not measuring the profitability of the promotions.  I asked this question in a number of ACCM sessions.  No one seems to have been motivated to doing this.  In my opinion, this should be a priority given that e-commerce marketing is 2% to 15% in our client companies on top of the catalog marketing costs of 25% to 35% of net sales.

That’s my take on ACCM 2009.  Did you go?  What’s happening in your world?

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Eco-Shape Bottle

Poland Spring

Our bottle looks and feels different because it is

purposely designed with an average of 30% less plastic

to be easier on the environment.

We can all make a difference, please recycle.

On August 12^th I wrote on our blog about the need for the catalog industry to “Trumpet Your Green Efforts.” Now I thought to myself, here is a product that I’m sure has a major carbon footprint, but Poland Spring has taken a big practical step to help the environment and diffuse some of the environmental objections. On the Poland Spring website, I later found that the bottle also:

Is made with 30% less plastic than the average half-liter bottle
Features a new label that’s 30% smaller
Is 100% recyclable
Is flexible so it’s easier to crush for recycling
Easy to Carry

A few days later I was looking through the AAA (auto club) magazine and spotted that same recycling symbol, with this statement:

All trees used to manufacture paper for our magazine were harvested from sustainably managed forests. Recycling old magazines and catalogs is one of the easiest ways to help the environment. We urge our readers to support recycling efforts in their communities.

This begs the question, how much more are you planning to do with your business whether it’s recycling office waste, using lighter paper weights, using soy-based inks or supporting environmental issues? Not to mention, are you selling recycled cartons and wastes from your distribution center at a profit?

Through publishing and mailing millions of catalogs, you are in control of a major outlet for communicating your own environmental efforts, and for advocating that consumers do the same. Without the consumer taking action and doing their part in recycling, little will be achieved. The “Green Movement” is gaining momentum; are you doing what you can to make sure you are a participant, and not a target?

(Poland Spring Eco-Shape Bottle is a trademark of Nestlé Waters North America Inc.)

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Citing the current USPS regulation case as an example of precisely the sort of situation that the ACMA means to help members resolve to their greatest benefit as an industry, a letter from the officers (Executive Director Hamilton Davison, Chairman Neil Sexton, and Membership VP Ralph Drybrough) makes the point that the new organization is not interested in competing with such groups as the DMA, NEMOA, or PostCom, but rather in focusing on catalog-specific issues.

ACMA membership, which has an initial annual dues assessment of $5,000, will include not only catalog mailers but printers, designers, list managers, Website developers—“and others who derive their livelihood from a vibrant catalog marketing industry”— and multichannel direct marketers “have a substantial portion of their activities directed to the production and mailing of catalogs.” Charter members of the American Catalog Mailers Association include American Girl, Gardeners Supply, Lillian Vernon, Market Force, Northern Safety Co., J. Schmid & Assoc., Inc., Pet Edge, Taylor, and Vcom, over 30 members in all in this initial phase. Besides Davison, Sexton, and Drybrough, named above, the initial board of directors includes Don Libey, Michael Muoio, Mark Taxel, and Don Treis.

The American Catalog Mailers Association Web site is currently under construction, but it is scheduled to be up and running by mid-May (you can bookmark it at http://www.catalogmailers.org). Right now, in order to contact the organization directly the number to call is (800) 509-9514; the organization’s offices are at:

American Catalog Mailers Association, Inc.
2001 K Street NW
Suite 206
Washington, DC 20006

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Thanks to several quickly organized protests—see the March 6 post on this blog below, for instance—hundreds of letters went to the USPS board of governors last week, asking them to reconsider or reject the PRC’s recommended rates. In addition, we understand that hundreds of companies attended what turned out to be a sometimes heated open forum of the USPS Board of Governors a few days ago.

The rates for flat mailings in particular are twice what the USPS proposed, according to DM News. The Board of Governors announced two days ago (March 19) their approval of the recommended changes. However, the Board allowed three of those changes under protest, and resubmitted them to the PRC to consider mitigation. The three changes to be reconsidered include: 1) rates for standard mail flats; 2) surcharges on first-class, non-machinable mail; and 3) flat-rate Priority Mail box fees.

Catalogers must nevertheless plan for significantly higher-than-expected flat mailing rates to take effect May 14.

The DMA hosted a Webinar yesterday (March 20) on the rate case to give mailers an update and to explain how the proposed rates could impact bottom lines and operations. We’ll provide a recp of the webinar here, so check back soon.

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If any of the friends and readers of Curt’s blog have any clout with the Postal Board of Governors, now is the time to exercise it.

For months we’ve been expecting a 7-9% rate increase, mid year this year.. Now at the 11th hour, it appears that true rate increase for catalog mailers if going to be much higher than that.

In fact, Haggin Marketing asked its printers to estimate the likely impact on some current mailings. Their resulting forecast is an 18% increase. The news is worse for small catalogers who mail in limited quantity. A friend, who heads marketing for a $10mm a year cataloger told me he estimates their rate increase to be 28% or four hundred thousand a year.

A rate increase of this size is simply unbearable and unforgivable.

This week we have a last minute chance to make our vices heard. Below is the information for complaining to the BOG; take the time to write. The job you save may be your own.

Communicating to the Board of Governors regarding the PRC’s recommendation for the R2006-1 rate case.

If the Postal Service wants to hear directly from postage ratepayers, then let’s have them hear from postage ratepayers. Anyone who has gotten burned by this decision should immediately fire off a letter to the Governors of the Postal Service to tell them what the impact of this decision is likely to be on their business.

Whatever you do, DON’T tell the Governors that you’re just upset about being asked to pay more postage. Make the impact on your business clear.

Be sure to explain that since the recommended increases are substantially higher than even the Postal Service proposed, you are going to take steps to reduce your use of the mail. You don’t want to take about percentage rate increases. You want to talk about dollar increase in cost per thousand (You don’t need to give them details–just that “on average my cost per thousand will increase by X dollars and that you’re going to curtail volume, not selectively–i.e. at the ADC or Mixed ADC level–but across the board.

Your letter has to be filed with the Secretary of the Board of Governors not later than Thursday, March 8. Your letter should be addressed to:

The Honorable James C. Miller III
Chairman, Board of Governors
U.S. Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Rm 10300
Washington, DC 20260-1000

Now, here’s the bit of irony. DON’T mail your letter. USPS mail still gets irradiated, and there is a delay in when this mail gets delivered.

FAX your letter into the USPS at 202-268-5472

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