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Summing up the summit
M
any of you reading this will hopefully have attended the CatEx Annual Summit on 7th June at the Kensington Town Hall. Personally, I thought it was the best one
I have attended to date as the flow of the day worked really well, with the focus being on the recruitment of new customers. For those who couldn’t make it, I have been asked to précis the event to give you a flavour of the day’s proceedings. Apologies if it is succinct but these were taken from my notes as useful to my business, so hope they are to you too. During the morning, we had presentations
from an eclectic mix of large and small, b-to-c and b-to-b companies. The presentations came thick and fast, starting with Emma Devlin, head of customer marketing at Direct Wines, who explained how the traditional direct mail model at Laithwaites has been turned on its head by web and DRTV, to the extent that web and DRTV are its biggest recruitment channels now. Emma also spoke of the halo effect of TV and more channels to market, but with the added complexity of measuring the econometric effect of this halo so we can find out accurate profitability by media. Nick Rawlings, marketing director at Lands’ End, made a very relevant point that retention was predictable but acquisition fluctuated. Lands’ End finds it is key to do a promotion to get the first order. Nick recommended investing in online and looking at new technology and markets, as people are increasingly communicating through social networks and technology—will smartphones and tablets make the home PC defunct? Simon Rigby, director of CLP Discount
Office Supplies, grows his business through a mix of online and traditional recruitment, with attention to detail and customer service being of paramount importance. He predicts further future recruitment will come from online
innovation and asked a very poignant question in summary: in the future, will we see the end of the catalogue? In his presentation, Stuart Paver, managing
director of Pavers Shoes, highlighted what a complex dilemma tracking multichannel retail is. Pavers recently successfully launched a dedicated TV channel in partnership with The Broadcast House. As well as selling direct through traditional mail order and the web, it also has more than 100 stores and sees a definite halo effect from the TV channel. Stuart said that industry stats estimate for every TV sale, there are up to four sales via other channels. Tuesday Porter, head of business
development at Charles Tyrwhitt, brought some good-old-fashioned marketing techniques to the table, reminding us it’s all about AIDA—Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. At Charles Tyrwhitt, the focus is very much on the “action”, with great offers to deliver cost- effective results. Again, the dreaded halo effect reared its ugly head: are we all going to turn into brand managers advocating above-the-line promotions? I can just see Nigel Swabey shaking his head in bemusement! Following on that theme of branding and
the importance of looking at things freshly, Natasha Cubitt, managing director of The Handpicked Collection, demonstrated that sometimes having no preconceptions and doing things differently, can work. The Handpicked Collection has expert panels recommending products, very brand and lifestyle with no product shots on the front cover of the catalogue. But it’s growing well. It reminds me of the days when I was in the health supplement market when Healthspan, too, had a similar approach and became twice the size of anyone in the market. And they put the line-listing order form on the back cover—Nigel will be in apoplectic shock when he reads this. The networking lunch was followed by
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Tactics Views
By Graham Winn
roundtable hosted forums for discussion that always prove popular. I defy anyone not to come away from that without a couple of thought- provoking ideas. Abacus then presented its Annual Trends
report. As we know, the health of the direct commerce market is closely aligned to consumer confidence. We all know 2009 was a rocky year but 2010 showed growth in the first three quarters. The last quarter had to cope with the after-effects of the general election, tightening of economic policy and that killer of bad Christmas weather, which ruined a lot of our final quarter figures; I am one of them as flowers don’t like being kept in warehouses for days in subzero temperatures! Overall, industry revenue was up year-on-year by 7.4 percent; the mature clothing sector was up 24 percent, but high-end clothing down 23 percent. Home interiors showed growth, but were people holding back in 2009 and spending before the VAT rise in 2011? Generally, direct commerce seemed to be more active in 2010 and so reflected an increase in activity and revenue having perhaps been conservative in 2009. It’s going to be an interesting story when we review the 2011 figures. To round up the day, CatEx deputy chairman
Tim Curtis updated members on the planned rebrand of Catalogue Exchange to “CatEx Direct Commerce Association”. The advisory board feels it is time to reflect the increase in multichannel and its effect on our businesses, as we are no longer mere “cataloguers”: TV, ecommerce, m-commerce, F- and t-commerce? Please feel free to contact any of the board members and give us your views on this.
Flowercard director and co-owner Graham Winn is a member of the CatEx Direct Commerce Association advisory board.
www.abacusdirect.com info@abacusdirect.com +44 (0)20 8943 8000
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