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©2011 Catalogue Development Centre Ltd. 34
August has, once more, lived up to its reputation as being the month in which those that “do” get more done than at any other time of the year. It may sound harsh, but surely this is because of the reduction in pointless distractions caused by the never- ending need that some seem to have to copy everyone and their dog in on every single email they send. It is a joy when these people go off on their holidays because you know you’ll be able to get a darned sight more done without them clogging up your inbox and needlessly slowing you down. Every email that lands in the inbox is, like it or not, an intrusion and needs to be, at the very least, deleted. Leads one to ask what right do all these silly people—usually within your own company—have to persistently abuse the email facility the business has provided for them. There are some who you dearly wish you had never employed, such is their juvenile waste of your time and theirs with this nonsense. It isn’t just me that gets annoyed with those who cannot communicate the simplest of facts without issuing paragraph after paragraph of pointless prose. Or those who seem to have forgotten that it is quicker and more efficient to pick up the phone or ask a question in person than it is to compose and send yet another longwinded email. Big company background people seem to suffer from this
addiction to email more than those from smaller businesses—perhaps because they feel the need to justify their existence on an hourly basis? Perhaps they are more insecure, who knows? Whatever. Enough is enough. I was asked just last week if there is a training course or book out there that teaches execs the principles of efficient daily business communication. I couldn’t find one but hopefully someone out there can recommend an up-to-date training course or book on business communication time management that every single businessperson should be able to access. In fact, if we find one we’ll look to review it as soon as we can! Meanwhile, just have to mention that the
ECMOD Direct Commerce Show conference programme is a beauty this year. Packed full of business leaders sharing their secrets, loaded with how to’s and insights, and including some fabulous new sessions for small businesses and start-ups. It’ll also set the stage for the new Because Print Works campaign, which is a joint initiative between this mag and our parent company to ensure that the power of print is fully recognised and is one of the principal triggers for the increase in online sales. Proof of the pudding: you’re reading this aren’t you?
S-cuttlebutt@catalog-biz.com Catalogue Log
Our first Catalogue Log blog post was published in June 2009 to analyse the trends in catalogue mailing volumes—you can read the archive at
www.catalog-biz.com. In June 2011, we published stats summarising our findings. For readers of our print edition, we’ve updated those figures to include July’s mailings. What have we learned since our very first post?
* To date, 2011 has had the highest
percentage of catalogues promoting a sale or discount, with an average of 47.5 percent of catalogues doing so every month.
* Free delivery was most popular in 2010, * Offering a free gift with purchase is
offered, on average, by 1 in 5 catalogues per month.
normally a staple promotion on b-to-b catalogue covers. So far in 2011, an average 13.4 percent of catalogues a month feature a freebie on their front cover.
Direct Commerce Catalogue e-business
www.catalog-biz.com
* Free shipping is not a popular offer in * The most promotional month to date,
June.
offering a combination of sales, free p&p or free gifts, was July 2011, when 69 percent of catalogues featured some sort of special offer on the cover.
* We received an average of 125 catalogues
a month in 2009 and 111 catalogues a month in 2010.
* In the first seven months of 2011
we logged a monthly average of 102 catalogues.
* Overall, in terms of volume, we tracked 81
catalogues in June 2010, that’s 8 percent more than last year (75 catalogues), but 42 percent less than June 2009 (140 catalogues).
Miri Thomas, editor
miri@catalog-biz.com
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