Thoughts

After being in this business for as long as we have, we've come up with a lot of "tips and tricks" as well as general advice for retailers who want to bring in more customers, increase revenues, and project a stronger brand. Feel free to peruse these articles and profit off our ideas. After all, we wrote them for you. And if you don't see a topic you're interested in, send us a note -- we probably have some relevant thoughts we'd be happy to share.

What to Expect from a Creative Agency

What should you expect from a creative agency? After 30-something years in this industry, I’ve talked to a lot of catalogers and a lot of creative agencies. And I’ve found that there are a lot of opinions about what a creative agency does, is good at, should do, shouldn’t do, doesn’t (but should) do, can’t […]

Focus, Focus, Focus

How can you make a bigger than normal impact with your catalog, showcase your existing products in a new way, and make customers (and prospects) sit up and take notice? A focused lookbook or, as I call it, a FocusBook. A FocusBook is typically smaller (either physically smaller or a lower page count) than your […]

UX for Catalogs

During my stint at a web/ecommerce agency, I learned a lot about User Experience design (also known as “UX”). It’s really the only way to plan out an ecommerce website design because it forces the issue of figuring out, in advance, how a visitor to the site will navigate and ultimately find (and buy) products. […]

Cutting Through the Ecommerce Clutter

bout a month ago, I needed a new coffee grinder. And I knew exactly which one I needed. Not just any coffee grinder – a really cool one with a built-in scale so that every morning when I was ready to make my cappuccino, I could measure out precisely 18 grams of coffee and make […]

This Probably Won’t Interest You

What if I told you that there was an easy and relatively effortless way for you to increase your revenues, bring in new customers, raise your conversion rate, position your brand more powerfully, and maybe even turn your whole business around? Well, if you are like 95% of retailers, you would say “no thanks!” and […]

Is Creative Worth the Paper It’s Printed On?

While walking around a city I happened to be visiting, I spied a store that I recognized. Well, their catalog was really what I knew – I had never been into one of their stores before. I was curious to see their products as I remembered their catalog (which I hadn’t seen in quite a […]