Fruit and cheese gift basket

Byline: PATRICIA ODELL

Mrs. Beasley's - known for goodies like snowman cookies and lemon cakes - has expanded its product line and launched a new catalog to attract more corporate gift givers.

The 28-page corporate book mailed in two waves between October and this month to 400,000 customers, gift recipients and prospects. Some corporate givers also got a consumer catalog.

In order to accommodate corporate givers' tastes, the gift basket marketer refocused and expanded its product offerings from strictly baked goods to include about 30 new products like wine, cheese, fruit and Ghirardelli chocolate, as well as a line of Belgian chocolate.

"Corporate budgets are tight this year," Mrs. Beasley's CEO Ken Harris said. "It became very important to us to offer a wide range of products and prices to satisfy their budget criteria."

The 8-1/2-inch-by-6-inch catalog is organized into clearly labeled product sections such as baskets, gifts under $30, cookies, chocolates and executive gifts. A new "Custom Greetings" section shows products such as iced greeting cards that feature scanned corporate logos or photographs in the icing.

About $250,000 of the firm's $1.5 million marketing budget was diverted from print and TV ads to push the catalog effort.

Co-branded baskets debuted in both the consumer and corporate catalogs, pairing FAO Schwarz plush stuffed animals with edible goodies. Mrs. Beasley's corporate parent, Kayne Anderson Investment, is the principal shareholder in FAO Inc., Harris said.

Harris credited the new catalog and product offerings for an increase in holiday sales of about 42% above last year and 15% ahead of 2000. He said new customers were being picked up and inactives were being reactivated faster than in the past.

Mrs. Beasley's decided to start up the corporate book after market research identified 70% of its holiday clients as corporate buyers. The research also indicated that these buyers preferred a gift basket with a variety of products rather than baskets with just fresh-baked goods.

Total holiday circ - including a drop of 500,000 consumer catalogs in three waves - was 900,000, double that of last year's holiday mailing. The consumer catalog went up from 24 to 36 pages to accommodate the new offerings. The company mails 2 million catalogs annually and expects sales to reach $20 million in 2003.

Mrs. Beasley's Web site (www.mrsbeasleys.com) has been redesigned to include the new products.