Wedding parent gift idea

Jane & Co.

to capture the hearts and decorating dollars of younger consumers, Nancy Fitzpatrick started Jane & Co, a Lee, MA-based spin-off of the Country Curtains catalog. Fitzpatrick, daughter of Country Curtains owners Jane and Jack Fitzpatrick, aims to attract a younger audience than the parent catalog with its selection of window treatments and other home decor items, such as rugs, lamps, and duvet covers.

The premiere edition dropped in early September, though spokesperson Leslie Belt won't disclose circulation figures. Prices range from $15 for a hanging bud vase set to $59 for Delhi sheer scarf curtains to $185 for a king bedspread. The company will decide how many times a year it will mail the book based on the results of the first mailing.

Jane & Co. used a focus group, or "editorial circle," of women from across the U.S. to help make decisions about choosing product and content for the catalog. The focus group also shared lifestyle information to help the cataloger effectively target its demographic.

Product category: home decor First mailing date: September 2000 Size of mailing: N/A Target customer: young women Competitors: Pottery Barn, Domestications, Smith & Noble Price range: $15-$185 Number of pages: 52 Size: 8" x 11" Telephone: 800-431-6550

Little All-Stars

ken Karlan, founder of Bethel, CT-based licensed sports apparel cataloger Star Struck, has created a niche spin-off of his niche book: a catalog selling licensed baseball attire for children.

Titled Little All-Stars, the kid's catalog was actually the brainchild of a Star Struck buyer who had seen this type of merchandise and pitched the idea as a spin-off. The apparel is licensed by Major League Baseball with official logos.

Little All-Stars launched in mid-August after delays caused by snafus in the licensing procedures and in gathering a complete list of prospects. The company mailed 5% of the 50,000 books to Star Struck customers with children. The other 95% of the names came from the Abacus Alliance co-op database.

Having projected a 2% response rate for the spin-off, Star Struck found the book falling short of expectations two weeks after the initial drop, which spokesperson Missy Robinson attributes to the mailing delays that caused it to miss more than half of the baseball season. The average order is around $35.

Product category: children's apparel First mailing date: August 2000 Size of mailing: 50,000 Target customer: baseball fans with children Competitors: J.C. Penney, Sears Price range: $5-$30 Frequency: three to five times per year Number of pages: 14 Size: 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" Telephone: 877-THE-GAME

The Wedding List

british retailer The Wedding List opened its first U.S. store in New York in 1998 and unveiled a Website soon thereafter. Now the marketer is offering its gifts and registry via a print catalog. The 24-page book mailed in April to a small percentage of its retail customers and a large pool of names from catalogs such as Tiffany and Gump's. The Wedding List distributed additional catalogs in its two U.S. stores, in New York and Boston.

The catalog targets engaged couples and their gift-giving friends--upscale consumers with an annual household income of more than $80,000. Director of marketing Allison Sheehan describes the catalog's initial response as "fair." The catalog's average order is $101.

Sheehan says that the company will expand the catalog to 32 pages and enlarge the trim size from 5" x 7" to 5-1/2" x 8-1/2", though it has not yet determined when. Also, the modest 275,000 initial mailing will increase to a series of four drops of 500,000 starting in 2001.

A partnership with Nordstrom next spring will allow The Wedding List to operate what Sheehan describes as "a store within a store" in select Nordstrom locations.

Product category: wedding gifts First mailing date: April 2000 Size of mailing: 275,000 Target customer: upscale engaged couples and their friends Competitors: Gump's, Tiffany & Co. Price range: $12-$310 Frequency: four times a year Number of pages: 24 Size: 5" x 7" Telephone: 800-810-2030

Company Kids

hanover Direct first tested its Company Kids spin-off of home furnishings for infants, children, and teenagers in its core Company Store bedding catalog and on its Website as a limited sampling of 94 products in October 1999. Then, in April, the children's furnishings concept was unrolled as an independent 64-page catalog selling more than 300 products.

According to Rakesh Kaul, Hanover Direct's president/CEO, Company Kids is a way to strengthen Hanover's position in the home furnishings market. The product range includes linens, beds, rugs, and wall art, as well as slippers and stuffed animals. The catalog mailed to 500,000 names from the Company Store house file. Company Store president Anita Iodice describes the response so far as "beyond our expectations," adding that the spin-off's average order size is consistent with that of the core catalog.

Product category: children's furniture First mailing date: April 2000 Size of mailing: 500,000 Target customer: parents Competitors: Pottery Barn Kids Price range: $10-$1,000 Frequency: six times a year Number of pages: 64 Size: 8" x 11" Telephone: 800-289-8508