Case Study
Catalog Printing and Distribution
Client Problem:
Andy’s company sells pond supplies as a wholesale distributor. A large part of their marketing budget is printing and distribution of an annual catalog. Every year Andy checked print pricing with 3 printers and thought their costs were in line. They also spent their slower winter season stuffing, addressing and mailing catalogs. But they found it took weeks to get the catalogs into the hands of their customers and they had difficulty getting it all done before the spring buying season began.
The PPI Solution:
Printing – What Andy didn’t realize is that catalog printing, like many printed products, is highly specialized. We went to work checking prices with our trusted catalog printers and we were able to reduce catalog printing costs from $30,000 per year to about $20,000. In addition they got a better quality product (including UV coating and perfect binding) delivered in half the time.
Catalog Distribution – While it seemed like a good idea to stuff and address the catalogs themselves, we showed them that spending a few hundred dollars to have catalogs addressed, sorted and delivered to the Post Office in bulk would save them thousands in postage and get catalogs in the mail in 2 days instead of weeks.
Added benefit: In recent years the company had found it increasingly difficult to get pricing from suppliers in time to get catalogs printed and to customers in time for the heavy spring sales season. By dramatically reducing printing and mailing times, our customer can now easily beat the season.
Mailing List – In the process of working with the customer on mailing we realized that they were using an outdated prospecting list. We helped them obtain a current, specifically targeted list that has helped them maximize returns from their catalog mailings.
At the end of the project, Andy ended up with a more professional looking catalog that cost less, was produced faster and delivered more timely to a higher quality mailing list.