Content area
Full text
The cataloger/retailer is enhancing its abilities to dialog with its customers by investing $1.5 million to build a database system that will move seamlessly between catalog and retail consumer purchasing histories.
This article is the second in a three-part series that profiles unique direct marketers who can only be described as "out-of-the-box thinkers." In our first piece, we visited with Bloomingdale's Susan Harvey who shared with us her thoughts on the benefits of one-to-one direct marketing opportunities. Here we examine why The J. Peterman Company's Arnie Cohen is a one of a kind marketer. The final article of this series will introduce Cathy Halligan of Williams-Sonoma, Inc., whose style is very different from Susan's or Amie's, yet clearly she too is a remarkable out-of-the-box thinker.
The J. Peterman Company, with its distinctive catalog and its expanding retail presence, is at an exciting juncture in its growth, poised for a carefully planned period of rapid expansion. It was to Arnie Cohen that John Peterman turned to help him take his company to that next level, knowing that he needed to bring expertise on board to expand the brand and to gain capitalization. In July 1997 Annie joined The J. Peterman Company as president and CEO. At that time, working capital agreements were struck and new equity partners, Brand Equity Ventures and BMO Nesbitt Burns, were brought into the company. Since joining the company, Arnie has worked with Peterman to develop a Five-Year Strategic Plan while opening five stores in twelve months. Four more stores were slated to open before February 1999.
One of the items on J. Peterman's ambitious fiveyear plan is to take the company public within the next eighteen to twenty-four months. Arnie understands that building a retail component at J. Peterman is vital to aid Wall Street in evaluating the company. He knows all too well that while Wall Street has a difficult time measuring the performance of direct mail companies, stock analysts routinely use comparative store sales to measure retail performance.
Commenting on the importance of database marketing analysis, Arnie discussed the role that Abacus Direct played during the company's crucial period of recapitalization. He observed, "The MIS reports we received from Abacus exceeded our expectations. We first used them...