ECMOD 2008 Preview
Welcome
to the Advice Centre
A joint initiative of Catalogue/e-business 3 Get an outside opinion on your business structure, finance
and The Catalogue Exchange, the Advice
and forecasting. You should always have financial and legal
Centre makes its debut at ECMOD. Robert
professionals review your overall business structure and finance.
Seeing how others structure a business can help you determine
Colquhoun of Direct Consult explains the best way to improve your own. It can also help you gain new
techniques for appraising business structure, reviewing important
Y
es, you can get something for nothing: a free
issues such as data compliance and reducing your overheads.
consultation with an industry expert.
Other related areas that can benefit from the advice of an outside
During the two days of ECMOD—1st and 2nd October—
expert include planning and management of capital expenditures,
the Advice Centre will be offering obligation-free, confidential,
evaluating and managing risk, and overall reporting, forecasting
30-minute, one-to-one consultations at zero cost exclusively
and modelling functions.
for Catalogue Exchange client-side members. Providing the
expertise will be a panel of independent consultants, all Catalogue
4 If you’re funding, buying or selling a business, don’t go it alone.
Exchange associate members. The sessions are available strictly
Raising capital, financing an expansion, managing overdrafts,
on a prebooked, first-come-first-served basis. If you are not yet
getting the maximum value for your business—none of it is easy.
a member of CatEx this is a great time to join; for details visit
You may need help with your business plan and projections or
www.CatalogueExchange.co.uk or phone 01271 855545.
approaching funding sources. Experienced help in acquiring
You will find a booking form at the CatEx website, and you can
and selling businesses should pay for itself by minimising fees,
book as many sessions as you like on any direct marketing topic
helping you avoid pitfalls and reducing risk.
or problem you wish.
A quick consult on consultants
5 Take a closer look at buying and merchandising. More-efficient
It’s a bit ironic that I’m now a consultant myself, because I used to
buying and inventory practices lead directly to increased margin
take a rather negative view of consultancy. But as CEO of multititle
and reduced costs. A consultant can help you review your supply
cataloguer Dream Direct I learned to approach a consultancy
chain strategy as well as show you how to optimise supplier
project as a straightforward process of seeking advice, such as
communication, terms and forecasting to improve availability,
you might from a respected friend or colleague who has been
margin, stock turn and returns and to reduce stockouts. Another
there and done it.
area where a consultant might be able to help: managing credit
Here are a few basic suggestions to help you get the most from
limits to maximise discretionary and insured credit.
the Advice Centre, and from consultants in general:
6 Don’t grow complacent regarding your marketing efforts.
1 Request a health check and benchmarking. Consultants are
Regardless of how lovely your print catalogue is, how whiz-bang
frequently asked to provide these services to identify where the
your ecommerce site, how catchy your adverts, there’s always
maximum potential for improvement may lie—or to put it another
room for improvement when it comes to multichannel marketing.
way, to identify the quick wins.
A few areas you might want to have a consultant help with:
catalogue planning and analysis to improve range and pricing
2 Review your overall strategy. A well-defined strategy is
and optimise pagination.
essential. A consultant can help you redefine your strategy or
improving the ecommerce journey to maximise conversion and
address new markets, sectors and customers, always focusing on
order value.
the best possible customer proposition. This entails
tests, incentives, adverts, offers and alternative routes to
understanding your market, the competition, your customers
market.
and their buying to improve positioning, proposition and
reviewing catalogue production and distribution costs.
performance—and understanding the opportunities and
understanding customer lifetime value and the cost of
the risks.
acquisition.
looking at your product, ranging and pricing to improve
planning multichannel campaigns with a balance of targeted
your proposition.
and broadcast, online and offline media and offers.
defining your growth rate and financial and database targets.
understanding your database to optimise database
defining your proposition, the customer experience, your
efficiency and profit.
multichannel marketing and media mix, and your infrastructure
selecting the right agencies, service providers and technology.
and processes.
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