This morning we issued an important press release announcing our new merchant partnership agreement. The agreement was crafted to benefit both consumers and businesses. Our team worked with executives from Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, L.L. Bean, Orchard Brands and the American Catalog Mailers Association to develop the new agreement. Hundreds of hours were invested in developing the partnership which provides the foundation for a productive vendor relationship between Catalog Choice and merchants.
What does this agreement mean for consumers and members of Catalog Choice?
It means that more and more merchants will be activating their accounts in the coming weeks and honoring your mail preference requests entered at Catalog Choice for years to come. While some of you may still be receiving unwanted catalogs, the service will be much improved in 2009 because of this agreement.
What does this agreement mean for Merchants already participating in Catalog Choice?
The agreement solidifies our obligation to provide the Merchant with a service that provides secure access to the mail preference requests entered at our site. It also means that more of your colleagues in the industry will be honoring our members’ requests.
What does this agreement mean for the merchants who have yet to activate their Catalog Choice account or have chosen to not participate in our service?
The agreement resolves all of the issues raised by the DMA about our intentions and business practices. It details our agreement to focus on providing high quality vendor services and to not engage in advocacy. We hope that the agreement gives you all the information you need to make an informed decision about accepting the mail preference our members have recorded. For those merchants who have decided not to participate, we hope that the agreement will give you reason to reconsider.
What does this agreement mean for Catalog Choice?
It means that we now have over 285 catalog titles (see them all on Bravo Merchants) who are actively working to honor our members’ mail preferences. It means that we can focus our efforts on being the nation’s leading independent mail preference provider. We can continue to enhance our service for our members – both consumers and merchants. Best of all, it means that we have a great set of industry partners with whom we agree – Consumers Deserve a Choice.
That is huge news! As I recall, a representative of Williams-Sonoma was still publicly expressing a much skepticism about Catalog Choice last spring. I’m so tickled that everyone’s now reached an agreement.
I’ve bought rugs and chair cushions from Pottery Barn’s website in the past, and now when I look at those things, I smile and feel especially happy. Many thanks to all the merchants who have responded positively to their customers’ wishes. I deeply appreciate that you’re making my life easier and less cluttered with paper waste.
I was probably one of the first users of Catalog Choice having opted out of 151(!) catalogs since November, 2007. The results are mixed. I will not really know how successful my efforts have been until this Christmas season is past. However, I can say I am very disappointed in some of the merchants who continue to send me catalogs despite my opting out and reporting every infraction. The tactics used include simply ignoring my request and continuing to send catalogs monthly or more frequently, such as Land’s End, or simply establishing a new customer number for me (multiple times) such as Eddie Bauer and Solutions. This week I am sending e-mails directly to the worst 20 or so offenders, telling them I will not shop with them in the future if they do not honor my request. I hope this helps. In any event, Catalog Choice is a great concept and I hope the new merchant agreement will help me in my quest to save the environment and keep my mailbox empty.
GOOD NEWS PROGRESS REPORT!! It has been just about a year since I started using Catalog Choice. I am thrilled to say that there are 184 catalogs that I have not seen in my mailbox for 3 months or more. There are another 58 that I am tracking. When 3 months has gone by without receiving them I will add them to the total success count.
I am very excited to see that more and more merchants are coming on board. After a huge initial success with my Catalog Choice opt-outs, I began to attack the “nay sayers” one at a time with personal emails. I created a “pattern” email text that I used to contact them and kept a copy of the email text and the date it was sent. If I saw no change after 12 weeks, I contacted them again with another message which included my original email, the date of that email, and expressed my disappointment with their non-response to my request. This has been very effective. I have had to send only a few follow-up requests.
I can not express strongly enough my support for the Catalog Choice website. There is no way I would have taken the time to individually contact over 240 merchants. However, because of the large number who complied with my Catalog Choice request, I was able to take on the rest of them – one merchant at a time. Of course, when I go to shop the compliant merchants will be my first choice!
Incidentally, there’s an article at MultichannelMerchant.com today about Williams-Sonoma. They’ve cut catalog circulation by 25 percent and page counts by 31 percent and successfully slashed $40 million in advertising costs. Direct-to-consumer sales have fallen, as might be expected. Internet revenue, however, has risen 11.7 percent (when comparing the second quarter figures of $265.1 million this year to $237.4 last year).
CEO Howard Lester announced: “In direct marketing, we continued to implement our catalog circulation optimization strategy and the results to date are affirming that the circulation decreases we have made are accretive to earnings. Therefore, we will continue to look for ways to expand this strategy over the next several quarters.”
I continue to receive catalogs so tried to sign up again but my account is apparently still in the system
Janet, unless there’s a glitch somewhere, you should be able to report any catalogs that you’re still receiving via your original account. Just click “Login >>” at the far upper right corner of the CatalogChoice.org home page. If you can’t recall your password, there’s a link to help with that. Once you’re in your account, go to “My Choices.” You’ll see the list of your opt-outs with a “Still Receiving?” link to the right of each entry. The “Still Receiving?” link allows you to update your information.
Hope that helps. This morning, October’s first catalog arrived, and I promptly entered the “Still Receiving.” This particular catalog has been mailed to my *maiden* name at least three times during the past ten months. I’ve been married for, oh gee, only 13 years. Oops. The company is consistently mailing to the same customer number, too, so I’m surprised they can’t get a handle on this. I guess I’ll give them a call. I’m really glad I don’t have to do that for the majority of my Catalog Choice opt-outs. It does appear that nearly all of them are now honoring my requests.
Tracy- Thanks for providing Janet with clear instructions about how to use the site.
Participation of companies honoring requests through our service is increasing every day. So, in the short term it has been less than perfect. In the long term, we are creating a customer service application that we expect the vast majority of mailers will support.
It is working because you and our other members are recording your requests here and where necessary, calling merchants to let them know your position on this topic.
Thanks!
I have been participating in cataolg choice for at least 7 months and I’m quite sure that I’m still getting every catlog I did previously.
Just today, I’ve got at least nine, which I have submitted and resubnitted at least twice. This will be the third time! I dont think that this is working!
[...] fellow Catalog Choice members like Julie who only shops with Participating Merchants, or Yvonne and Tracy who have both been long-time supporters of our service and work continuously to stop unwanted mail, [...]
You write very well.