Today's Retail Scene: Are You Prepared to Compete?
For publishers, it is also important to consider how retailers and wholesalers are buying. C&T selects certain books to push in the trade market versus the specialty-retailer market, but has made its largest operational adjustment around the challenge of multichannel marketing. One distribution or retail partner, Marson says, might require a PowerPoint presentation and a sales call. Another responds best to tip sheets and a catalog, while still another a postcard, catalog and presence at a trade show. This level of complexity has led C&T to reorganize management to make the company more flexible and responsive to a variety of marketing needs. “We were sort of doing the same thing for everyone [before], and it wasn’t working,” Marson says.