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| PENMAKER CROSS MAILS ITS FIRST CATALOG |
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By Mark Del Franco
Nov 2, 2005
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| It’s never too late to break into the catalog business. Just ask $128.6 million A.T. Cross, the 160-year-old manufacturer best known for its writing instruments. The Lincoln, RI-based company will drop a 20-page Cross catalog on Nov. 7 to an undisclosed number of customers and rented names. |
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| The customer names were culled from warranty cards and Cross’s two stores in Massachusetts, says Monica Smith, president/CEO of Montclair, NJ-based consultancy Marketsmith, which helped Cross with the catalog. The company also has about 30 retail partners to which it sells merchandise. |
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| In addition to pens, the Cross catalog features leather goods, such as portfolios as well as watches. Prices range from $45 to $395. |
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| Depending on the catalog’s performance, Smith expects Cross to mail multiple times during 2006 as it tries to re-create the brand, "making the pen the accessory of choice for the American consumer, whether for personal use or as a gift item." |
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| Reprinted with permission from Multichannel Merchant. |
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