Beyond The Net
Integrating online, offline sales can augment success
By Janine Warner
In 1999, when Abby Adlerman launched an art company with a catalog as the primary sales tool and the Web as just a supportive element, many people thought she was crazy.
''In 1999 everybody in the Bay Area was building websites,'' said Marketing Manager Leslie Duncan from the company's San Francisco headquarters. ''When she came out and said she was going to build a catalog company there were probably a lot of guffaws in the room.'' But a few years of tough times on the Web, a carefully-integrated online and offline strategy, and two solid rounds of funding that brought in $10 million in an era when money seemed to have dried up may give Adlerman the last laugh.
Speaking to an audience of Web developers at the Seybold Conference in San Francisco this month, Adlerman was challenged with explaining how her company provides a model for a ''next generation'' Internet site. ''Integration is key to making smaller businesses successful,'' said Adlerman, president and CEO of NextMonet -- a company she describes as ``the Pottery Barn of fine art.''
In the early days of the Web, catalog companies seemed to have an advantage in e-commerce because they knew how to sell products with small pictures and deliver them through the mail, but many people also thought catalogs would die because of the Web.
Today, the model for success is becoming ever more clear: Integrate online sales with offline sales and use every possible vehicle to reach customers effectively.
''I don't care how my customers find me,'' Adlerman said. ``They can call, they can go to the Web, and -- if they're big enough -- we're happy to send someone to visit them.''
After considerable research in the late 1990s, Adlerman identified a niche in the world of art sales in the $100 to $1,000 price range. She found that people purchasing art within this price range formed an underserved market in the estimated $33 billion art industry.
Adlerman geared her company to corporate and consumer art collectors interested in purchasing more than a poster but less than a million-dollar collector's piece.
COMPANIES MERGE
In 2001, she merged her company, Visualize, with the online company NextMonet, combining their respective websites and art collections to create a diverse art-sales strategy.
Today, 75 percent of consumer sales come from the print catalog and about 25 percent come from the website.
What's more, an estimated 80 percent of Web sales come from consumers who already have a catalog, Adlerman said, adding that NextMonet tracks customers by asking them to enter the catalog source code into the Web order form.
Before you jump to the conclusion that a website might not be worth the effort at all, consider that NextMonet gets more requests for the catalog from the website than from any other source, including the many mailing lists they've purchased, phone sales and postcard promotions.
''We also found that Web customers spend more money than others,'' Adlerman said.
BOTH METHODS USED
Quite often customers move back and forth, she said, using the Web to order a catalog or going from the catalog to the Web to buy an item right away.
NextMonet's biggest customers are corporations that want to decorate offices and retail outlets.
Again, Adlerman credits the company's success with corporate customers to its integrated strategy. Although only 10 percent of corporate sales come directly from the Web, the site features many valuable tools that make it easier for her staff to sell artwork when they go out on sales calls.
One of the most innovative features on the NextMonet site is a system that enables customers to build their own collection of artwork before they buy it.
For example, if you're responsible for decorating the office, you can create a collection of artwork online and then refer other people to the website where they can vote for what they like.
You can also let different people in your office create their own collections and then compare what they've included to make a final decision.
In addition, staff members at NextMonet use the site's collection feature to manage their own art purchases and share information about artwork they are gathering from around the world.
The Web also provides a valuable way to educate potential customers, Adler said. At NextMonet.com, the Art Smart section provides information about art and artists to help customers appreciate the value of their purchases.
NextMonet also uses e-mail to drive sales, featuring an e-mail newsletter and special alerts for sellouts. This has proven to be a very effective marketing strategy for a company that specializes in limited edition artwork.
CLOSE CONNECTION
NextMonet produces eight print catalogs each year and updates the website every week, carefully integrating both promotional tools.
''When we are getting ready to drop a new catalog, we'll make sure that the cover images are featured on the home page that week along with some new releases,'' said Duncan.
Whether your business centers on a catalog, a website or a hands-on sales force, NextMonet provides a great example of the power of combining strategies to best reach potential customers.
The greatest value of the Web is not its ability to replace other sales channels; it's the power to complement those efforts and provide new ways to better serve a target market.
First publication, The Miam Herald, Mon, Sept. 23, 2002
