Lucky for consumers, a growing number of big-name catalogers are going on-line to liquidate merchandise.
A 20-piece towel set for $24. A handbag with accessories for $14. And a new Arkanoid Nintendo game for $17.
First-quality merchandise at garage-sale prices is the idea behind Andy’s Garage Sale, available only on the Internet at www.andysgarage.com. The site, which uses the slogan, “New Stuff–Dirt Cheap!” offers more than 5,900 items at a discount on any given day.
Unbeknownst to most of Andy’s customers, the merchandise comes from Minneapolis-based catalog giant Fingerhut Corp., which uses the site to liquidate overstocks. Andy’s doesn’t mention its connection to Fingerhut, in part because the company doesn’t want its core Fingerhut catalog customers to feel they’ve overpaid. “We’re selling things below cost, not just below retail,” notes Jane Westlind, Fingerhut’s director of electronic commerce.
But as part of Fingerhut, Andy’s touts excellent customer service, including a 30-day satisfaction policy. Shipping and handling is a flat $4.95 no matter how many items you buy.
Fingerhut is just one of a growing number of catalogers that are turning to on-line stores and Internet sites to clear out merchandise. If you click on America Online’s Shopping Channel, you’ll find more than 30 catalogers–from J.C. Penney to The Sharper Image–offering goods. Most, though not all, also offer bargains.
“Catalogers by definition are excellent direct marketers, so they can really jump right into the on-line space,” says Wendy Brown, vice president of electronic commerce at America Online.
It didn’t take long for catalogers to figure out that the flexible nature of the Web makes it an ideal medium for liquidating merchandise. While customers using print-sale catalogs often are disappointed when the merchandise runs out, on-line merchants can remove sold-out items from their product listings and add new merchandise continuously.
“It’s a win-win situation,” notes Marshall Marcovitz, president of Chef’s Catalog (www.chefscatalog.com). “It saves the customers money, and it saves the cataloger from carrying overstocked inventory. We’ll often offer special buys first on-line because of the ease of putting up a new item.”
On a recent day, the “Super Sale” page on Chef’s Catalog’s Web site was offering a gift-boxed Henckels five-piece scissors set for $49.99, down from $94 in the catalog, and a Calphalon 10-inch Paella Pan gift for $49.99 down from $95. As an added bonus, the company frequently offers on-line customers standard delivery for free.
In growing numbers, consumers are discovering that on-line shopping rivals catalog shopping for convenience and price. A 1998 study by Odyssey, a San Francisco-based research firm, suggests 30 percent of on-line households–or about 7 million households–made an on-line purchase during the last six months, up 50 percent from a year ago.
The rise in the number of on-line shoppers stems in part from growing confidence with the medium, experts say. The strong customer-service reputations that big-name catalogers enjoy mean on-line customers can shop with little worry, says Brown of AOL, which offers a satisfaction guarantee covering stores on its shopping channel.
Both on AOL and on the Internet, virtually all of the major on-line catalogers offer money-back guarantees. They use secure payment systems, in which credit-card numbers are encrypted to prevent theft. And most pledge not to sell or rent personal data about on-line shoppers.
But on-line shoppers should be cautious and look for a merchant’s privacy and security policies posted on the site, notes Amy Blankenship, spokeswoman at the Direct Marketing Association. “People should use the same common sense shopping on-line that they do when shopping from a catalog or store. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it often is.”
Besides Chef’s Catalog and Andy’s Garage Sale, the following catalogers offer special deals on-line:
– Spiegel: Besides its main web site (www.spiegel.com), Downers Grove-based Spiegel created a separate site for its Ultimate Outlet (www.ultimate-outlet.com), offering 400 to 600 items at savings of 30 percent to 60 percent off catalog prices. While the site emphasizes women’s apparel, it also includes men’s apparel, household items and toys.
– Eddie Bauer: A unit of Spiegel, Eddie Bauer has its own Web site (www.eddiebauer.com) and an AOL store. The on-line store offers “Weekly Specials,” such as a men’s long-sleeved shirt for $19.99, or 47 percent off the regular catalog price, and “Great Buys,” most often clearance merchandise from previous seasons, available until it runs out.
– Lands’ End: Lands’ End’s home page (www.landsend. com) prominently displays an “Overstocks” option, which offers savings at up to 75 percent off catalog prices. And to make bargain-shopping more fun, the Dodgeville, Wis.-based cataloger has developed an “On the Counter” game, in which merchandise is discounted more and more the longer it stays around. But customers don’t know when it will sell out.
– Critics’ Choice Video and Collectors’ Choice Music: Playboy Enterprises’ Itasca-based Critics’ Choice Video (www.ccvideo.com) presents Budget Videos at $9.99 or three for $24, and Weekly Specials for $10.79. Its sister catalog, Collectors’ Choice Music (www.ccmusic.com) offers a “Members Only Close Out Room,” selling overstock items at cost, plus Budget CDs at four for $32 and Weekly Specials marked down 25 percent.
– Lillian Vernon: Lillian Vernon prominently displays a “What’s on Sale” box on its website (www.lillianvernon. com). As with most on-line catalogs, color photos of the products come up instantly.
– J.C. Penney: J.C. Penney’s site (www.jcpenney.com) offers a clearance section of “Hot Prices on Cool Stuff.”
– Barnes and Noble: Barnes and Noble (www.barnesand noble.com) offers savings of up to 80 percent on its “Bargain Bookshelf,” which changes weekly.
– J. Crew: Cataloger/retailer J. Crew (www.jcrew.com) has a new on-line sale each week. In addition, the site occasionally features an across-the-board sale, such as 1997 holiday promotion for AOL members that offered 20 percent off everything in Crew’s on-line store for a limited time.
