Live From New York: USPS Adds Argentina, Australia to Catalog Program
Catalogers test mailing into Argentina or Australia will soon be able to retain Uncle Sam as a DM consultant due to planned expansions to the USPS’s New Market Opportunities Program, according to Postal Service representatives speaking at Direct Marketing Days yesterday.
The year-old program, which currently facilitates consumer catalog test mailings to a dozen countries, will start including Australian destinations in July and Argentine locations late in third-quarter 1999. Once these are added, the program will cover 14 countries that receive 60% of US exports.
Given the shaky economic state of many foreign countries, catalog-mailing programs might seem counterintuitive. But USPS vice president, International Business Unit James F. Grubiak maintained that perennial undermailing to these markets has resulted in strong-and-building response rates. Furthermore, the international market makes up 25% of sales for some large marketers, most of whom, said Grubiak, have “stumbled into” the international arena, when visiting foreign consumers bring catalogs home or discover them on the Internet.
Despite this, fewer than 10% of all companies sell overseas. Grubiak, who feels that going on the Internet de facto makes marketers “global”, said this has resulted in firms turning down international business.
To prevent this, the New Market Opportunities Program offers a $22,000 program that facilitates catalog test mailings with a minimum drop of 25,000. Services include market profile data sharing, merchandising and catalog design counseling, cost worksheets, translation services for the catalog’s order form and company information sheet, and referrals to selected service providers. Through bundling, participants can take advantage of the Global Package Link, which normally has a minimum 10,000-package requirement.
Mailers can use the program once per country, according to USPS’s manager, new business development Jackie Austin. The program allows a six-month test cycle, as well as discounts for testing in more than three countries. Additional catalogs can be mailed at a cost of $0.80 each.
