Hi Joe,

A tricky question indeed! I'm assuming you're sending the catalogue out via the Royal Mail, in which case you need to be thinking about the landing date (the date the catalogue theoretically lands on the customer's doormat) rather than the mailing date. This is because depending on what service you use it will take from 1-10 days to land. Also, at the moment there's a fairly major postal strike on, actually a MAJOR postal strike on which means that any predicitions of when mail will actually reach customers is now almost impossible.  So if I were you I'd be keeping in very close contact with the Royal mail to get their advice on when the best time to send will be. You should also be able to get from them the latest version of their annual home shopping report which delves into the Christmas Homeshopping market's habits in great detail. They should be able to advise you when is best to mail too.

Apart from that I'd say looking at your own data would be a good route to finding out when best to mail. Look at last Christmas's peak visits and number of orders, most  analysts are expecting Christmas online sales to peak at the same time as last year (ie weeks 2 and 3 of december) so last year's numbers should be indicative of what will happen for you this year. Therefore you can assume that the time most people are looking to buy your product is your peak from last year, so you'd want the catalogue to land a few days before that date. As your guide appears to be quite advice heavy I'd suggest you get it to land about 5-7 days before that peak with ideally a weekend inbetween - a lot of people do their "catalogue" shopping on a Sunday, and place orders when back at work on Monday.

I hope that helps.

Chloe

No problem - hope it all goes well.

On 09:38:18 9 October 2007 joem wrote:

Chloe.  Many thanks, all good stuff - especially that the Royal Mail have a home shopping report!  Joe

On 09:03:12 9 October 2007 ChloeThomas1 wrote:

Hi Joe,

A tricky question indeed! I'm assuming you're sending the catalogue out via the Royal Mail, in which case you need to be thinking about the landing date (the date the catalogue theoretically lands on the customer's doormat) rather than the mailing date. This is because depending on what service you use it will take from 1-10 days to land. Also, at the moment there's a fairly major postal strike on, actually a MAJOR postal strike on which means that any predicitions of when mail will actually reach customers is now almost impossible.  So if I were you I'd be keeping in very close contact with the Royal mail to get their advice on when the best time to send will be. You should also be able to get from them the latest version of their annual home shopping report which delves into the Christmas Homeshopping market's habits in great detail. They should be able to advise you when is best to mail too.

Apart from that I'd say looking at your own data would be a good route to finding out when best to mail. Look at last Christmas's peak visits and number of orders, most  analysts are expecting Christmas online sales to peak at the same time as last year (ie weeks 2 and 3 of december) so last year's numbers should be indicative of what will happen for you this year. Therefore you can assume that the time most people are looking to buy your product is your peak from last year, so you'd want the catalogue to land a few days before that date. As your guide appears to be quite advice heavy I'd suggest you get it to land about 5-7 days before that peak with ideally a weekend inbetween - a lot of people do their "catalogue" shopping on a Sunday, and place orders when back at work on Monday.

I hope that helps.

Chloe

Hi,

Any mailing house in the UK can process mailings to anywhere else in the UK, so you don't have to use someone close by. I'd recommend The Mail Shop ((0115) 94 88 999) who are in Nottingham - very reliable and good prices.

Chloe

On 11:26:17 21 October 2007 HarryVaston wrote:

Hi all, looking for a reliable company who can handle a mail shot in Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire. I have found a site www.themailingroom.co.uk which I am happy with but need at least two more quotes, any reliable recommendations please.

On 09:38:18 9 October 2007 joem wrote:

Chloe.  Many thanks, all good stuff - especially that the Royal Mail have a home shopping report!  Joe

On 09:03:12 9 October 2007 ChloeThomas1 wrote:

Hi Joe,

A tricky question indeed! I'm assuming you're sending the catalogue out via the Royal Mail, in which case you need to be thinking about the landing date (the date the catalogue theoretically lands on the customer's doormat) rather than the mailing date. This is because depending on what service you use it will take from 1-10 days to land. Also, at the moment there's a fairly major postal strike on, actually a MAJOR postal strike on which means that any predicitions of when mail will actually reach customers is now almost impossible.  So if I were you I'd be keeping in very close contact with the Royal mail to get their advice on when the best time to send will be. You should also be able to get from them the latest version of their annual home shopping report which delves into the Christmas Homeshopping market's habits in great detail. They should be able to advise you when is best to mail too.

Apart from that I'd say looking at your own data would be a good route to finding out when best to mail. Look at last Christmas's peak visits and number of orders, most  analysts are expecting Christmas online sales to peak at the same time as last year (ie weeks 2 and 3 of december) so last year's numbers should be indicative of what will happen for you this year. Therefore you can assume that the time most people are looking to buy your product is your peak from last year, so you'd want the catalogue to land a few days before that date. As your guide appears to be quite advice heavy I'd suggest you get it to land about 5-7 days before that peak with ideally a weekend inbetween - a lot of people do their "catalogue" shopping on a Sunday, and place orders when back at work on Monday.

I hope that helps.

Chloe