Catalog Page Counts And The Square Root Rule

Many of you are looking to trim expense, while maintaining demand. For some, this means reducing the number of pages in a catalog.

Remember, there is a quick formula for estimating the demand impact of fewer pages in your catalog --- just use the Square Root Rule.

Example:

• You have a catalog with 124 pages.
• You expect the catalog to generate $5,000,000 in demand.
• Your CFO wants you to cut 8 pages, leaving you with 116 pages.
• Demand = (116/124)^0.5 * $5,000,000 = $4,836,021.

You run a profit and loss statement on 116 pages generating $4,836,021 ... is that more profitable than 124 pages generating $5,000,000. Your printer can help you with printing efficiencies at different page counts, efficiencies that point to optimal page counts.

Also, your "DMPC", demand per thousand pages circulated, improves as pages are reduced ... this means that you can actually circulate deeper into your file as pages are reduced.