Spiegel (catalog) - Innovations in The Mid 1990s

Innovations in The Mid 1990s

In 1994 Spiegel formed a joint venture with Time Warner Entertainment to create two home shopping services for cable television. One of the services was named "Catalog 1," and was planned as a one-channel showcase for a roster of numerous upscale catalog retailers, each of which would sell its goods using innovative entertainment-style shows. Participants in Catalog 1 in 1994 were The Bombay Company, Crate & Barrel, Eddie Bauer, The Nature Company, Neiman Marcus, The Sharper Image, Spiegel, Viewer's Edge, and Williams Sonoma. The channel was tested in five markets that year: Rochester, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Nashua, New Hampshire; Columbus, Ohio; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Spiegel also teamed up with Lillian Vernon, Lands' End, and other catalogers in 1994 to create a computerized CD-ROM catalog. The company formed a partnership with MCI Communications Corporation that was aimed at increasing both companies' customer bases. MCI began offering a $35 Spiegel gift certificate to any customer who changed his or her long distance telephone service to MCI. MCI also offered an additional $20 certificate to any customer who remained an MCI user for at least six months. Around this time, Spiegel seriously began considering an entrance into the electronic shopping market through an online service such as America Online (AOL).

In 1995 Spiegel did just that—but at the expense of its year-old Catalog 1 venture. By this time, Catalog 1 had begun airing in three more test markets, raising its total presence to eight cities. Time Warner and Spiegel decided, however, that there was greater potential gain in launching a web site for Catalog 1 and capitalizing on the increasing popularity of the Internet. Accordingly, they scaled back their cable television operation and began working on a home page through Time Warner's popular Pathfinder site.

Spiegel also initiated an entrance into the Canadian market in 1995 and planned to distribute its catalog there by the spring of 1996. Previous strong Eddie Bauer business in Canada aided the company's decision to move in on a larger scale, as did the company's good distribution agreements in Canada. Meanwhile, Eddie Bauer was doing extremely well in Japan, where the company had placed numerous retail stores throughout the previous few years.

The year 1996 marked the most profitable year in Eddie Bauer's history, and Spiegel's revenues benefited. Eddie Bauer's merchandise was so popular that year, in fact, the company suffered through many delays in shipping and out-of-stock merchandise occurrences that were direct results of increased consumer demand. Eddie Bauer also made headlines in 1996 when it introduced "Balance Day" to its employees, which was an extra day off per year to do anything they wanted. The addition demonstrated the company's commitment to providing innovative benefits to its workers, and employees began referring to it as "call in well day." The company made an effort to find ways to offer its single workers benefits that were equal to those offered to its workers with families.