Mail-Borne Cornucopias

One of the few bright spots in the generally subdued outlook for Christmas this year is catalogue sales. Business for the some 5,000 merchants now operating through the mails has been growing at an annual rate of 15%, or more than twice the pace of retailing in stores. Maxwell Sroge, a Colorado Springs-based consultant who monitors catalogue sales, expects them to reach $33 billion this year, compared with $29 billion in 1980. Consumers now can mail or telephone orders for a deluxe domestic robot ($17,500) complete with electronic pet ($650) from Neiman-Marcus, a porcelain unicorn that plays The Impossible Dream ($24.95) from World of Music Boxes or a life-size female torso made out of milk chocolate ($60) from KrOen Chocolatier.

The causes of the catalogue boom are clear. Few things can delight shoppers weary of long lines, costly transportation and surly salespeople as much as thumbing through a richly illustrated booklet amid the comforts of home. Carol Lefcourt, a financial planner who heads a company in Palo Alto, Calif., likes to soak in a warm bubble bath while catalogue shopping. She says that she has not stepped inside a department store in 15 years.

Although companies like the Horchow Collection and L.L. Bean may not be in the same class with multibillion-dollar Sears, they have joined the giant retailer among the biggest names in cataloguing. Horchow's line of luxury items will roll up an estimated $40 million in sales this year, and L.L. Bean's collection of popular outdoor gear will likely enjoy revenues of $165 million. But catalogues have also become a way for ambitious business people to get started in retailing, and success stories abound.

Six years ago, Bill Nicolai, 36, an avid backpacker, relied on food stamps to eat. After his tent was destroyed in a snowstorm in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, he designed a tougher tent to replace it and began offering it through the mail. Last year Early Winters, the hiking-equipment catalogue business Nicolai founded, had sales of $7.2 million, and he expects them to reach $10 million this year.

Lillian Menasche Katz, 54, started the $42 million Lillian Vernon Corp. in the back of her former husband's dress shop in Mount Vernon, N.Y., with an initial investment of $2,000. Her current offerings are utilitarian (a wall-mounted kitchen scale), frivolous (an initialed toothpaste tube squeezer) or elegant (a nickel-plated travel shaving brush).

Marshall Marcovitz, 45, is the president and founder of the Chefs Catalog in Deerfield, Ill. His 450-item catalogue sells professional-quality gourmet kitchenware to home chefs. Five years ago Marcovitz left a 20-year career with Edward Don & Co., a restaurant supplier, to market his own pots, pans and food processors. Marcovitz, a home chef who says he has used every item in his catalogue, is looking for sales of $5 million this year.

Not everything in the books becomes an automatic hit. Chicago Mail Order Merchant Joseph Sugarman found few buyers for his $ 1,500 laser-beam mousetrap. But for products that do not sell out, there is always Grand Finale, a discount catalogue that specializes in marketing goods left over from other catalogues.

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