The mistress of mail order
Lillian Vernon created a sprawling catalogue business that specialized in personalized gifts and ingenious gadgets and made her an American household name.
Vernon, who had come to the United States as a Jewish immigrant from Germany fleeing the Nazis, began her mailorder business in 1951 and it rapidly flourished.
At one time it had nine catalogues, 15 outlet stores, two websites, a business-to-business division and yearly revenue close to $300 million.
In 1987, Lillian Vernon was the first company owned by a woman to be listed on the American Stock Exchange. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her chairwoman of the National Women’s Business Council.
“She was a phenomenal merchandiser,” direct marketing consultant Katie Muldoon said. “When she started, there were only huge books like Sears and Montgomery Ward that had every kind of merchandise, like a department store. Lillian Vernon created a new retail market, catalogues with a theme: personalized products that you couldn’t find anywhere else.”
Vernon died this week in New York. She was 88.
Her niche was whimsical, low-cost items that could be monogrammed — at no charge — in days rather than weeks. To find them, she travelled the world looking for distinct products and sources long before the global marketplace opened up.
Her catalogues always began with a letter describing where she was travelling and what she had found, accompanied by a photograph showing a smiling Vernon in a Chanel suit with the latest hairstyle.
“Lillian was not just selling merchandise,” Hochberg said in an interview for this obituary in 2009. “She was personally sharing her discoveries with her customers.”
Vernon was credited as the first to create seasonal catalogues for Easter and Halloween. She was also an innovator of the gift-with-purchase concept, offering, for example, one pot holder for each season for every $10 purchase; that meant spending $40 to get the whole set. “I know my customer because I am my customer,” she said.
But she also attributed her success to her intestinal fortitude.
“I never gave up and I never let anyone get in my way.”