About us
"Kathleen really understands the customer-merchandise relationship and how to work with teams to bring out the best possible merchandise offerings. She prioritizes the brand vision coupled with data-centric analyses to really figure out what makes sense and how to launch it. Every business is unique and she understands those differences in a unique way. She embraces an investigative “root cause” approach to conquering road blocks with day-to-day functioning of teams and planners to execute on the visions and initiatives."
Debbie Wallace—Marketing and Operations Consultant at Debbie Wallace Consulting
"I had the good fortune of working with Kathleen Schultz via two of my catalog/direct mail marketing clients. If you are considering hiring Kathleen, there’s no need to hesitate! She is personable, professional, reliable and meets a challenge head-on with perseverance and dedication.
Kathleen listens to what her clients are saying, analyzes their needs and quickly provides suggestions and solutions. She is considerate and collaborative when working with team members. Kathleen brings an expansive amount of experience to the table. Therefore, in addition to her own area of expertise, she is able to offer clients an understanding of the various components involved in the overall scope of the project.
I can attest that Kathleen is a talented and terrific person to work with. I hope you’ll enjoy working with her, too!"
Nina Bookbinder—Creative Director/Designer Nina Bookbinder Design
"Monastery Icons serves a niche market for traditional Catholic sacred art and has been in business since 1981. Kathleen Schultz Marketing has helped us in many ways in our years of association with them. Their analysis of the financial side of our merchandising has been particularly helpful – i.e., assessing our offerings in different pricepoint ranges, the profitability for each of these groups, the opportunities brought by bundling lower-priced products were all areas where their advice has improved our bottom line. Another important area has been their analysis of our various product categories – which of these have the strongest appeal to our customers, and how profitable these are compared to each other (not always the same thing!). Their other strong points include financial analysis, and just being well-connected; quite simply, Kathleen and Bill know a lot of people in a lot of different aspects of the marketing world, and their assistance led us to some key contacts that helped open up our Amazon and international markets."
Father Seraphim Weber, Monastery Icons
"I have known Kathleen for many years as she has moved through her professional career. As chief merchant for a major department store, she developed her ability to allow brand strategy to drive merchandise planning and positioning. As CEO of a specialty retailer, she not only assured a merchandise assortment that drove top line but also achieved margin and delivered a profitable bottom line. As a merchandise consultant, she has worked with hundreds of retailers helping them develop their brands and deliver a unique selling position to serve their customers. She is expert in data driven merchandise planning letting analysis drive merchandising decisions while still applying judgement based on brand and knowledge of the customer. She has served as a consulting partner at two consulting firms, LENSER and CohereOne, where I have served as CEO and delivered outstanding service to our clients. I highly recommend her to review and improve your brand and merchandise positioning or help you develop a plan to assure growth and profits."
John Lenser---CEO, American Fifth Act., Inc
"I have had the privilege of working with Kathleen for many years. She is talented, creative and intelligent and as a result, she has become a trusted advisor whose opinion I seek often. Kathleen has helped our company in countless ways over the years. Her merchandising vision, both creatively and analytically, have been invaluable. She helps us keep our eye on the “big picture” with the product being central to the success of the business, while she is also able to discuss and strategize on the details when needed. She is highly respected in the D2C industry demonstrated by being a sought-after speaker and advisor at many of the best trade conferences throughout the country. I have so much respect and admiration for her and would encourage anyone that needs help or improvement in her areas of expertise to utilize her whenever possible."
Tracy Amiral—CEO, Making It Big
"I have worked with Kathleen Schultz on many strategic merchandising projects with leading omnichannel retailers. Kathleen brings a unique blend of hands-on experience, intuitive merchandising sense and data-driven analysis for her recommendations. She excels at creating and editing the product assortments to meet changing customer preferences by aligning market trends with brand strengths. She will then optimize how retailers engage customers with the products through inspiring merchandising by channel and device. Kathleen will help keep your assortment fresh, relevant and profitable in this dynamic market."
John Kinsella—Partner, Red Banks Consulting
"I have known Kathleen for many years. She and I have presented many joint sessions on merchandising at various conferences and seminars throughout the years. She brings a wealth of knowledge to all her clients and guides them in a thorough analysis of their business. Her detailed SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis enlightens her clients on proper steps to enhance their brand and merchandise directions. She then works with her clients to fulfill the positive direction. She is personable, knowledgeable, direct yet down to earth that makes her an asset to any organization. I strongly recommend Kathleen."
George Mollo--President, GJM Associates, Inc
"When it comes to D2C, Kathleen Schultz knows her stuff. I had the pleasure of working with her on a series of catalogs for Gevalia Kaffe when she was consulting with them. She brought me in to write the copy. She guided the buyers in merchandising each of the books, helped them source unique products, and oversaw the creative process, resulting in well-planned, well-executed catalogs. Since then I’ve been impressed by her ability to consult in almost every merchandise category: apparel, home décor, window coverings, chocolate, jewelry…and more. Whether it’s e-commerce or catalog, Kathleen Schultz and her partner, Bill Dean, have the experience and savvy to help you succeed. And they’re fun to work with, too!"
Lanny Udell, Copywhiz