Harold Lloyd Schwartz

Harold Lloyd Schwartz (born June 27, 1936) is an American businessman and catalog entrepreneur in the mail order industry. Known as the "Catalog King", Schwartz guided many companies to prominence and profitability including Hanover House, Montgomery Ward, Joan Cook and Stuart Mcguire.
Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, NY to a Polish/Jewish immigrant family. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1959 with an accounting degree and worked as a credit analyst at Dun & Bradstreet. 
He joined the Meredith Corporation overseeing the Better Homes and Gardens book clubs as a comptroller, and then worked as an executive vice president of finance for Names Unlimited.
In 1976, Schwartz was hired by the President of Horn & Hardart to join Hanover House as senior executive vice-president. In 1977, when Schwartz was promoted to President and CEO, he changed the direction and philosophy of the company. At the time, Hanover House had only 5 catalogs concentrating mostly on novelty items which was generating about 10 million dollars in sales. Despite these strong sales, the company still posted a loss of over one million dollars. Schwartz's innovative business approach enabled the company to expand its catalog profile. Most catalog companies at the time utilized a single comprehensive catalog model for all of their merchandise. However under Schwartz's guidance, Hanover House grew exponentially by creating multiple targeted catalogs geared to specific consumer needs based on a concept of evaluating the buying habits of customers emphasizing only the successful products being sold around the world. Schwartz utilized data from importers and exporters to develop new "specialty" catalogs; something that had never been attempted by the larger competitors at the time. Schwartz's formula was to acquire smaller catalog companies and incorporate them into the Hanover House brand. The company would then review the merchandise listed in the catalog and eliminate those products that were not selling. Ultimately, these failing products would be replaced with only the most successful and profitable products already being sold in other countries. He was credited for being the first to import many unique products into the United States including the "stick up clock" and the "pen watch". With each new catalog, he utilized the same model for acquisition, product fulfillment, circulation and back-end resources. His methodology translated into the ability to minimize overhead and maximize growth opportunities. Ultimately, this blueprint for successful direct marketing was replicated by many other catalog companies over the years seeking similar profitability
This unique approach on how to anticipate the consumer's buying habits, changed the business model of how many companies in the mail order industry operated. His methods on how to market directly to consumers, led to an exponential increase in mail order shopping and was regarded as the template for the on-line internet direct marketing industry and influenced the creation of the on-line shopping networks.
As a guest lecturer around the world, Schwartz has shared his novel approach on direct to consumer sales including how to build a staff, anticipate the consumer's needs and how to make money. and in 1985, Schwartz was named "The Direct Marketing Association (DMA)" Marketer of the Year
Schwartz coined the term "Innovate don't imitate"
Schwartz was the President of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Connecticut from 2002-2004. He is the brother of prominent traffic engineer Sam Schwartz (AKA "Gridlock" Sam).
Category:1936 births
Category:American businessmen
Category:American entrepreneurs
Category:People from Brooklyn