Catalog Marketing Surge Is Fueled by Digital's Tracking Crackdown and Costs

AccuList® has a long list of consumer catalog clients, and we've noted renewed interest in traditional print catalogs, especially among direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. Why? One reason is Apple's crackdown on the ability of consumer data platforms, such as Google and Meta's Facebook, to track and target consumers, per a recent Ad Age report. For example, Insider Intelligence data shows DTC brands cut ad budgets for Facebook and Instagram by almost 8% between January 2021 and January 2022, and increased offline marketing from 12% to 15% of spending. 

Rising acquisition costs for digital channels are another factor driving expanded catalog budgets. A SeQuel Response survey found 44% of  DTC brands boosted direct mail spending in 2022, with more than half blaming the rising customer acquisition costs of digital channels. 

Catalogs also are seen as better retention tools. Ad Age cites menswear brand Todd Snyder's report that its catalog buyers tend to purchase from the brand for longer periods and to purchase more items, and that its annual holiday catalog is used to "bring back lapsed customers." 

Finally, unlike easily ignored digital advertising, catalogs are more likely to capture and keep consumer attention. Kara O'Brien, head of offline marketing at furniture and home goods retailer Wayfair, explained to Ad Age that their seasonal catalog gives "that extra real estate...to tell richer product stories and invite customers into all that Wayfair has to offer. And it has staying power—a tangible print piece is something consumers can keep, bookmark, revisit and even share with family and friends." 

If you're thinking of joining the trend by adding or expanding catalogs in your marketing mix, AccuList can help. See https://www.acculist.com/consumer-catalogs/

Catalog Marketing Retains Retail Clout

Consumer retail catalogs, far from fading away with the growth of e-commerce, have continued to deliver for our omnichannel retailers. A Multichannel Merchant blog post earlier this year cites a number of reasons why retailers should consider expanding, reviving or initiating a catalog marketing effort, especially with an eye to upcoming holiday spending. Catalogs are not, as some assumed, favored only by older buyers, while younger buyers focus on digital channels. In fact, research has shown that 65% of millennial target buyers have made a purchase influenced by a catalog. Today's lower mail volumes combine with the unique visual and tactile qualities of print to make catalogs stand out in terms of engaging interaction for younger generations, boosting response over online display and even e-mail. Retailers who integrate catalogs with stores, websites and mobile in omnichannel acquisition campaigns boost response and conversion overall. For example, researchers have found that 20% of first-time customers make a purchase on a retailer’s website after receiving a catalog. Today's more sophisticated data analytics and marketing technologies let marketers track spending habits and response across channels to better leverage catalogs as part of omnichannel marketing campaigns. Retailers can not only use use variable data printing to personalize catalogs based on demographics and purchase behavior but can then use intelligent fulfillment technology to integrate targeted catalogs and samples into the existing fulfillment operation to expand brand marketing opportunities. To capitalize on online response to print catalogs, retailers can use innovations such as quick codes applied to printed catalog products for easier online purchasing. And they can use nimbler, on-demand printing to offer repeat customers a catalog built to their unique interests. With holiday marketing campaigns in mind, the Multichannel Merchant post suggests that retailers with order packing software in place can simply assign an SKU to a catalog or a pending holiday Buyer’s Guide, include the SKU in order packing software rules, and pack a catalog in each shipment as part of a holiday campaign, boosting brand recognition and repeat customers. To learn more, see a listing of AccuList's consumer catalog clients at acculist.com/consumer-catalogs/(opens in a new tab)

Market Trends Bolster Food Gifting Growth

One of AccuList USA's areas of specialization is the food and wine gift market, so we keep an eye on emerging trends. In fact, food gift sales will approach $20 billion in 2018, up 4% over last year, per the “Food Gifting in the U.S.: Consumer and Corporate” report for 2018-2020 by research firm Packaged Facts. Marketing dollars will naturally focus on year-end sales, since, while consumers and businesses are giving food baskets across a wider variety of occasions today, Christmas is still the food and wine gifting mainstay. More than half of the 130 million consumer food gifters purchasing in the last 12 months bought during the winter holiday season. So how can food gift marketers keep overall sales growth going strong? One key factor will be continued innovation that creates exclusivity and artisanship, avoiding the commoditization that drains profit with discounting, notes the report. To support that kind of brand power, marketing efforts will need to embrace the kind of story telling that creates a sense of authenticity and uniqueness and builds a gourmet brand image. Food gift marketers also need to continue expanding gifting occasions beyond holidays, not only for consumers but also for the lucrative corporate market, by pushing work anniversary and thank-you gestures as examples. Finally, while the food gifting market is heavily dependent on older, high-income consumers, tapping into millennials will require a more omnichannel approach that takes into account millennial ordering preferences, stresses the Packaged Facts report. An omnichannel wooing of millennials will combine direct mail/catalogs with e-mail, social media and e-commerce strategies. While traditional direct mail continues as a workhorse, a strong online presence and SEO strategy is especially essential. Luxury biscuit gift company Biscuiteers provides an example of how it matters: The company increased their website traffic from new customers by 90% and SEO revenue by 77% in 6 months by optimizing category landing pages for different types of food gift buyer and season. E-commerce goes hand-in-hand with a good e-mail strategy. For example, the venerable Hickory Farms brand decided to improve the quality of its customer data and create a more agile e-mail campaign process to trigger consumer journeys and automated e-mail sends. E-mail inbox placement this year rose to 94%, almost 10% above industry standard, plus e-mail list growth improved. Hickory Farms CMO Judy Ransford explained to CMO magazine that the smarter list management "helps us deliver e-mails at the frequency customers want, and to make sure the content quality is better. This year we’ve seen a huge improvement and not such high attrition rates as a result." Social media also has become a must-have for food gifting via leading platforms like Facebook and Instagram for consumers and LinkedIn for corporate prospecting. For more, including Top Ten Reviews' ratings of the best gift baskets of 2018, see the full post at http://www.acculistusa.com/new-marketing-trends-bolster-food-gifting-growth/

Shoppers Demand Seamless Omnichannel Retailing

Omnichannel marketing is the rule for today's retailing. While print catalogs continue as a vital merchant tool, with 42% of households reading catalogs per the U.S. Postal Service, integration of multiple channels--including online, mobile and social with direct mail--is now essential to store, catalog and e-commerce marketing. Unfortunately, while the majority of consumers expect to shop seamlessly across all those channels, only 7% of retailers provide the unified "start the sale anywhere, finish the sale anywhere" experience that customers want, per the recent "2018 Customer Experience/Unified Commerce Survey" by BRP Consulting, a retail management consulting firm. Marketers can't afford to ignore that the majority of shoppers interact with promotions and purchase services via multiple channels and devices. According to the same BRP study, three in five (62%) consumers surveyed said they check online reviews/ratings before visiting a store, yet just 61% of retailers offer consumer product reviews for research! Shoppers now rely on mobile to continue a digital buying process in-store, with nearly 60% of shoppers looking up product information and prices while using their mobile phones in stores, per Retail Dive's 2017 Consumer Survey. Merchants can leverage customers' cross-device penchant to optimize acquisition and conversion, argues a Direct Marketing News article by Pierre DeBois. But they must keep in mind that, while the opportunity to boost ad frequency and content across channels is huge, smart management is required to avoid turning it into a bludgeon. As Bill Kee, Google's group product manager for attribution, highlighted at the 2017 Google Marketing Next conference, "If I am on three devices, and if I see your ad five times, it means you've reached me 15 times…believe me I get it." The first place to start is good omnichannel analytics to understand the contribution of each channel to ROI and its place in the customer journey. Only then can merchants cost-effectively tailor targeting and investment to maximize sales. One useful analytics tool is Google's Unique Reach report, which displays digital ad frequency metrics across devices, campaigns, and formats to measure how many times a person views a given ad, and combines attribution influences from AdWords, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics, suggests DeBois. Good omnichannel analytics also can improve use of image and video content to maximize the proven effectiveness of image/video in digital engagement, to answer the customer demand for education, and to direct prospects through the sales funnel. However, quantities of images bombarding customers across multiple channels can overwhelm and confuse, so both media curation and a content mapping strategy aligned to the customer journey are needed. One example of a targeted image strategy is use of an "image story" feature on a social media platform to orchestrate images and/or a short video, notes DeBois. Pinterest Lens, Instagram Stories, and Twitter Moments are all image story features. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/shoppers-demand-seamless-omnichannel-retail-strategies/

Print Catalogs Still Key Multichannel Merchant Tool

Despite the growth of e-commerce, printed catalogs retain their important marketing role, and recent data from Multichannel Merchant's 2018 State of the Catalog survey highlights that trend. A big majority of the merchants surveyed (84.2% ) by Multichannel Merchant (MCM) said they continue to use print catalogs as a channel to reach customers. Their commitment to the traditional print catalog comes from its value as a multipurpose marketing tool. For example, branding led the ranking of main print catalog goals, with an 8.86 out of 10 rating. Branding was followed by web and mobile traffic driver and customer retention (both ranked at 8.14), reactivation (7.57), and prospecting and store traffic spur (6.43). Meanwhile, though measuring catalog effectiveness remains a matter of debate among merchants, a majority (57.1%) do have a formal measurement program, whether via matchbacks, tracking codes, response analysis or segmentation testing. Although merchants continue to seek maximum ROI by testing page counts and formats, the majority surveyed by MCM (83.3%) maintained the same page counts in 2017, and 50% also reported the same circulation numbers. Looking ahead to 2018, 50% planned to increase page counts, but respondents split into thirds over increasing, decreasing or maintaining circulation size. As far as frequency, 83.3% said they would hold it steady for 2018. Most merchants surveyed (57.1%) rely on both a digital catalog and a standard 8.5X11 print catalog. But many also use a "slim jim" print format (14.3%) or, especially for B2B, annual "big books" (also 14.3%). Some retailers report they send out other types of direct mail pieces, such as small gatefolds or postcards with special offers. For more on the report, go to the full post at http://www.acculistusa.com/print-catalogs-still-a-key-multichannel-merchant-tool/

B2B Trends Spur Mobile-Friendly E-Commerce

With Forrester Research forecasting steady growth in B2B e-commerce, reaching $1.2 trillion in sales, or 13.1% of all B2B sales, by 2021, smart e-commerce marketing is more essential than ever. A recent bigcommerce.com blog post highlighted many important B2B e-commerce trends, but we’ll focus on three marketing-related takeaways. First, acquisition is the new online focus. The days are gone when B2B online strategy could succeed by putting up a website as a customer service portal, a place for existing account re-orders or a passive catalog display. Online selling is becoming a core part of B2B business and sales strategy, argues bigcommerce.com post author Jillian Hufford, marketing analyst at nChannel, a multi-channel integration provider. B2B marketers should start by profiling customers to better target online and offline promotions to find high-ROI traffic. Note that a robust SEO/SEM strategy, coupled with website search tools, is essential given that 74% of B2B buyers report researching at least part of their work purchases online. Easy, seamless cross-channel ordering is another basic of online customer acquisition now. Plus, an investment in online content marketing, coupled with SEO strategy, can leverage educational and expert content on the website to attract searchers and win Google rank. A second takeaway is the trend to online and print catalogs that work in tandem. Five years ago, more than two-thirds of B2B sellers thought they would stop mailing paper catalogs. That hasn’t happened, but many B2B merchants are using an integrated multi-channel effort to balance smaller or less frequent print catalogs with more interactive online catalogs. For success with print-plus-online, the online catalog cannot merely mimic the print version. E-commerce means investing in interactive online tools that allow customizing, sharing, distributing, ordering and tracking, all supported by integrated back-end technology. Finally, and perhaps most important, mobile-friendly means revenue-friendly for today's B2B e-commerce as ever-expanding mobile device use drives marketing changes. Google and BCG research data from 2017 shows why: 80% of B2B buyers are using mobile at work; 60% of B2B buyers report that mobile played a significant role in a recent purchase; and 60% of B2B buyers expect to continue to increase their mobile usage. B2B retailers who are dragging their feet on mobile-friendly adaptation risk dragging down their own revenues; BCG research found that brands that are “mobile leaders” earn more traffic, more leads and more revenue than “mobile laggards.” For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/b2b-sales-trends-boost-mobile-friendly-online-acquisition/

Print vs. Digital: Millennial Marketing Myths

Given that millennials love digital technology, does that mean they prefer digital marketing? Not according to a recent Target Marketing magazine article debunking several marketing myths about millennial customers, including the notion that digital advertising is the most effective way to reach those born between 1980 and 2000. Author Linda Antos, market development analyst at commercial printer Quad/Graphics, cites annual Quad/Graphics research that tracks millennial shopping and media habits and preferences to show that traditional print marketing--direct mail and catalogs--actually has greater power to move millennial buyers. The first myth Antos takes on is the belief that millennials ignore printed marketing. The Quad/Graphics study shows that 82% of millennials read direct mail and 54% look forward to receiving retail catalogs in the mail. Within 30 days of the survey, 49% reported taking print coupons to the store to shop and almost three in four used grocery retail inserts, higher than the average shopper. Myth No. 2 involves assuming that millennials' known addiction to daily digital interaction means they pay attention to digital advertising. The Quad/Graphics survey found that nearly half say they ignore e-mail and Internet ads, and 45% ignore mobile ads. By comparison, only 15% ignore direct mail ads. When it comes to millennial social networking, less than 10% say they made a purchase based on social media ads, and only 1% purchased from a social site. Another false generational stereotype is that millennials are less cost-conscious. In the Quad/Graphics millennials study, 49% said it was fun to see how much they could save with coupons, loyalty cards and discount offers, and 57% said they responded to "Buy One, Get One Free" offers in direct mail. The surprise power of direct mail with millennials doesn't diminish the need for digital marketing but does underscore the value of multichannel marketing, which is supported by more Quad/Graphics data. For the complete post, read http://www.acculistusa.com/study-debunks-marketing-myths-about-millennials/

Direct Mailers Fear Late Deliveries This Fall

Coming into the busy autumn mailing season, direct mailers and catalogers are worried about the potential for significant late mail deliveries this year, reports Direct Marketing News magazine's Senior Editor Al Urbanski. The concern is based on a recent report by the Office of Inspector General that late mail deliveries by the U.S. Postal Service rose 48% in the first six months of 2015 compared with the same period last year. A rise in delayed mail was expected after the USPS made major operational changes in January, including shifting of a significant portion of Standard Mail from a two-day to a three-day service standard. But the revealed size of the delivery impact has mailers fretting. The OIG has tried to allay fears by noting that on-time delivery has improved, going from 472 million late deliveries in January to just 64 million in June. But the heavy fall mailing season lies ahead, and mailers are especially concerned about poor USPS performance in predicting real-time delivery so they have enough time to adjust their plans for crucial fall mailings. See the full story: http://www.dmnews.com/postal/late-deliveries-raise-concerns-of-mailers/article/433025/

Catalogs Continue As Key Retail Revenue Driver

Print catalogs still top retailers' marketing options in an omnichannel world, notes a recent post by Megan Conley, staff writer for Bigcommerce, an online shopping platform provider. Print catalogs are a big revenue driver for omnichannel operations, she argues, noting that 2014 consumers who received catalogs spent an average of $850 per year on catalog purchases, and that 31% of shoppers have a catalog with them when they make an online purchase, according to retail consultancy Kurt Salmon. In all, about 90 million Americans make purchases from catalogs per Direct Marketing Association data, and the number of catalogs mailed in the U.S. has increased 60% from 2007. That's one reason many major retailers have revived interest in their mailing lists, and Conley cites some well-known names: J.Crew, Patagonia, Restoration Hardware, Anthropologie, Athleta, West Elm, Crate & Barrel, Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney, Bonobos, Sak’s Fifth Avenue and Chico’s. Catalogs also help identify the best customers and push them to use omnichannel outlets, increasing brand loyalty and awareness, she notes. She quotes Craig Elbert, Bonobos’s vice president of marketing: "We found that the catalog allowed us to tell a fuller narrative about the brand and our products in a way that we were struggling to do online. In all, our catalog customers tend to spend more. And our catalog customers who make purchases at our brick-and-mortar stores are our best customers overall." But many of the new generation of catalogs do look different from predecessors. They have become less product- and sales-oriented in favor of an aesthetic, lifestyle publication look. Susy Korb, chief marketing officer of Anthropologie, recently told the New York Times: "We don’t call it a catalog; we call it a journal. Of course, we’re trying to sell clothes and accessories, but it’s more to inspire and engage." For more, see the business2community re-post: http://www.business2community.com/marketing/direct-marketing-brand-association-and-revenue-why-a-catalog-might-be-your-next-best-marketing-bet-01283212

Using Direct Mail to Rev E-Commerce Results

E-commerce marketers who are smart about planting direct mail in their marketing mix can reap healthier results, points out a recent post by Ernan Roman Direct Marketing on CustomerThink.com. Mail has a unique ability to enhance the B2B and B2C customer experience with a physical "shareability" that digital channels lack, for example. The article draws attention to the History Channel's arty photo postcard promotion of its History Asia programming as an example. The channel estimates the mail campaign generated $1.2 million in PR value via professional interest, social media and requests for the actual art pieces featured in the postcards. Catalogs are another example of physical mail's ability to enhance customer engagement. That's why a major national retailer like Anthropologie uses catalogs as their principal form of advertising "to inspire and engage"(and drive sales). Indeed, direct mail can directly guide the e-commerce customer's purchase journey. For example, online men's retailer Bonobos added print catalogs after a series of successful tests, and now 20% of first-time customers place orders after receiving a catalog and spend 1.5 times as much as other new buyers. Plus, direct mail can be used to lengthen and strengthen online brand engagement, the Ernan Roman article notes, citing the example of Homebase, an online UK home and gardening retailer frustrated by the sales limits of its short spring gardening rush. By targeting high-value gardening customers with a well-timed 500,000-piece mail campaign, Homebase hoped to get customers to shop earlier and spend more. The mailing succeeded in getting customers to visit the site 33% more often and spend 20% more. For more details, read http://customerthink.com/myth-busted-how-direct-mail-can-actually-enrich-the-digital-customer-journey/

E-mail Inbox Flooded? It Must Be Thursday

If your e-mail inbox is especially crowded, it's probably Thursday. Thursday is the most popular day for sending e-mails, with Tuesday a close second, according to the Who's Mailing What! review of e-mails sent between June 2013 and May 2014 by more than 2,500 companies and organizations. Almost 84% of all e-mails were received on a weekday, led by Thursday and Tuesday, as retailers and publishers blasted inboxes all week long, with many sending multiple e-mails daily for their various brands or titles. The top e-mail categories for Thursday alone were Catalogs-Consumer, Retail Traffic Builders, Magazines-Special Interest, Magazines-Business/Financial, Fundraising-Social Action (Causes), Newsletters-General, Seminars/Conferences, Catalogs-Food & Kitchenware, Catalogs-Children/Teen and Fundraising-Politics. For details, see http://www.directmarketingiq.com/article/thursday-tuesday-still-top-days-sending-email/1

Cataloger's USPS Deal Creates Rate Relief Template

Catalogers struggling with climbing postal rates can take heart from cataloger Potpourri Group's groundbreaking rebate deal with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). As explained by Direct Marketing News Senior Editor Al Urbanski, the five-year Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) awards Potpourri -- a publisher of more than a dozen catalogs selling gifts, apparel, pet products and hobby accessories -- tiered rebates based on increased carrier route volume over a negotiated quarterly baseline. The negotiated baseline is a key breakthrough because it does not penalize prior-year increases, and the five-year term is also a step forward since most NSAs last only three years, according to Potpourri SVP of Marketing Robert Webb.  Best of all, the NSA is good news for other catalog mailers since USPS regulations require extending a similar deal to "similarly situated" companies, Webb told Urbanski. In Potpourri's case, eligible volume up to 10% above the quarterly baseline receives a 10% rebate from published rates, while incremental volume of 10%-18% gets a 15% rebate and volume over 18% above threshold gets a 20% rebate. "The real opportunity for us -- for any cataloger -- is increasing our prospect mailings," Webb explained. "We only earn the rebates if we mail incrementally more catalogs, and most of those will be devoted to prospecting." Potpourri plans to mail "tens of millions of more books," per Webb. Thanks to Potpourri's trailblazing effort of nearly three years, Webb said he has been told a "similarly situated" cataloger may be able to land its own NSA in a matter of months. For more, see the Direct Marketing News story: http://www.dmnews.com/cataloger-scores-an-nsa-from-the-postal-service/article/356868/

Mini Slim Offers Effective, Low-Cost Catalog Option

With postal rate hikes putting the squeeze on catalog mailers, some alternative print formats are worth a second look, suggests a recent Target Marketing magazine article. One option is the "mini slim" catalog. It uses USPS-approved spot tack closures with fugitive glue for easy opening without page tearing and avoids the expensive, hard-to-open wafer seals of "slim jim" catalogs. The mini slim is also less costly to produce because of reduced page count compared with full-size and even slim jim catalogs. Plus, mini slims offer significant postal savings. While a typical 10.5" x 8" catalog mails at standard "flat" rates, the mini slim catalogs are slim-jim size (10.5" x 5.875") and under 3 ounces with up to 10 pages, which qualifies for standard letter rates and reduces postage 10% to 20%. What about response and sales? The Target Marketing article quotes at least one catalog mailer as claiming to reap sales as good or better from a mini catalog as from a standard 84-page book, in addition to driving prospects to the website -- all for a cost close to that of producing and mailing a postcard. A caveat: The author is a direct mail printer, who acknowledges that mini catalogs are no replacement for a full-size effort. But his piece is a timely reminder that online isn't the only alternative to mail; there are cost-effective supplemental print ideas out there. For more, see the article at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/a-catalog-strategy-offset-usps-rate-hike/1

USPS 'Load-Leveling' Would Alter Delivery Schedules

Marketers face changes in their mail delivery schedules this spring if the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) implements a proposed plan to “level the load” handled by its carriers during the week, DM News reports. Currently, mailers that qualify for a Destination Sectional Center Facility (DSCF) discounted rate can expect Monday delivery of mail accepted by facilities on Thursday or Friday. Under the load-leveling plan, set to take effect on March 27, Standard Mail accepted on Friday would not be delivered until Tuesday, and mail accepted on Saturday would have a promised delivery day of Wednesday. DSCF Standard Mail is comprised mostly of direct mail letters, catalogs, flyers, and other advertising mail. The USPS has sought an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on the plan, which the USPS tested in its South Jersey District last September. It's possible the PRC will send the Postal Service back to the drawing board, but mailers should be prepared for altered delivery schedules. See the news story at http://www.dmnews.com/usps-aims-to-institute-load-leveling-in-march/article/328622/

Digital Sales Ride in on Paper Catalogs

Old-fashioned paper page views will be ringing up sales along with digital page views this holiday season. According to a new survey by Kurt Salmon, a global retail consultancy, 86% of survey respondents bought an item after first seeing it in a printed catalog. More than half of online shoppers said they browse catalogs, and almost a third who make an Internet purchase have a catalog on hand when they click “buy,” per the survey. And the catalog impact isn't limited by age group: Shoppers between the ages of 18 and 24 are as likely to use one as those between 45 and 54. In a recent article in Business Week magazine, Artemis Berry, vice president at Shop.org, the digital group of the National Retail Foundation, points out that printed catalogs retain a key role in retail marketing in part because of more efficient mailing list targeting and distribution. Today's improved data use ensures that a Victoria’s Secret catalog is not mailing to the homes of single men, for example. For more on catalog trends, see http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-07/why-the-analog-catalog-still-drives-digital-sales

Catalogs, Direct Mail Attract More E-commerce Fans

E-commerce companies are embracing the marketing power of print catalogs and traditional direct mail in growing numbers these days, according to a recent post on The Huffington Post's business blog. The article by marketing agency execs reports that small, mid-size and premium digital brands are turning to high-impact direct-mail pieces--from full-size catalogs to postcards--as effective acquisition and retention tools. For example, a print catalog can deliver a potent one-two punch strategy via a high-response mail contact followed by cost-effective online order fulfillment, the post argues, which is why the brand roster of direct-mail converts now includes e-commerce heavy hitters like Amazon, eBay, Shutterfly, Zappos, Art.com, JustFab, Snapfish, One King's Lane, Modcloth and Minted. Building incremental sales with direct mail can be challenging in a multi-channel marketing and sales environment, forcing better analytics and systems for database targeting, response tracking and ROI allocation. But, for those e-commerce fans who aren't convinced it's worth the effort, the post shares the attractive math of a typical catalog test campaign in terms of ROI and costs. Check it out at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/why-ecommerce-companies-a_b_3983952.html

B2B and B2C Merchants Still Count on Print Catalogs

Print catalogs are still an important marketing tool in the direct-to-customer sector, according to results from Multichannel Merchant's Outlook 2013 survey. In fact, more than half of respondents said their companies market products directly to consumers and businesses through a print catalog. Even more interesting, nearly half of those merchants said they planned to increase print catalog circulation in 2013. Besides relying on catalogs to drive sales, business-to-business and business-to-consumer merchants also reported using catalogs as a prospecting tool and a web traffic driver. For a copy of the survey report, go to http://multichannelmerchant.com/mcm-outlook/mcm-outlook-2013-catalogs-still-have-staying-power-01072013/#_

ATTN Mailers: USPS Mulls 2014 Postage With FSS Pricing

U.S. Postal Service support of its Flats Sequencing System (FSS) may lead to an overhaul of postal rates early next year to include “an FSS pricing structure” for the Standard and Periodicals classes (and perhaps First Class mail), according to an online Dead Tree Edition post. The story cites indications from postal officials that the plan will include significant incentives for mailers to create FSS-optimized bundles for ZIP codes served by the giant machines, while continuing to make traditional carrier-route and five-digit bundles for non-FSS areas. No details were released, but such a change would certainly impact catalogs, direct mail and printers, prompting Target Marketing magazine to pick up the story at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/aggregatedcontent/fss-postage-pricing-will-affect-catalogs-magazines-printers 

Cost-Effective Mini Catalogs Grow in Popularity

Direct marketers are embracing mini catalogs to cost-effectively supplement full-size catalog mailings, according to a recent story for multichannelmerchant.com. The 10-page mini catalog, which can mail at the cost of a standard automated letter without the hard-to-open wafer of a slim jim, is proving a cost-effective response earner. Success stories cited include Crestline, a custom promotional products firm, which went from mailing 68-page catalogs every other week to mailing full catalogs every third mailing with mini catalogs in between. The result was an increase in response rate of up to 10% in some customer segments, a 20% retention rise, and savings of one-third in postage and production, the article reports. Another new mini catalog fan is National Ropers Supply, retailing Western decor and lifestyle supplies, which switched from mailing five to six $1.50-each catalogs annually to mailing two full catalogs supplemented by mini catalogs with a cost of just $0.32 each -- for a cost-effective boost is both catalog and online sales. For more, see the story at http://multichannelmerchant.com/marketing/mini-catalogs-catching-on-as-economy-and-culture-change-24072013/

Catalog Retailers Lead in Online Conversion

Catalog and call-center retailers outperform retail chains, manufacturers and web-only retailers in one important e-commerce metric: conversion rate. That's according to data from the "2013 Internet Retailer Top 500" guide. As a group, catalog and call-center retailers had the highest average conversion rate of 5.1% in 2012, an improvement from 4.7% in 2011. In fact, they have consistently held the highest average conversion rate among the merchant types in the 10 years since Internet Retailer published its first guide to e-commerce. One reason for the higher conversion is that these retailers typically send catalogs focused on specific products, such as gifts or pet supplies, to consumers who buy those products and so intend to make a purchase when they visit the retailer’s e-commerce site. For more, see the Internet Retailer story at http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/04/29/catalogers-book-highest-conversion-rate-top-500