Marketing facts and stats

Catalogues for marketing

Portable, flickable, with no download restrictions and no need for a power source, print catalogues have been rejuvenated as a marketing tool. Used for pre-purchase browsing in conjunction with the internet, catalogues are creating a new generation of home shoppers.

There’s a new class of consumer

Gone are the days of credit-driven, big book catalogues offering cheap clothes in a 28-day delivery window. Clothing and interiors companies such as The White Company, Charles Tyrwhitt or Artigiano, as well as furniture retailers Oka and Lombok, all sell upmarket wares aimed at niche markets, from city bankers to silver surfers. These new businesses reverse an old catalogue stigma in offering the highest levels of customer service, and are now profiting from the fortunate convergence of higher broadband speeds and a consumer propensity to pay for quality and convenience. The trend looks set to grow: Mintel reported that a fifth of all adults intended to shop more from home in 2009, rising to almost a quarter for people from AB socio-economic groups; and use of specialist catalogue titles is rising, while big book catalogue numbers have remained static.

Brand it like Boden

Love it or hate it, Boden is the brightest new catalogue star: since 1991 it has built a turnover of £160m selling perky, zanily named clothing ranges to the middle classes. Founded by Old Etonian and ex‑stockbroker Johnnie Boden, the catalogue copy flirts with its reader, tempting would‑be yummy mummies with images of wholesome looking models in idyllic family settings, complete with the models’ names and “favourite things” underneath. Boden has always gone for the personalised approach, originally using his own friends, including Tory MP Nick Hurd, as catalogue models. The brand’s “jolly hockey sticks” style makes it a favourite with the Camerons, Boris Johnson and, most recently, the Obamas. In fact, Boden online customers are offered a choice of 52 titles, including Admiral, Lord, Prince and Monsignor.

Fact of the month

Mintel forecasts that e-commerce will increasingly become the lead channel for the traditional home shopping operators, especially catalogue retailers – already true for Shop Direct Group, Otto UK, Redcats and specialist catalogue brands like Boden.

to watch

Luxury literature
Pocket doc
Eyecatching
Groom school
Cool treats for hot dogs

Read the latest marketing trends

Send your catalogue to the correct person. Use an up-to-date mailing list that is as detailed as possible or waste your time, money and the paper your catalogue’s printed on.

Consider the timing. Catalogues are more likely to be read and kept if they don’t arrive at a busy time. Avoid Mondays, for example, when recipients have both Monday’s and Saturday’s post to deal with, and Fridays when people are winding down for the weekend.

Leave the printed product to do all the work. Combine your direct mail catalogue with other channels – consider sending an e-mail to pre-announce its arrival and highlight the main attractions, or a follow-up e-mail as a potential prompt to purchase.

Forget how your catalogue will be used. If you’re selling tools to trade audiences, make your catalogue A5 so it can fit into an average toolbox; make it hand-bag sized if you think people will want to carry it about to read later.

catalogue facts

The average annual spend on catalogues per consumer has risen to £511, a 50 per cent increase from its low in 2007, according to Royal Mail.

Benjamin Franklin is believed to have been the first cataloguer in the US when he produced a mail‑order catalogue selling scientific and academic books in 1744.

The Ikea catalogue prints approximately 175m copies worldwide annually, reportedly meaning it has published more than three times as many copies as The Bible.

Parents of Kate Middleton, the girlfriend of Prince William, have cleaned up royally with their kiddies party-props catalogue and mail-order business Party Pieces.

Royal Mail reports that 45 per cent of social networkers say they’ve used a catalogue in the past six months – proof that catalogue users are getting younger and more web-savvy.

US clothing catalogue company J Crew saw its share price rise by 10.6 per cent after the Obama children were photographed wearing its coats and dresses.

A catalogue advertising deal backfired when a home shopper ordered a pair of slippers but subsequently received an explicit catalogue for sex aids and erotic clothing in the post as part of a deal by the slipper seller, Home Shopping Selections, with MRP Direct.

Was Henry VIII a renaissance home shopper? He ordered his armour from France and Italy with the mail-order caveat to return it free of charge if he found he could not do handstands in it.

Catalogue size matters: the Screwfix catalogue, which sells trade tools and accessories, has always been A5 because it fits easily into a toolbox or glove compartment.

The UK’s impending VAT increase is reported to be more problematic for catalogue retailers than others, because they will be forced to reprint catalogues with the new higher prices.