Do catalogs still work? A Top 100 Us Brands Analysis
Are people still paying attention to the old, good catalog?
I got curious to answer this question and so, proceeded to do a more in-depth analysis of how the top 100 US brands use catalog (if doing so) and how they do it in this digital day and age.
How top 100 US brands use catalogs in 2019
The first aspect analyzed was the main reason for publishing a catalog. And I kept it simple. There should be two main reasons why a brand will want to invest time, effort and money in creating a catalog, be it online or printed. These two main reasons are: for presentation and for sale purposes. In the end, the main reason will be to sell more of course, but here, I wanted to go more in-depth into the main reason for publishing a catalog as a medium to move the customer one step forward in the acquisition funnel.
Of course, when analyzing the results, the specifics of certain markets should be taken into consideration. Let’s start by analyzing domestic merchandise retail stores.
Brands like CVS or Bed Bath and Beyond publish weekly or monthly circulars with the sole purpose of presenting their offers and getting in-store traffic. A by the book marketing strategy that works wonders still. A recent Nielsen study shows that the old-fashioned way of sending out printed circulars is a retailer’s best bet, at least for now.
It’s exactly what IKEA is still doing, the old-school way. Using magazine-like-catalogs, the so-called magalogs to tell the story of their products and making the reader feel like they’re invited to someone else’s house. A perfect blend between magazine editorial and traditional product catalog, IKEA is using taking catalogs to whole new levels. Printing yearly catalogs and distributing them by mail and in-stores is still a winning strategy for the furniture giant.
Believe it or not, this states, once again that print ain’t dead! Brands who find success in using physical marketing like print catalogs see this type of content more as a magazine that offers the full experience, rather than an index of products. And IKEA is the perfect example of that.
Frequency of publishing catalogs
The first point of this case study was to see the main reason why a brand would want to publish a catalog in 2019. Next, I wanted to see how often this happens. And when analyzing the end data, I saw some correlations between the type of business and the frequency of publishing catalogs.
Retailers such as Target or Walmart will publish weekly ads with the intent of bringing people in-store for grabbing the deals being advertised in the circular. A marketing practice that’s known to be working, even in 2019.
And so, these weekly circulars will be no more than 10 or 20 pages long, often including coupons to help measure the effectiveness of the ad.
Weekly circulars got an update in 2019. Out of the 100 brands analyzed, 33% use shopping links in their online catalogs. And the majority of this percentage are retailers who rely on weekly ads to drive in-store traffic.
From simple printed weekly circulars that customers would receive in the mail every week, the classic weekly circular got an upgrade when retailers started using shopping links to maximize sales. Printed weekly circulars are still an efficient marketing strategy for supermarkets. Especially when retailers use QR codes to link the catalog to their website.
And by combining both efforts, printed and online, retailers got a winning strategy in bringing people in for their weekly online shop.
Approximately 70% of consumers who use e-circulars scroll through the entire ad. Very similar to the percentage of shoppers who read through the entire paper circular (87%).
The power of imagery
Everybody knows that images are very powerful when talking about product catalogs. It’s a total necessity to create a strong visual impact on the customer in the product business. And to put it bluntly, images always worth a thousand words and represent the best communication tool. Believe it or not, this is also demonstrated in our study.
Out of the 100 brands analyzed over 23% use at least 50% imagery in their catalogs. But wait, there are brands that focus even more on this strategy by having over 75% images in their publications. Proof that images do catch the attention more.
Product photos catch the attention and are the first thing shoppers see when they open a catalog. For instance, Bonobos — a men’s clothing subsidiary of Walmart — intentionally limited the amount of descriptive text in their catalog. They think that it’s best to skip unimportant details such as measurements and care instruction. After all, customers generally go online to look for this information. They have also conducted a study that focused on sales patterns. In one of their catalogs, they featured a male model wearing a colorful shirt and white jeans. Most of the customers ordered both items, so the brand decided to point out full-outfit shots and less text because apparently, images sell more than words.
Same perception is applied to brands like Footlocker. They choose to only display images of people wearing their products, without any descriptions. It’s like a slideshow catalog, neat and impressive.
They rely on the fact that product catalogs lack the opportunity for clients to physically handle the products, so they must take advantage of the high-quality images and sensorial marketing. The products they have in-store have to be exactly as in the catalogs. They have to fill the gap by providing genuine information. You know what they say: the more excellent the product images, the more potential customers!
If you want to read more about how relevant catalogs are for today’s consumers, read more in this article.
