Editors Take: 2010 Recovery Requires New Thinking

Marketers dependent on catalogs will be able to bump up their circulations a little, if they can afford it — perhaps even for prospecting if there are any good names left. Retailers will be able to open new stores. But it’ll take a whole new way of communicating to get consumers to buy from you.

That way is still being formulated, but it’ll be different because the consumer is in charge now, regardless. So if you’re eyeing a time of economic recovery in just a few months, don’t expect more of the same tried-and-true catalogs or cookie-cutter stores to draw a trove of sales. There’s a lot more work and research ahead.