Catalog Doctor: The Amazing, Portable, Low-Cost, Handheld Device for Delivering Sales
Catalogs Can Sell More Effectively
It's easier to display products in a catalog in ways that get consumers thinking about how your products can improve their lives. Most e-commerce websites' product pages are fairly structured, with each product having a main view, alternate views (that need to be clicked on), details (the copy also needs to be clicked on) and customer reviews (another tab to click on). Consider a catalog page. It's unstructured. You can have a giant headline if you want; a photo that shows an entire room setting; five mix-and-match pieces of apparel in every combination; a testimonial with giant quote marks; a big red circle that says "Save 25% when you buy the set"; a sidebar telling a "made from recycled tires" story. The possibilities are endless, and you can have it all in a beautiful, eye-catching design. Your catalog page can drag the viewer in to the point that their mouth waters, making placing an order unresistable. It's easier to captivate a consumer with your catalog.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
