Editor’s Take: Tracking the Most Telling Multichannel Trends

Q: What are the biggest opportunities facing the catalog/multichannel industry in the immediate future?
● developing a synergistic customer contact strategy that includes catalogs, Web, e-mail, retail, etc. (7);
● differentiating catalog and online content in a way that gives added overall value;
● social marketing;
● using online capabilities to help customers deeply explore what catalogers’ products can do for them;
● addition of other media on the Internet;
● getting in on the avenues the younger generation uses most;
● potential consolidations and mergers;
● reducing print and leveraging e-commerce;
● “to give [Internet] customers the same level of experience — in terms of service — as they get on the phone so they’re willing to spend as much, if not more, time online”;
● reaching international buyers through the Internet;
● smaller catalogs that will drive Internet ordering;
● providing better service and greater economies than retail;
● the ability to leverage segmentation knowledge from print catalog marketing to e-commerce marketing; and
● taking market share from those who are pulling back.