Print Catalogs & Web Working Together (1,425 words)

Every November, print catalogs fight for visibility in the holiday shopper's mailbox. In 1998, two companies upped the ante by being different: the Dell Home Systems Catalog and barnesandnoble.com got shoppers off the phone and onto the 'Net.

Although both companies declined to comment on the marketing and production details of their catalogs, Brian Boyd, director of marketing for Barnes & Noble, New York City, did state that the barnesandnoble.com catalog "is a natural extension ... of being a multi-channel retailer." If printing a catalog to pull consumers online becomes a trend, then the 1999 round of mailbox competition may be bloody indeed.