The Catalog Doctor: Profit Prescriptions for Product Density

High Density Can Look Good

Problem: “I want the sales per square inch that high density delivers. Does that means our catalog has to look like ‘cheap junk’?”

Doctor’s Remedy: High density and high quality can go together, but it’s challenging. You need a skilled designer and visually appealing products. Victorian Trading Co. does a great job of cramming in tons of products (seven to 10 items per page). Its design succeeds by using lots of creative image overlap and very short copy to give the cataloger the high image-to-copy ratio typical of upscale catalogs. Yet with amazing density, the products still come across as high quality. Plus, the catalog is enchanting to page through, like discovering a charming antique shop crowded with shelf after shelf of wonders.