USPS Numbers Bear the Catalog’s Value

In a presentation at the American Catalog Mailers Association’s inaugural National Catalog Advocacy & Strategy Forum in Arlington, Va., last month, David Mastervich, manager of sales strategy for the USPS, reeled off a series of statistics from the Internet marketing research company comScore to bolster the U.S. Postal Service’s claim that catalogs are still a relevant and effective marketing tool.

* 98 percent of households collect, assess and sort their mail daily;

* 77 percent sort their mail immediately;

* on average, consumers receive three to four catalogs a week;

* on average, people spend about 30 minutes engaged with their catalogs;

* 46 percent of mail order customers said they enjoy browsing through their catalogs;

* 64 percent said they placed an order within the last month from mail they received;

* 60 percent of customers said the reason they visited a company’s Web site was because of a catalog they received;

* 67 percent who weren’t customers said the catalog triggered their Web site visits;

* 57 percent of Internet visitors and buyers like to receive catalogs;

* 61 percent said by having the catalog and shopping online they might see additional items to buy;

* catalog recipients buy more, posting an $88 average order value for those who received a catalog vs. $69 for those who didn’t;

* 60 percent of catalog recipients comparison shop vs. 68 percent who don’t receive a catalog; and

* 75 percent of customers who received a catalog report being satisfied with the merchant vs. 61 percent of those that didn’t receive a catalog.

For more information, go to www.usps.com .