Catalog Circulation

Sears was pretty redfaced after a third-party vendor called Fright Depot put up an image on the website that showed more of the model than Sears would've liked. So, Sears has now made the decision to completely get rid of the "Exotic Apparel" section of its website, reports Scott Stump at "TODAY."

The biggest retail news from last week in my opinion was Cabela's CEO Thomas Millner stating in a conference call that the company would begin to phase out its paper catalogs. So, what do you think about this move by Cabela's? And how do you feel about catalogs as a marketing tool in general? Have they outlived their usefulness or are they still an effective marketing vehicle? We're trying to get to the bottom of this issue via our new "Question of the Week" discussion on our Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!

Cabela's is leaving something behind as it begins its journey to become a truly omnichannel retailer: its paper catalogs. The retailer's initial steps will focus on a print-to-digital transformation, tests of targeted shipping offers, and new mobile and digital efforts for the holiday season, according to CEO Thomas Millner. "Late last year, we began to develop a multiyear approach to reverse the four-year downtrend in our direct segment and transform our 51-year-old legacy catalog business into an omnichannel enterprise supporting transformation for digital, e-commerce and mobile while optimizing the customer experience with our growing retail footprint."

Ikea catalog fans are a pretty finicky bunch. The last time the furniture retailer made what some might consider a slight "tweak" to the 61-year-old tome (after 50 years of use, in 2009 it changed its iconic Futura typeface to the more computer-friendly Verdana), consumers went ballistic. Now, it makes an even more ambitious leap with McCann Erickson's makeover of the 211-million circulation pub. In August, the retailer tapped the agency to revamp the famous printed showroom and yesterday debuted a video introducing "A New Kind of Catalogue."

fullbeauty, a plus-size lingerie brand that's part of Redcats USA’s OneStopPlus Group, announced today the mailing of its first 72-page catalog, representing a comprehensive range of styles, sizes, brands and colors. fullbeauty is dedicated to being the ultimate shopping experience for plus-size women who want fashionable and functional bras that reflect their fit needs and style requirements.

Online spending may be increasing, but the venerable catalog is doing anything but fading away. In fact, it's still an important part of business for retailers. “It’s basically a marketing tool,” said retail analyst Eric Beder, a managing director at Brean Murray, Carret & Co. “The beauty of a catalog is that you don’t have to go online to see it, so you can use it anywhere.” More than 12.5 billion catalogs were mailed out to homes in the U.S. last year, according to the Direct Marketing Association, the largest global association for the marketing community.

The satirical cartoons that Tony Avent puts on the cover of his garden nursery catalogs have earned him sporadic hate mail for more than a decade. Now his new spring catalog is getting investigated by Penn State University officials for possible trademark infringement. 

Styling goes social with the new Styld.by digital catlog developed for Gap. Collaborating with fashion bloggers, items from Gap's spring 2012 collection are styled and showcased.

Multichannel retailer Sierra Trading Post announced a streamlined, web-inspired redesign of its six catalog titles, with the first edition hitting mailboxes in March. The redesign comes on the heels of an initiative to improve the look and feel of SierraTradingPost.com.

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, L.L.Bean has recreated its popular Spring 1933 catalog cover with renowned photographer Randal Ford. Go behind the scenes to see how it was done.