Catalog Circulation

If you were worried about where you were going to get your zombie garden gnome, here's some relief. The company that bought the bankrupt in-flight shopping magazine SkyMall says they're bringing back the catalogs to airlines. "@Skymall is back," the company's twitter account retweeted this week, setting off a series of tweets and news coverage.…

There’s been a lot of press lately about the renaissance of the print catalog. While catalogs never truly went away, there was a period there that the “death of the catalog” was more than just a whisper. Brands were ditching print in favor of cheaper, “more effective” digital marketing efforts. That’s no longer the case.…

Speakers discuss why print still works, how it can be integrated into a multichannel marketing mix, and the future of catalogs.

In a session during next week's Retail Marketing Virtual (RMV) Conference & Expo, a panel of catalog experts will discuss the rebirth of the channel as well as how their brands are incorporating catalogs into an omnichannel marketing mix. Brian Huck, president and COO of Eastwood; Jim Garlow, director of marketing operations at CDW; and Kim Hansen, senior vice president of marketing and e-commerce at Winston Brands (parent company of Collections Etc.) are going to share how catalogs can still be used effectively — i.e., profitably — in today's digital world as well as what the future entails for print as a marketing vehicle.

For years now, critics have been saying the print catalog is dying. Going away. A relic that's being replaced by the internet. It was almost like the word "catalog" was dirty. Something out of date or old fashioned, or so it seemed.

The buzz at the NEMOA directXchange Spring Conference earlier this month was a scathing critique of the cooperative databases. A lot of people were shaking their heads and asking, "Were the co-op database criticisms simply factually wrong?"

Cost cutting among catalog brands has been widespread for the past few years — and with good results. It's kept many catalogers afloat during the recent tough times, and helped build profits as well as operational disciplines. All that's swell, but beware of going to extremes and overcutting in ways that could harm. Here are four ways that, reliably for most, increase sales and return on investment, and therefore should be on your do-not-cut list:

Ikea has stopped plans by thousands of people to play hide-and-seek in its maze-like stores in the Netherlands. After a spirited round of the children's game attracted hundreds of people to a Belgian Ikea outlet last summer, the world's biggest furniture retailer has forbidden similar events in several of its Dutch stores, citing safety reasons. The organizers of the games, who got word out over Facebook, are now looking for alternative locations.

At the center of everything your business does is its brand. It's the core of your existence. A well-defined brand is critical to attracting and retaining customers in today's ultra-competitive retail environment. On the flip side, an aging or stale brand that lacks direction, innovation and creativity will turn customers away.

In this digital age when filling a shopping cart requires little more than a click, the printed catalog keeps vying for a place on the coffee table. From Anthropologie to American Girl, Pottery Barn to Patagonia, retailers are still relying on direct mail even as they spend considerable resources on improving their websites to accommodate the steady increase in online shopping. Some of their catalog forays, however, barely resemble the traditional merchandise book. These days, retailers are employing devices like adventure tales and photo spreads of wildlife to catch shoppers’ eyes, hoping to secure purchases online or in-store.