In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Melissa Campanelli and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published on Total Retail titled, “Amazon Misses the Mark With its Holiday Toy Catalog,” authored by Polly Wong, managing partner of strategic, e-commerce and creative services at Belardi Wong. The article dives into Amazon’s rookie mistakes in one of the most established marketing channels around: direct mail. Based on an informal survey, and a thorough analysis of the catalog itself, the author concludes that Amazon isn't adhering to direct mail best practices that have been developed over the past century.

These miscues underscore the uniqueness of the direct mail category. Many smart, well-funded marketers with experience in other channels are perplexed by direct mail. The lesson here? Getting catalogs and direct mail right requires dedicated and specialized expertise. To read the rest of Wong’s article, click here.