How Catalogs Still Drive Online Sales

Coy Clement of clementDirect, a consulting firm specializing in catalog/multichannel direct marketing strategy, recently discussed with eMarketer how a brand’s print media, specifically, catalogs, can still influence online consumer behavior. Clement’s clients include Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard and J. Crew – the latter of which continues to distribute what is arguably one of the most compelling fashion retail catalogs out there.

Some of Clement’s insightful observations included:

On the difference in online shopping behavior between people who receive a printed catalog, vs. those who don’t:

People who receive the catalog tend to use the Website differently from people who haven’t received a catalog. I’ve seen cases where people who’ve received the catalog buy the featured items. They know what they’re looking for, and they use the catalog as a guide to what the company is selling. People who show up through organic search or a corporate high-traffic site have much more difficulty navigating the Website because they really don’t know what the key items are.

On using online and search behavior to learn about how customers are shopping for your products:

Another thing I’ve done with retailers is look at search terms and learn about the customers’ terminology. Is she looking for blouses or tops? Merchants might be talking terms like tops, but maybe the customer isn’t ever using that word for search. Search terms can give you an insight into the actual way customers are thinking about your products.

On trends affecting cross-channel shopping:

Retailers are becoming more sensitive to the fact that just because they want 20% more business on the Web doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what customers want. Some of this is happening naturally because I work with retailers who sell to 20-something-year-olds. For those people, the online experience and social media experience already is the predominant way of communicating with them. But when you’re talking to 40- and 50-year-olds who have different media patterns, trying to make them behave as though they’re 25 is a losing proposition.

In spite of having a passion for the digital space and optimized online experiences, sometimes a printed catalog you can flip through on the train or at home, enjoy the photography and gather inspiration from is a more enjoyable precursor to visiting a website and shopping for specific items. A catalog like Uniqlo’s, or JCrew’s, can oftentimes better inspire a purchase based on an inspired (or retailer-persuaded) “look” than sifting through product pages on the website, or a harried visit to the store in Saturday pedestrian traffic. Let’s hope some of these more compelling (and free) catalogs stick around.

eMarketer: “How Print Can Still Impact Online Consumer Behavior”