Five years after discontinuing its "Big Book" catalog, J.C. Penney plans to return to a modified print catalog strategy, finding through analysis that online sales were partly driven by what the shoppers first saw in print.
The traditional "Big Book" catalogs, launched in 1963, were delivered three per year with some reaching 1,000 pages. Much of the catalog focused of fashion. In 2009, Penney discontinued the "Big Book" and phased out its distribution of 70 smaller catalogs targeting niche areas such as school uniforms, kitchen products and window coverings a year later.
Eliminating the expense to produce and distribute a print catalog as well as the complaints heard from customers about catalogs piling up unread in mailboxes, Penney also initially thought catalog shoppers would simply shift to buying online. But the company found a large amount of online shoppers had a catalog with them when making an online purchase. Penney CEO Mike Ullman told the Wall Street Journal, "We lost a lot of customers."
The 120-page revived catalog, to be mailed in March 2015, will focus on home department goods and target select customers, or what Mr. Ullman described as "lapsed customers." Home goods have historically been among the top-selling items in Penney's catalogs and the category accounts for 40 percent of online sales. Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and West Elm also use a strong catalog component to support their business.
Penney's reverse comes as The Direct Marketing Association reported that the number of catalogs mailed in 2013 increased for the first time since 2006. J. Crew Group, Williams-Sonoma, Bloomingdale's, and Saks are also among the retailers that still invest heavily in print.
Speaking to NPR, Trish Hagood, who runs MediaFinder.com, the online database of catalogs in the U.S. and Canada, said good catalogs continue to help shoppers navigate through the clutter. She said, "The Internet has gotten so big that you can't find anything on it."