Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of an article from Retail Paradox, Retail Systems Research's weekly analysis on emerging issues facing retailers.
There was a time, between 2002 and 2006 or so, when the web seemed to be killing off catalogs. Certainly catalogs cost a lot of money to produce, mail and manage, and theoretically, with "everyone" moving to the web to do their shopping, it seemed that just a postcard informing customers of new products or promotions would suffice.
Fast forward to 2012: At my household, at least, it sure seems like business is booming for catalog print companies. Every day brings another round of hefty catalogs, most from companies I have never spent a dime with nor visited the website of.
Some catalogs are relatively lean, but some of them are positively encyclopedic. Just the other day, I received a 700-page catalog from a furniture retailer I have never bought anything from (NOT the famous IKEA catalog). Befuddled, I left it on my kitchen table while I visited a friend. There, on her kitchen counter was the same big book. We both chuckled at its size, and it turns out she'd never bought from that retailer either. In her words, "Why are they sending this huge thing to me? It must have cost them a fortune and I have never once entered their store?" In fact, I'm not sure this retailer even as a presence in Miami.
I honestly don't know what to make of it. I don't remember getting such massive tomes even in pre-web times. I would say that out of every twenty catalogs I receive, I open maybe two of them, and actually use one as a shopping tool. (This month it was LL Bean's that made the cut given a trip I'm making to the Galapagos and the Amazon this summer.)
So it appears that catalogs are alive and well. But I don't quite understand why. Does this mean retailers are hedging their omni-channel bets? In an era of eBooks, do we think our catalogs will be the "last man standing" on consumers' coffee tables? And curiously, why not offer them as eBooks free on B&N or Amazon? How about an iPad app? It's got to be less expensive than the books themselves, and you could send me an email or postcard letting me know it was available.
Help me out guys ...I'm really lost. And I'm getting embarrassed at the number of catalogs that make the direct trip from mailbox to recycling bin. It feels almost decadent.