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Print Still Surpasses Web as Top Channel for Catalogers

The print channel is still the most successful for catalogers, despite the fact that they have increasingly embraced ecommerce.

According to the DMA‘s Multichannel Marketing in the Catalog Industry report, catalogers’ internet sales increased only slightly - from 38 percent to 39 percent - between 2004 and 2005, writes Multichannel Merchant. This was the first year of the report that 100 percent of respondents say they use the web as a sales channel.

Only 11 percent said they considered their websites to be their primary driver of orders, however, while 74 percent said their catalogs are their primary sales vehicles.

Companies are increasingly embracing the multichannel aspects of marketing, with more than 80 percent of respondents saying they have consistent pricing, fulfillment, and inventory across all sales channels - and for the first time in 14 years, email promotions are the tactic most used by respondents, replacing discounts and special sales.

Sales sections on websites also surpassed discounts this year, with 66 percent of respondents saying they used them.