Print Catalogs Find New Relevance in E-Commerce Era

Want to capture a consumer’s attention during a digitized contemporary holiday shopping season? Maybe try sending them something in print.

Defying predictions of doom, print catalogs have managed to remain relevant during the current e-commerce era, according to a report in Fast Company. In recent years, retailers have found that they can treat catalogs with fewer pages as a marketing tool. And now include QR and promo codes to entice customers to browse online and complete a purchase.

While no longer carrying an extended inventory of goods, catalogs are still costly to produce and ship, the Fast Company article notes. But they hold their own in value because of growing digital advertising costs. Helping retailers cut through the noise for consumers barraged by multi-format advertisements, industry officials say.

U.S. Postal Service data from December 2021 even showed a 12% year-over-year increase in the number of catalogs mailed that year. Including 300 million during the month of November alone.

In addition, notable e-commerce companies like Amazon and home good supplier Wayfair have started distributing print catalogs in an unlikely twist. In 2018, Amazon began mailing a toy catalog. That also happened to be the same year Sears, which had been mailing an annual Christmas Wish Book since 1993, filed for bankruptcy. And earlier this year, J. Crew relaunched its own glossy catalog.

According to Jonathan Zhang, a professor of marketing at Colorado State University, who was interviewed for the Fast Company article, research shows that thumbing through a catalog leaves a greater impression on consumers.

Even pint-sized presentations can still work, though, because the purpose of catalogs these days is simply to get customers’ attention, according to Zhang. Conserving paper also works better with younger customers who are worried about the holiday season’s impact on the planet.

Another factor hastening the trend toward smaller catalog sizes is postal price increases. The latest round of postage hikes in July 2024 included the category that contains the 8.5-by-11-inch size that used to be ubiquitous in the catalog industry.

Many retailers have responded to postal price increases by reducing the size of catalogs. Which in turn puts them in a lower-cost category, according to American Commerce Marketing Association executive vice president and managing director Paul Miller.

One of the favored new catalog sizes, a “slim jim,” measures 10.5 by 5.5 inches, but there are other size options as well. And some retailers have reduced costs even further by mailing large postcards to consumers.

Lands’ End, for example, is testing new compact formats to supplement its traditional catalogs. In 2024, that included folded glossy brochures and postcards, according to Chief Transformation Officer Angie Rieger.

L.L. Bean was a pioneer of the mail-order catalog after its founder promoted his famous “Maine Hunting Shoe” to hunting license holders from out-of-state in 1912. The outdoor clothing and equipment company, which is based in Freeport, Maine, is sticking to mailing out regular-sized catalogs for now.

And at least for the time being, it sounds like print catalog skeptics can take a hike.

Brand idea for L.L. Bean: ‘Proudly mail-order since 1912.’

L.L. Bean could lean into this trend by, for example, offering limited-run “1912 Mail-Order Editions” of apparel that can only be bought by holders of the print catalog. The print catalog listings could feature QR and promo codes to ensure only holders of a copy can access web order pages that aren’t searchable through the standard L.L. Bean website.