In the mail: November

They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but in the world of catalogues the front cover is definitely important. As Bob Ashwood of The Catalogue People wrote in Seven easy tips for creating better catalogues, “catalogues need to work hard. They need to engage, inform and motivate. We call it salesmanship in print. From front to back cover, you have the opportunity to make sales at every turn of the page”.

This is why, in this month’s In the Mail, I’ve chosen a collection that I feel really stands out from the crowd.

Bloomsbury & Co
Website: www.bloomsburystore.com
Format: 220mm x 167mm, 40pp, no order form
Special offer on the cover: no
Addressing: polywrapped, address on carrier sheet, delivered by Royal Mail
Range: eclectic gifts
Delivery: £3.95 standard, guaranteed next-day delivery £6.95, orders of £10 or less £1.95
Why I like it: quirky but functional, the Bloomsbury & Co catalogue is packed with unusual gifts and can seem quite chaotic at times with its myriad fonts and type sizes. But it remains really easy to shop from: product descriptions are where they should be, the telephone number and website are prominently displayed, and there was plenty of engaging content to keep me reading. What’s more, the way the catalogue is laid out, with so much packed into its 40 pages, each page demands a second look—for good reasons.
What’s missing: The offer of 15 percent off a first order is featured on the back cover and not the front. This is a bit of a missed opportunity. 

 
Honey Tree Bespoke Stationers
Website: www.honeytreepublishing.com
Edition: Autumn 2012
Format: 210mm x 148mm, 8-page foldout mailer
Special offer on the cover: yes, 10% off plus free gift wrap with personal message and free p&p
Addressing: no polywrap, address printed on back, delivered by Royal Mail
Range: Personalised stationery
Delivery: free
Why I like it: The mailer is immediately appealing with Christmas lights, glittery stars and ribbons adorning the front cover. The USPs of bespoke and personalised stationery are strengthened by the message Made in Somerset, indicating that this is no mass-market product, but something that is lovingly created here in the UK. Other messages on the cover include no-risk guarantees, free standard delivery and the availability of a next-day express service. I also liked that Honey Tree called out the fact there were gifts to suit all budgets—as a non-essential product it’s good to know there are a range of price points to tempt customers in. It may be an exclusive product, but the mailer is very much an inclusive invite.
What’s missing: As a direct mail piece, it does the job very well and ticks a lot of boxes. If I had to make a suggestion, I would not have included the kitchen label range in this mailer and kept the focus on gifts.  A large amount of space is given to the labels, when it could be better spent on focusing on some of the bestselling motifs or writing fonts available.

Letterbox
Website: www.letterbox.co.uk
Edition: Bright Ideas Collection
Format: 210mm x 148mm, 36pp, order form on back cover
Special offer on the cover: no
Addressing: in envelope
Range: Children’s toys
Delivery: Standard UK p&p £3.50
Why I like it: The Christmassy cover does it for me. Shaped like a tree, each “branch” is punctuated by a product from the range, given customers an at-a-glance look at what’s on sale inside. I also really like how the catalogue is colour-coded with each section clearly labelled, for example “arts and crafts”, “little ones”, and “personalised”. Although the catalogue is only 36 pages, the breadth of the range means the index on the inside front cover is very handy indeed.
What it’s missing: I seem to remember the Letterbox catalogue used to be A4-sized. Now half that, I think some of the type is too small—especially the What’s inside and Birthday Club copy on the inside front cover.  For the next edition I would like to see a slightly larger catalogue, not necessarily A4, but just a tad bigger than the  current offering.--MT

November Catalogue Log

Christmas came early for our posties, in the form of far fewer catalogues to deliver in November than the previous two months. Catalogue e-business logged in 140 catalogues for the month, down nearly 24 percent from the 184 received in October and down 34 percent from September’s 212 catalogues. No doubt some of the decline in volume was due to fears of continued postal strikes; it wasn’t until 5th November that the Communication Workers Union agreed not to strike against Royal Mail at least until after Christmas.

Catalogue volume wasn’t the only element to decline from October to November. So did the percentage of catalogues touting promotions. In November, 31.4 percent of the catalogues offered sales and discounts, down significantly from 41.3 percent in October. While 14.3 percent of the November catalogues promised a gift with purchase, 16.8 percent of the October catalogues had.

The percentage promising free delivery slid to 19.3 percent in November from 21.7 percent in October. Most of the free P&P offers were unconditional, incidentally, with only a handful (Baker Ross, Hawkins Bazaar, JML Direct, Lands’ End) tying it to a specific spending level.

Overall, nearly half of the November catalogues—49.3 percent to be precise—did not resort to special offers, compared with 41.3 percent of those received in October.

It appears that more merchants are trying to wring maximum margins from the all-important fourth quarter. Email and social media make this decision somewhat less risky than it used to be: If a cataloguer finds that full-price sales are falling short of goal, it can easily and quickly put together a promotional email and spread the word via Facebook and Twitter of special offers.

Among the more notable offers was a free upgrade to a Louisiana alligator watch strap with the purchase of a specific watch from Christopher Ward. The watchmaker also has what is one of my favourite slogans: “Time on your side”. Toys catalogue Letterbox had a nice tiered-discount scheme: 10 percent off orders up to £150, 15 percent off orders over £150. My only quibble with that promotion was the typography and wording of the message; I had to reread it nearly a half-dozen times before the words “up to” versus “over” jumped out at me. Maybe if they’d been in bold I wouldn’t have been so confused. (Or maybe I just need new glasses…)

Boden offered a 10 percent discount, plus free shipping, plus another £10 off. “I owe you a huge apology,” read the covering letter. “It took us far too long to realise that the catalogue you requested had not been sent to you. To atone for this blunder I’d like to give you a free tenner. You can use it on top of the offer printed on the cover.” To quote my colleague Miri, “Is there anything Boden doesn’t do right?”

Several of the October catalogues made a point of highlighting the cut-off dates for Christmas delivery, and as expected, more of the November editions did so. Some were refreshingly specific: Children’s furniture brand Aspace stated on page 3 “Order before 4pm on 22nd December for Christmas delivery”; apparel cataloguer Lands’ End has a deadline of 10pm on 21st December; Montezuma’s Chocolates gives a deadline of 21st December for standard delivery and 22nd December for express.

But let's not end a blog post concerning Christmas shopping on such a matter-of-fact note. Here are two of our favourite catalogue covers that adorned our inboxes this month:

All together now: Awwww--SC