Prospecting is terrific--if the prospects turn into customers. But 900 million catalogs mailed this year reached consumers who didn't buy a thing, according to Jack Baer, vice president of Surgarloaf Key, FL-based catalog consulting firm Muldoon & Baer.
This was just one of the findings of a recently released survey on direct and interactive buying practices. Baer noted that 43% of the population does not order from catalogs, but still receives about 48 catalogs a year. And consumers who made only one catalog purchase receive 70 catalogs a year.
Why don't they buy despite the abundance of offerings? Catalogers are mailing the same universes over and over again, saturating the same consumers with catalogs. In addition, the reluctance reflects a lack of trust, he said.
The study, which was done by Elrick & Lavidge on behalf of the Direct Marketing Association, also shows that purchasers receive a mean of 8.3 catalogs per month, compared with 4.0 for non-purchasers. Baer extrapolated the 900-million figure from adding up the projected number of households that don't order or that have ordered only once.
The report, which surveyed a sample of around 1,000 households, concluded that non-purchasers are less likely than purchasers to review the catalogs received, and retain catalogs for a shorter period of time.
