A year after catalogers saw double-digit%age growth in dollars and transactions, spending began to fall back to earth as most indicators in the Abacus Spring 2001 Catalog Industry Trend Report showed declines of up to 4.5%.
Growth between the years 1998 and 1999 reflected the boom times. Among members of the Abacus Alliance, a cooperative database of catalog merchants, dollars spent increased by 21.8%, dollars per household jumped by 15.3%, and transactions and order size rose by nearly 11% and 10%, respectively.
But between 1999 and 2000, the industry contracted, with dollars spent and transaction levels falling by 4.5%, and transactions per household and dollars spent per household off nearly half a%age point each. In 2000, alliance members received $17.6 billion from 142 million transactions, down from $18.2 billion for 148 million transactions seen in 1999.
Continuing historical trends, women’s clothing made up a significant portion of the year’s sales. More than 15% of all households purchased low-ticket female apparel, while nearly 8% acquired high-ticket items. Ranked by total dollars spent, these two categories were first and second, respectively.
Slightly more than one in ten of all households purchased discount domestic merchandise, which Abacus defines as gifts, accessories, clothing and home supplies that appeal to thrifty buyers. Two other categories, general gifts and merchandise and intimate apparel and undergarments, were bought by just under 8% of all households.
Most of the top 25 categories tracked in 2000 showed declines in their growth rate among households making purchases, with two, garage/home tools and supplies and high ticket/upscale gifts and merchandise, actually moving from growth to contraction.
A few categories, notably those focused on lower-cost items slowed their rates of decline. Several categories that had seen the number of households purchasing them shrink between 1998 and 1999, including kitchen accessories and décor, discount domestic merchandise, miscellaneous items, large-sized female apparel and low-ticket general gifts and merchandise, actually saw the number of households making purchases rise.
For two-thirds of the households within the Abacus Alliance, the primary purchaser is female. The median Alliance household age is between 46-55, with an annual income between $50-$75,000, and has been at its residence for between six and 14 years. Abacus is a division of DoubleClick Inc., the New York based marketing services firm.
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