Catalog recipients are nearly twice as likely to buy online as non-recipients and prospects are even more inclined to do so, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service.
The research shows that people who received paper catalogs spent 16% more, and were 15% more likely to make additional Web transactions than those who didn't receive them.
The USPS hopes the numbers will convince marketers they can't forsake the mails. And by one measure, it has a point. The USPS doesn't break out catalog figures from total Standard Mail results in its financials, but in the three months prior to June 30, both the number of Standard Mail pieces and the revenue generated by the category rose.
However, the per-piece revenue slipped slightly, from 19 cents to 18.9 cents, indicating either increased use of automation for cheaper postage rates or lighter mailings.
“We've had the suspicion for some time that we needed to dispel the myth that catalogs were becoming irrelevant in the Internet age,” said George Hurst, USPS manager of direct mail.
While the research focused primarily on catalogs, it also demonstrated that even flier mailings stimulate sales. While 15% of catalog recipients went online to buy, 13% of those sent a flier made a purchase on the Web as well. Only 8% of a control group bought without being spurred by a mailing.
The USPS linked catalogs' influence on behavior by partnering with ComScore. The market research company tracked consumer behavior in its network of 40 retail sites, and compared purchases of those it knew had received catalogs against those who hadn't.
Hurst noted that during fiscal 2003, 9.4 billion catalogs were in the mail, generating $2.94 billion in postage revenue. Figures for fiscal 2004 had not been compiled at deadline.
But Hurst added: “More and more people were spending a great deal of money on their Web sites, and maybe not paying as much attention to their catalogs.”
Hurst's concern is well founded, and it may be more than a “myth,” as he put it. “Major office supply companies have converted over half of their formerly mail-based business to the Internet,” said Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce. “You'll also find precipitous declines in first-class mail. In all the major financial institutions, people are telling us, ‘Figure out how I can get the hell out of mail as fast as I can.’”
Even the postal service's own figures confirm this — to a point. “In 2002 77% of retailers had a catalog, and in 2003 55% had [one],” said Rick Arvonio, USPS director of product management. “Yet catalog volume increased. This tells us that the 55% [still sending them] understand the value of catalogs, and increased their [mailing] volume.”
Arvonio added that budget constraints and the inability of some of the less sophisticated catalog marketers to link Web purchases to catalog mailings likely played a role in the cutbacks.
So what's the next step for the USPS regarding this report? Its sales team, which handles the accounts of the country's largest mailers, has already been armed with the figures. And postal representatives are fanning out to advertising clubs and conferences.
“All we can do is continually show the value of mail and let the marketplace decide,” said Hurst.
“I think it's a very powerful argument,” Del Polito said. “It's going to be aimed at companies that are looking at how to build traffic to their Web sites, and might not ordinarily be considered traditional mail users. This is a powerful medium that can help you accomplish your basic business purposes.”
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