West Marine has tested a concept that could knock catalog marketing on its ear: an electronic catalog that mimics a hard-copy catalog to the letter.
The boating products marketer e-mailed a 64-page catalog to 250,000 customers in December. It downloaded in five seconds and displayed the same product graphics as the firm’s paper Gift Guide.
The results, while not overwhelming, were good enough to warrant another test. The e-mail was opened by 1.5% of the recipients. Of those, 16% made a purchase on the Web site (www.westmarine.com) or by telephone.
By showing catalog customers a way to shop online,
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