Aussie retailers catalogue marketing push

January 28, 2016

Inside Retail

Catalogue was the advertising of choice for retailers during the holiday season with new data showing that catalogue volumes grew by 10 percent in December 2015 compared to the corresponding period in 2014.

The largest increase was seen in New South Wales with 18 per cent growth, followed by Victoria and Queensland with 4 per cent growth each.

Retailers have also increased their investment in digital catalogues as part of their multimedia advertising strategy, Salmat, marketing and communication company, reported.

Sarah Pike, chief marketing officer at Salmat, said their data shows many Australian retailers have continued to use catalogues as their advertising medium of choice for Christmas 2015. She said a bulk of their catalogue growth came from existing clients. “They are the one who know just how cost-effective this channel is for acquiring new customers and converting sales.”

Salmat says they have seen a rise in retailers’ use of digital catalogues with many brands now using digital platforms to extend the life of a catalogue through Universal Catalogue and Lasoo while expanding distribution to social media, electronic direct mails and Google product search.

Currently, catalogues reach more Australians than any other medium, according to the 2014 / 2015 Australasian Catalogue Association Industry Report. Around 19.7 million Australians read catalogues compared to 16.4 million for newspapers, 8 million for TV, 10.1 million for radio and 13.8 million for magazines.

Catalogues are also proven to be highly engaging with over three quarters (77 per cent) of Australians having read a catalogue in the last month. While 80 per cent of people reading catalogues are ‘just browsing’, 59 per cent of those do end up buying, demonstrating how effective catalogues are in driving sales.

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I came across this and thought it quite apt, as it is often the way advertising is viewed. I believe that it all comes from advertising being looked at as an expense.

In the financials of the business it is represented as an expense simply because there is no provision for investment.

The main purpose of advertising is as an investment in the future prosperity of the business through promoting sales.

The most distinct advantage of using flyers are that they are relatively cheap compared with other advertising means. Flyers are also very flexible and can be used to announce various different events, specials, openings and promotions.

They are also target driven and can be handed out at specific places where your target audience and market will be. You can also specifically design the message and decide what you want to get across to the public. It's important to get noticed so your flyers need to be eye catching, easy to read and offer something of interest to your reader.

A great way to maximize the impact of a flyer and to get people to read your flyer is to offer a free gift or special service if people bring the flyer to your business. This way you will also be able to keep track of how successful your flyers are.