Catalogs

Overview

Companies that decide to use catalogs for their business generally do so to reach a larger audience for their products than their physical location will allow. Companies send out catalogs using mailing lists and have a much greater number of people viewing their products and, hopefully, buying those products. The catalog has the ability to display the products and provide some useful information about your company to those on your mailing list. They are a great way to showcase your business and let your potential customers know why they should order your products. 

The planning of your catalog should include a well planned schedule. The products that are displayed in the catalog should be available for your customers to order. You should also make sure that your catalog takes advantage of holidays and other times when a customer is likely to buy. Start working on your Christmas catalog months before the holiday shopping season begins so that you can be sure to get your catalog into your customer's hands in time for them to order from your company. Timing is one of the crucial elements of your catalog marketing efforts.
A company that is getting started in catalog marketing should be sure that they are able to handle the orders that will be coming in before they send out their first catalog. The orders must be received, processed and shipped out in a timely fashion for your catalog business to be successful.  There are companies that you can hire that will take care of a number of these functions for you. Businesses use these companies when they do not have the capacity to do it themselves.

How it Works

Catalogs can give the customer the general idea of what the seller offers. So, it is easy for the consumer to get exactly what they need. The catalog also gives the consumer an option to select from a range of products.

Benefits

There are some great benefits to using catalogs for your business. One of the most important benefits is the ability to display your products to your customer in an attractive way no matter where they are located. For a company that does not have a large number of retail stores, this is an ideal way to gain a larger market share without having to open new stores. This gives more people the ability to see and order your products that might have never had a chance to visit your store.

Costs

The cost of catalogs involves printing and sending them through the mail. However, this is not the biggest expenditure when you are using catalogs for your business. The major expense in creating a catalog to send out is the design of the catalog itself. Hiring a professional to handle this task may be an expensive part of sending out your catalogs, but you can significantly cut the costs by having someone within your organization work on the catalog design. When you are able to do this, the price of catalogs for your business is reasonably priced when compared to other marketing and advertising methods. The cost of catalogs is roughly $500, though it varies from company to company.

Timing

A catalog can be given to the customer as soon as he/she steps in to the shop for facilitating easy shopping. Online catalogs are also available.