Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog, “Your 2019 Holiday Catalog Due Date”

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Your 2019 Holiday Catalog Due Date" serves as a reminder for retailers who are preparing their push for the upcoming holiday season. In this post, we focus on the overall state of holiday retail spending trends, as well as the importance of mailing catalogs to customers and prospects earlier rather than later. According to the National Retail Federation, the good news is that holiday shopping sales numbers grew 14 times in the past 15 years. You can probably guess which year sales failed to improve, and if you are speculating that the year was 2008, you are correct.

2018s total holiday sales were up 3% over 2017, with sales totaling $707.5 billion. These enormous numbers represent sales opportunities for any business participating in any retail category. As Amazon, Apple and Netflix move the sales goalposts to an even higher level, comprising of superior customer service, price discounts, and free shipping, these moves force all retailers to focus on the shoppers' ideology of offering "more."

Holidays Are Always On!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been retail's target sales benchmarks for years. However, as digital communications have come to fruition with increasing e-commerce popularity and trust, today's shoppers are no longer waiting for the primary holiday deals. Instead, they are opting to purchase at their own pace. For example, in 2017, half of the holiday shopping was in the books by December 3. Moreover, during that same year, 80% of the shopping was completed by December 15.

Now let's consider the ramifications of the 2017 shopping timeline. With retailers absorbing the costs of free shipping, purchases must be made early enough, weeks in advance, to deliver on both the free shipping and deliveries by December 23. The real challenge then becomes sustaining profitability, to run those promotions for sixty days or more, thus placing holiday/promotions on a never-ending trajectory.

The reasoning behind such prolific and aggressive holiday promotions is straightforward. More than 40% of all retailers expect to attain 31% to 50% of their annual sales during the short holiday window. To gain a competitive sales advantage, retailers are now extending holiday sales promotions into non-holiday months, such as the recent Amazon Prime Days, Christmas in July, Cyber Monday, and Cyber Week.

Personalization in 2019

Gone are the old days of batch and blast holiday sales specials, although many retailers will send an email blast from time to time. Customers are much savvier today, and as a result, these folks desire personal communications that deliver quality information that includes excellent value and great prices.

Depending on whom you speak to, the definition of personalization may vary. That said, the one constant within the scope of personalization is that the marketing component is always omnichannel.

While seasonal holiday shopping for retailer interaction primarily occurs via online experiences, the overwhelming response rate numbers improve with direct mail. Direct marketing mail numbers researched over the past two years indicate that direct mail response rates outperform the combination of all digital destinations. In other words, catalogs can make a discernible difference. Millennials, GenZ, and affluent households, all prefer physical catalogs to online versions, although they don't shun online versions.

Catalogs Anyone?

Given the evolution of the marketing sales funnel, it should come as no surprise that catalogs are the first option in the marketing funnel that guides buyers towards purchasing either online or in the physical store. The global consulting firm, Kurt Salmon, stated that 86% of the 18-30 woman demographic admitted they bought an item after they saw that item in a catalog.

Here's a bonafide example of a real organization that uses catalogs to drive both online and offline sales. The furniture retailer, Restoration Hardware, stated that its catalogs, referred to as "sourcebooks," were "one of our primary branding and advertising vehicles" and "a key driver of sales through both our websites and retail stores." Restoration Hardware reported that catalogs and e-commerce sales in combination drove 45% of the store's net revenue.

Catalogs Improve Brand Loyalty

Consumerist Archives reported that 31% of shoppers scan a catalog, although they have already completed an online purchase. Further, more and more brands are opting to use catalogs to cut through social media overload and email saturation. Another reason given for catalogs is that they represent an engaging experience not possible in the digital world.

Catalogs Enhances the Onmichannel Experience

Catalog marketing enhances the personalization bar. Well-designed catalogs are now commonplace alongside high-end editorial magazine collateral. Omnichannel marketing is now the key to reaching the most targeted customers and prospects with both in-house and prospects lists. Omnichannel replaces multichannel as it goes a step further by focusing on the customer experience versus multiple channels.

Retail Dive recently reported that catalog integration with e-commerce and in-store operations improves customer engagement, and thus makes the most of all channels. Major retailers view catalogs as a leveraging component for all marketing efforts, as well as being able to engage in new markets. With a data management solution, retailers can identify and send catalogs to customers who recently made an online purchase.

Self Gifting

Shoppers are veering away from purchasing just for others, and have become more passionate about buying for themselves, especially during the holidays. Deloitte's holiday retail survey stated that 78% of consumers planned to shop for themselves during last year's holiday season. This self-gifting ideology presents an unusual dilemma for retailers marketing strategies. The challenge becomes how to create personalized messaging for gift-giving ideas versus self-gifting suggestions.

Self-gifting versus gift-giving creates a unique challenge for retailers, as many sales categories occur once a year. Therefore, retailers must create engaging messaging for each purchase directive, gifting or giving, and that can be tricky creatively, as well as, drive up marketing costs.

Catalogs Make Sense

Direct mail marketing in the form of catalogs is a game-changer, especially during the holiday sales and promotion season. Brands and marketers that plan to achieve higher holiday sales results should be in the stages of planning the holiday catalog now.

To ensure that your catalog design sends customers to specific online landing page destinations, it's a good idea to coordinate with the digital marketing arm of your organization during the planning and creation stages, before finalizing any catalog. Lastly, catalogs should be in the mail by late August or mid-September to reach shoppers in time for the 2019 holiday shopping season.

The Net-Net

Ideally, catalog creation should be well underway, if not, it makes good sense to begin today. If your business relies on 4th quarter holiday spending to make goals for the year, a well-designed catalog could be the difference-maker. Thanks for reading "Your 2019 Holiday Catalog Due Date."

Let's have a conversation about catalog direct mail marketing strategies, printing, transactional documents, variable digital printing, brand equity and unified marketing collateral during our next Open House. We invite you to join us on Thursday, July 25th, 2019, for an hour or two, anytime between 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce your costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop, and mailing capabilities. Dove Direct has an official USPS certified bureau located within our offices that will save you time and money. Moreover, if you bring us your files, we will create a demo file for you. For more information, call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dove Direct, your Atlanta based print and mail solutions provider offers organizations end-to-end data, printing, and mailing solutions: Data Management, Variable Digital Printing, LetterShop and Fulfillment, Fully Automated MLOCR Presort Bureau, Marketing and Production Management Support and Secure Data Life Cycle Management.

If you don't want to wait for the Open House, you can reach Dove Direct today by calling 404-629-0122 or use the contact form for Dove Direct.