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2. Paper catalogs face an uncertain future.

Mailboxes across the county are stuffed with countless catalogs every day. According to one estimate, 17.6 billion catalogs were mailed in the U.S. last year. That’s sixty-four catalogs for every man, woman, and child.

That may change. Catalogs of all types will find themselves under severe electronic competition. There are a number of reasons why a Web catalog is superior to a paper one.

An electronic catalog can be interactive. You can sort by types, sizes, colors, prices, weights, and so on. Think Amazon.com, for example. You can sort by author, by title, by subject, by category. In contrast, a paper catalog of books is so impractical that few are printed and distributed, except for narrow selections.

Furthermore, an electronic catalog is much less expensive to distribute. Once the material is composed in an electronic format, the cost of distribution is essentially zero. Manufacturing a paper catalog, however, can be costly. Just to print those 17.6 billion mail-order missiles requires 3.35 million tons of paper.

So what do you do if you’re L.L. Bean? Good question.

Sales have been essentially flat at L.L. Bean for the last few years. That puts pressure on the bottom line because the company prints and mails catalogs thirty times a year. And printing and mailing costs continue to rise.

So L.L. Bean opens up a Website to sell the same merchandise found in the catalog. Is this a good idea or not?

Yes and no. In general, when you broaden the scope of a brand, you weaken the brand. In the long run, multiple distribution channels substantially increase costs and do not do much to increase sales.

A fully functioning Website with computer hardware and service people backed by a programming staff is not an inexpensive proposition.

To get the company moving again, L.L. Bean is opening a chain of retail stores, in addition to its nine factory outlet stores. Outlets are one thing, they help you get rid of leftovers. When you open retail stores, however, you are competing directly with yourself, never a good idea.

A better solution for L.L. Bean and other catalog companies is to shift the entire operation to the Web. Don’t try to maintain two expensive distribution channels for a brand whose market is limited.

You can’t do this overnight. You need transition time. We would gradually reduce the number of catalogs mailed and shift some of the savings into publicity and advertising programs for the Website. You need a way to drive prospects to your site.

One of the major advantages of ordering products from a computer rather than from a catalog is the interactivity of the Website. You know instantly whether or not the product is in stock in the color and/or size you want.

(This, of course, is only a theoretical advantage. Many sites have yet to integrate their warehousing operations with their order-entry systems.)

When you call to order from a catalog, inevitably at least one of the items you want is out of stock or back-ordered.

Should every catalog company shift to the Web? Of course not. There is never only one way to do anything. For certain products in certain categories, the better strategy might be to remain a catalog-only company. As catalog mailings taper off, the remaining companies in the field will find that their individual catalogs have become more productive.

3. The elaborate full-color brochure will become exceedingly rare.

Many companies will rethink their use of expensive brochures, which are virtually out-of-date the day they come off the press. It’s a lot more efficient to let a prospect stroll through your Website to look at the same information.

If something catches the prospect’s eye, they can always print out the page using one of the many inexpensive color printers now on the market.

One way to promote a seminar, for example, is to send out inexpensive mass mailings (postcards maybe) and then invite prospects to get all the details on your Website.

Annual reports of corporations are another category of printed brochure that is headed for extinction. It may take a while, however, for the Securities and Exchange Commission to change the regulations that govern their use.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Internet / Electronic/ Web and Business Transformation (No 2&3)

• Electronic Money and Online Transactions
• Internet / Electronic/ Web and Business Transformation (No 1)
• Who will Handle Commercial Marketing Integration?
• Growth and Prospects for E-retailing
• BRINGING E-MARKETING MIX TOGETHER
• How do you Smile over the Web? Internet Marketing, top Secrets of Ecommerce, Online Income
• Online Marketing Privacy Codes of conduct
• Online Retailing, see what people are Shopping: Televisions, Radios, VCRS, DVD Players, etc
• It takes time so have faith: Six simple steps ( 3&4)
• Online Marketing, Success in Business, Website Strategies part 2

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