Forum Moderators: buckworks
It's been done the other way many times. Just wondering if it would be worth the investment. I'm sure it depends on what you sell. Our products are very repeat in nature. Every 4-6 weeks one will typically restock supply.
One thought is to produce an Adobe Acrobat version and allow them to download and print themselves.
If you send out HTML E-mail updates you can let people know when the PDF catalogue is updated so they can download it again.
Some of our clients are in 'old world' industries whose customers still expect a catalog. Many run 25,000 to 100,000 catalog runs (which are pretty economical) with no prices other than a price sheet insert to keep the catalogs current for as long as possible.
Just like any balanced marketing program, you want to keep your company in front of your target audience. That means not transitioning 'from' e-commerce, but complimenting your online business with other channels designed to encourage sales.
While we always encourage immediate purchases online, for those with catalogs, we also allow prospective buyers to quickly request them. In mailing campaigns, we develop color postcards that feature attention-getting specials to prompt a call to action for either a catalog or go directly to the site to make their purchases, rather than blindly mailing full catalogs out at great print/mailing expense.
As far as the Adobe Acrobat files, this is fine for lengthy, detailed spec sheets, but it is also important to have as much product information as possible on your standard HTML pages, without forcing prospective buyers to have to download a large PDF file to see what you are trying to sell them.
Regarding the CDs, we thought that was a great idea as well, but found that hardly anyone bothered to load it. Maybe it has something to do with the millions of AOL CDs people have been throwing away for years. ;)
Steve
1. Cost to produce.
2. We have become spoiled with the ability to change prices, products and policy on a whim.
However, we do have a "slimmed down" version of our web site as a catalog. It includes essential supplies in our market. On each page we include, "These and 3,000 more products at www.xyz.com"
The customer can order items in the catalog and items from our web site with the order form included in the catalog.
-Andrea
BUT... The web is only so big a place. A well handled catalog can not only drive good traffic to your site, but will help you reach those who are not on the web.
WHICH MEANS... Don't start a catalog unless you are prepared to have a call center to take orders (or pay for the outsourcing) and a mail center to recieve mail orders.
AND... If you are going to go the catalog route, hire a good consultant to get you set up. There a subtlties in direct marketing that can cost you big time if you don't know what you are doing.
reach those who are not on the web
That's the kind of requests we get. Our target audience is: 35-70 yr old middle/upper income. The upper end of that range is what we would be going after. 50-70 somethings that may be online but still don't like using their credit card online or lack the online shopping skills. We can usually hand-hold some of these folks by talking them through their order on the phone. Essentially, training them to use our site. Our site is not complicated. You can purchase a single item with 4 clicks total. I am constantly amazed at the inabilities of some people when navigating websites.
Good point about the call center. You have me thinking about the phone ringing too much now. Course, there are much worse problems to have :)
Abertone, sounds like a similar situation. I like the idea of a cheap 10-15 page version of the most popular items. That would certainly trim down the costs of a full blown version.
