Snail Mail Catalogs Thrive Precisely Because the New Consumer is So Elusive

At a time when print media is dying and snail mail is passe, the old standby mail order catalog is thriving.  Why?  Because, as I have argued before, the Bubble Generation consumer is easy to find but impossible to reach.  These times call for in the (mail) box thinking.

An announcement this week that makes the point: Iconic retailer L.L. Bean says it expects to ship 50 million more catalogs this year than it did two years ago when it shipped 200 million catalogs.  That's nearly one unit per every American.  Knowing that most will be tossed away immediately, and anticipating that online sales well could be the mainstay of its holiday sales, why does the 95-year old maker of flannel shirts, mud boots and outdoor gear continue to stuff mailboxes with paper catalogs?

As the outdoorsy folks at L.L. Bean might put it, spear-fishing works, gill net fishing doesn't.

Two reasons.  First, catalogs have more staying power than TV or radio, or even print advertisements.  Better yet, many customers now use the catalogs to make online purchases, another example of old media supporting new.

But the second reason they cite is the difficulty in tracking down the new consumers by other means.  Because they are so mobile, because they don't have land lines and because they are so adept at avoiding TV, commercial radio and spot magazine ads, catalog and brick and mortar retailers are ramping up distribution of the direct mail glossies.  The reasoning is that while most BubbleGen consumers manage to stay off the media grid, they still live somewhere and mail seems to find them.  And the strategy is working.

The Direct Marketing Association projects catalog sales will grow roughly 7.5 percent to $144 billion for the year. The National Retail Federation projects that holiday sales will grow 5 percent to $457.4 billion. The complementary nature of direct mail with a call to web action appears to be a powerful one-two punch for savvy marketers. 

As the outdoorsy folks at L.L. Bean might put it, spear-fishing works, gill net fishing doesn't.