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Catalog mailings can double online sales by Accutips.com

An independent study conducted by comScore Networks, Inc. for the U.S. Postal Service shows that catalogs significantly drive Internet sales and benefit retailers by enhancing business growth.

Among other findings, “The Multi-Channel Catalog Study” revealed that 15 percent of consumers who receive a catalog and visit the cataloger's website make an online purchase. It was also shown that catalog recipients account for 22 percent of website traffic and 37 percent of its e-commerce dollars.

The study found that if you mail consumers a catalog:
They are twice as likely to make an online purchase.
They will purchase more often.
They will spend more on each purchase made on the website.
They will spend more meaningful time at your website.
They are more likely to purchase online with greater catalog frequency.
They generate a revenue lift of $21.1 million per million unique visitors.

“This new research is significant because it comes at a time when Internet shopping continues to grow in popularity,” said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of the USPS. “The findings dispel the myth that catalogs do not play a critical role in a retailer's promotional plan. Clearly, the study results reinforce the continued importance of print direct mail and reveal a significant marketing opportunity for online sales growth for any retailer.”

In addition to the key finding that catalogs drive online sales, the research calculated the effect of direct mail on Internet sales with the following findings:

Catalogs move consumers into the sales funnel. Catalogs were found to be effective in driving more prospects into and through the sales funnel by increasing awareness, consideration and actual purchase. Within the Postal Service study, catalog recipients made 16 percent more visits, viewed 22 percent more pages, and spent 15 percent more time at the retailer's website.
Catalogs have an impact on online purchasing across all customer segments. The study revealed that catalogs were effective in driving sales among new and existing customers. Within the study, consumers who received a catalog of a company from which they had not previously purchased were twice as likely to make a purchase compared to those who did not receive that company's catalog. Further, existing customers in this study were 33 percent more likely to buy from a retailer's site after receiving a catalog.
Catalogs received in the last 30 days pack more punch. The buyer conversion rate within the study was significantly higher for recent catalog recipients. These recipients bought more frequently than those who received a catalog more than 30 days ago.

“The significance of this study and its results benefit retailers and marketers directly, across a wide array of product categories, who now have proof of the measurable sales increase they can realize by maintaining or adding catalogs within their marketing mix,” said Linda Abraham, executive vice president of comScore Networks. “The bottom line is that a retailer using a catalog to generate online sales can double its chances of making that sale by mailing the catalog.”

The Multi-Channel Catalog Study is based on comScore Network's ability to combine attitudinal insight with comprehensive behavioral data, including website visits and actual online purchase transactions across retailers. In the study for the Postal Service, comScore observed the online behavior of more than 1 million U.S. consumers and surveyed visitors to 40 leading retail web sites in the apparel, department store, home and garden, consumer electronics, and computer hardware and software categories.