Alongside many retailer tech-first approaches over the years, putting ad spend toward something more analog: the print catalog, sent alongside a slew of other direct-mail products, offers an incredible opportunity to deliver rich, tactile shopping experience targeting prospects as well as existing customers.

As advertising has become increasingly dominated by Facebook and Google, it is easy to write off print as a relic. Just look at Sears: the once-iconic catalog retailer is a thing of the past. But, more retailers and grocery giants are rolling out catalogs and flyers to hook prospects and keep existing customers loyal. Startups like Everlane and Greats, as well as more traditional retailers, including Williams-Sonoma and major grocers are evolving their multi-channel approach to print circular and catalog distribution. Even Amazon has launched toy catalogs!

With digital becoming more and more crowded, here are the top reasons to add direct mail or print marketing to your marketing mix as a retailer:

1. Print marketing is a very powerful tool in the hands of retailers and can be used to influence customer purchase decisions. According to the Catalog Age magazine, about 70% of people who receive catalogs either buy or respond to them within six months. Catalogs influence purchase decisions by making it easy to locate what you’re looking for and then conveniently delivering it straight to your door!
2. Printed material allows you to engage all five senses through sight, sound, and touch. For example, when you receive direct mail advertisements or when you get a brochure that explains different features about a product in detail, these types of materials allow consumers to take time out of their busy day and truly absorb information by engaging multiple senses at once.
3. It is an effective tool that provides marketers with the ability to reach, engage and influence consumers throughout their entire purchase journey. Catalogs and print circulars are often used as a launchpad for multi-channel purchasing journeys by delivering great offers, building brand awareness, and driving traffic to retail storefronts (or websites). The catalog production and print circular strategy is constantly evolving to meet consumers where they are at both digitally and physically.

Marketers are armed with a plethora of information on customer transactions and regional buying behaviors. Some retailers are using print catalogs and direct-mail products to focus on reaching those that spend more, or are likely to spend more. It also becomes a more intimate and less crowded form of advertising than Facebook, Google, or email. Some retailers use print circular placement in weekly mailings with regional-specific offerings, like Texas-based items for a major grocer in Texas or collegiate items for retailers in specific states. That amount of data and print production takes tools to make teams work efficiently without being bogged down with manual processes.

Turning the page on a multichannel mix, print catalogs or retail circulars and online activity are not separate experiences.

Knowing that retailer catalogs and grocery print circulars are important sales drivers with increasing marketing ROI, more companies are turning to multichannel marketing software to simplify production workflows and digital output of their print materials.

Comosoft LAGO optimizes marketing print production and multichannel implementation for retail, grocers, agencies, and more. At its core, LAGO is a PIM, DAM, and marketing production solution with an Adobe InDesign integration for checkpoint-based design, collaboration, versioning optimization, proofing, and digital output. Click here to see LAGO in action or to schedule a brief demo.