Shop Talk: 4 Tips for Driving Catalog Sales From Brick-and-Mortar Shoppers
Q: "I would love to get some advice on increasing catalog orders from retail store customers. We are a tourist-driven business and we want them to order again once they get home from vacation." — Chris Hatcher, marketing director, Savannah's Candy Kitchen
A: If you're looking to drive catalog orders post-retail, here are a few quick tips:
1. Use a bounceback. Similar to how online retailers often include promotional materials in shipments of products — e.g., Amazon.com including a discount offer on a flyer with products ordered or a catalog retailer including a copy of its print catalog in its product shipment with an offer for "returning customers" — always have your staff put a catalog or some other marketing collateral into the bag your customers take away with them.
2. Opt them in. Have an iPad (or multiple iPads) in prominent locations around your store(s) so shoppers can opt in to receiving either emails or catalogs (or both) from you. Or simply have your store associates and sales clerks ask shoppers if they'd like to give you their email address to receive messages from you — maybe you can sweeten the deal by sending them special discounts and offers. The goal here is to never let a customer or prospect leave your store without having them agree to receive further communications from you.
3. Use QR codes. In addition to their cool novelty factor, QR codes provide a convenient and easy way for consumers to access your company's promotions, resources and other information via their smartphones. That's probably why more and more smartphone users are now experimenting with them. Try using QR codes for email opt-in campaigns. Keep in mind that smartphone users scanning your QR codes are likely on the go, so asking for much more than a name and an email address may backfire.
- Companies:
- Amazon.com
- People:
- Chris Hatcher
- Jim Gilbert
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
