Web Buyers Are Changing the Catalog World, Part 2 of 3

In part two of this three-part series on the analytic metrics necessary for catalogers to evaluate their multichannel businesses, this week I offer tips on how to effectively manage catalog circulation when factoring in Web buyers.

(For part 1, click here.)

In general, pure Web buyers — those customers whose demand has been created online and whose order has been placed online — respond to follow-up catalogs at a much lower rate than traditional call-center buyers and catalog-driven Web buyers. It’s typical for pure Web buyers to respond 25 percent to 75 percent less than traditional catalog buyers with the same RFM segmentation.