The Dingley Press

With the help of The Dingley Press, we conducted a study to determine how many catalogs it prints that still include some type of order form. We found that almost half of our fairly large sample size have no inside ink-jet or order form insert, but they do have an order form printed on-page in the catalog. Another 18.5 percent use a bind-in order form. In summary, 71.5 percent of the catalogs we surveyed use an order form; only 28.5 percent have eliminated the order form entirely.

Cross-channel retailers have heard for years that catalog marketing is no longer practical. It's too expensive and not a sales driver is the line that's repeated. There are hundreds of companies that would argue otherwise, however. When managed properly, a catalog marketing program can still be very profitable. Here are two tips to help your catalog marketing program reach profitability:

The Dingley Press recently created and launched Android and iOS-compatible mobile apps for Cintas Corporation’s Uniform SourceBook catalog. The apps, which are available in both the Android Market and the iTunes Store, are a first for Cintas. After creating a digital catalog for the Cintas website, the corporate uniform supplier asked Dingley to develop an application for mobile devices. Offering the catalog via a mobile app opens up a new retail channel for Cintas and allows technology savvy customers to view the brand's products in a very convenient way.

More than 50 percent of all catalog orders are now placed via the internet. This development has impacted the use of bind-in catalog order forms. In fact, this growing trend has impacted the use of any type of order form. That said, the order form in a print catalog can still be beneficial. The decision to eliminate an order form shouldn't be based solely on saving money or on the percentage of orders received via the mail. There are other factors to consider.

Welcome to Retail Online Integration's annual Resource Guide. This special section offers all the crucial details, company information, contact numbers and addresses of product and service providers to the cross-channel retail industry.