Why print remains a powerful channel in today’s marketing mix

Last week, Coles surprised the print industry with its decision to cease the print and distribution of its weekly catalogue to homes. The supermarket giant has taken the decision to transition away from printed media and shift to an entirely online platform “Coles&co” with digital catalogues, which it believes will allow the business to better personalise offers.

In the same week Woolworths announced its commitment to continue to invest in its own print catalogues.

Coles’ decision has attracted much commentary and the marketing community has engaged in a conversation about the role and value of print in a modern marketing environment where digital is often heroed, but successful mass market campaigns need to leverage the strengths of both print and digital.

The continued growth of e-commerce and the importance of online platforms (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic) is inarguable. Yet to solely focus on digital channels leaves brands at risk of alienating many of their consumers – particularly more vulnerable audiences and those in regional areas – as well as impacting their ability to effectively reach the market at scale.

Print catalogues are powerful, proven marketing tools for retailers of all sizes. They deliver a huge range of benefits for brands and are an important way for many customers to engage with their local community and purchase essential everyday products. This is especially true for customers in regional areas or with limited digital access, who rely on a handful of local stores and letterbox marketing that lets them plan future purchases.

Reach

Catalogues enable a level of cost-effective reach that is the envy of other marketing channels.

Research conducted by the Real Media Collective shows that every week 20.3 million Australians read letterbox or catalogue marketing. That’s roughly 80 per cent of the population that can be reached each week. To compare, the top rating TV shows generally pull under 2 million people for a broadcast, whereas nearly a third of Australia’s 13,436,000 catalogue readers read catalogues cover-to-cover. 

And supermarkets are one of the strongest performers, with 8.6 million people stating catalogues are the media most useful for them when purchasing groceries.

Catalogues integrate easily with your other marketing outputs – they can be extended via social media, integrated into your ecommerce store, and built into your website. They don’t exist as a standalone strategy but are an essential element of an integrated retail marketing approach that allows brands to reach as many relevant customers as possible.

Inclusivity

Unlike many other communication channels, catalogues transcend barriers that can impede access to other marketing channels.

Catalogues are easily accessible regardless of socio-economic status, geography, education, age, ability, or digital access. Many Australians use catalogues to select essential products, compare deals and pricing, and help to plan their budgets and household spending, providing real help to customers in the current challenging economic climate.

They don’t require a monthly subscription or payment and aren’t reliant on a level of technical knowledge, digital literacy or an internet connection. In fact, many customers have already expressed concern about the move to cut household catalogues, highlighting those that would be impacted by this decision.

A purely digital marketing mix disadvantages many of Australia’s most vulnerable and elderly people, especially those currently under COVID-19 restrictions who rely on others to do their shopping for them.

Impact

Catalogues drive consideration and influence buyer behaviour – so it’s a risk to underestimate them as an integrated marketing tool.

Catalogues have a long shelf life once delivered to the home, and they’re often shared in a digital second market by people snapping photos and sharing deals and products with friends and family. Harvard Business Review recently showed that catalogues combined with digital marketing provided a nearly 50 per cent increase in sales and a 125 per cent increase in enquiries.

They play a significant role on the path to purchase by driving people in store and triggering high value unintended purchases. Roy Morgan further reinforces the impact that catalogues have on consumers with nearly half of catalogue readers (47%) making a special trip to a store to buy a product after seeing it in a catalogue - purchases that they wouldn’t have otherwise made.

Measurability

Measuring the impact of print with real in-store or transactional data has historically been challenging, but now as a result of our investments over the last two years, we can quantify sales uplift due to distribution and measure against audience segments, locations and creative.

Working with Quantium we have shown a clear and considerable difference in spend between those who had a chance to see the catalogue and those who have not.

We have invested in the right data and analytics tools, so brands have more power than ever to apply A/B testing principles and personalisation to print marketing. This can be as sophisticated as curating an entirely personalised version of the catalogue for VIP customers, or as simple as testing two different hero products on the front cover.

Ultimately, this new level of measurement offers our clients the ability to maximise their most profitable audiences, delivery areas and mediums to get their message across.

Armed with this kind of data, they can make smarter business decisions that eliminate wastage and allow you to connect only with the audiences that want to hear from you, applying learnings to drive even more sales.

The end of the line

From high reach to easy integration with other marketing channels, catalogues are a stable and reliable marketing channel that complements the other elements of your strategy.

Catalogues get you in front of more people for a reasonable cost, and many Australians rely on them as an essential shopping tool that’s easy to read, understand and share. To cut them completely is to cut a valued communications channel and misjudges the integrated marketing environment that is central to achieving marketing results.