Rethinking Catalogs — and Your Customers — in a Post-COVID World (freeportpress.com)
With mail volume down overall, marketers are reporting less competition and higher response rates with their direct mail and catalog campaigns. As more people stay (and shop) at home, each direct mail piece is being seen by more people in the household, and consumer catalog businesses are welcoming a significant increase in response, with many struggling to meet demand, writes Stephen Lett in Total Retail. Lett believes this favored status for catalogs and direct mail is likely to continue long after our current pandemic lifestyle is lifted. “Consumers are likely not to rush back to bars, restaurants, retail stores, etc., even when there’s a medically accepted vaccine. Many will remain cautious, adopting a wait-and-see attitude,” he writes. “Others will be set in new ways of functioning. They have adapted to a new and safer or more cautious way of living their everyday lives. The transition back to pre-COVID ways of doing things won’t be like flipping a light switch.”