Tactics > getting set for Christmas
Christmas catalogue that really sells
Creating a By Ian Simpson
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so make your catalogue extra-special too
I
t seems strange writing a piece about Christmas when the sun is shining and we are in the middle of one of the hottest spells for years. But I should know better, I have recently received my first Christmas-themed catalogue;
yes the end of May and I am being told to buy Christmas cards.
Christmas is the most consumer-focused
time of the year and a massively important sales period, with some multichannel retailers netting more than 90 percent of their turnover in the six to eight weeks prior to Christmas. It is an increasingly hard fight for your customer’s pound and from September onwards we will be seeing a regular flow of catalogues through the letterbox. Getting your Christmas catalogue to work
harder, at a particularly competitive selling period, is not simply a case of tearing up the rulebook and creating something totally out of kilter with your usual mailings. Similarly, if you just create a “Christmas-ised” version of your regular product offering, it won’t work as hard as it could do. It is important to show your customers you recognise it is a special time of year and you have been working hard to bring some extra-special products. But whatever you do, it has to be inline with your brand and something your prospective customers can identify and engage with.
Where do you start? Without doubt, the easiest way to sell product is to tap into an emotion. I learned a long time ago that selling is rational; buying is emotional. A salesperson will always present a product in the most rational way possible; he will show you features, benefits, buying options, available versions, colours and everything else you need to make your choice. And you know that choice is never going to be rational. A catalogue works in the same way and has
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to function as both a sales and a marketing tool that promotes the company’s brand values. At Christmas it has to work very hard to pull both these strings together, wrap them around a prospective purchaser’s emotions and give a big tug!
Direct Commerce Catalogue e-business
www.catalog-biz.com
Some practical tips So how does this turn into practical tips, hints and ideas? Well I think we have to start with the obvious, the cover. It has to be festive and brand-led. It goes without saying that it has to
It’s all about emotions… One of the most powerful emotions at Christmas is guilt (tongue in cheek, of course!). Whatever you have done throughout the year, this is the time when you can make amends. You didn’t call mum enough, you feel bad about taking dad for granted, you haven’t spent enough time with the kids, granny misses seeing you, and yes, you are getting grumpier. So choosing the right gift, if done properly, is a complex process. It is also a process that makes us feel good: about ourselves, our friends, our family and everything we care about. The emotional drive is to give the family, friends or pets a really great gift that shows we care about them and that we also care about the choice of gift. I believe the best way to sell with a catalogue
at Christmas is to do what you have doing all year round—but better. You create a catalogue that personifies your brand, shouts about the things that make Christmas special, is packed with really special products, suggests great ideas for gifts, but above all makes it easy for the customer to buy from and gives them great solutions. By doing this you are selling the greatest benefit of all—the benefit of buying from you.
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