Bodie and Fou, Debenhams debut catalogues
They may be at opposite ends of the turnover scale, but Debenhams and Bodie and Fou are both launching catalogues to complement their online offering.
Bodie and Fou is an online seller of gifts and
homewares. Founded in 2005 by sisters Elodie and Karine Kong, it expects to reach a turnover of £1 million in 2012. Karine Kong explains the company was biding its time before moving into print. Among the first priorities was creating a brand voice and establishing a reputation for excellent customer service. To that end, the founders spent time crafting a website that had a boutique feel, somewhere customers could visit and communicate with the company. The voice, says Karine Kong, is conveyed
through the company’s blog and Facebook page. Facebook is particularly important to the business, says Kong, who expects to have at least 3,000 Facebook fans by the end of the year. Bodie and Fou sees an uptick in sales after a post about a particular product, or after a notification that an item is back in stock and fans are “very engaged and interactive” in general, she adds. In 2011, the founders took the decision to
complement their burgeoning online presence with a print catalogue. It appointed a business mentor, Marc Winn, and created roles in PR, catalogue production and marketing to help steer it through its next stage of expansion. “The timing was right,” says Kong. “Bodie and Fou was ticking all the boxes in preparation for a catalogue, including the number of repeat orders, the average order values and customer feedback.” It mailed its first ever catalogue in October, using design agency CHS Creative, print broker JPS and
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Go east! To some extent, the move is reciprocal. This past summer saw US retailers Williams-Sonoma, J Crew and Macy’s all open up their online stores to European consumers. But Rob Galkoff, chief executive at The Business Consultants, isn’t convinced by their efforts. For him, the US retailers “are seeing that international, via their websites, is easy as they already have the infrastructure in place. They are not tailoring their sites to each country, they are not looking at their price points and they are probably doing some basic online marketing led by their US teams.” Kirby takes a similar view, arguing that
American retailers believe they are big enough that their successful formula will work just as well in Europe. Europeans are much better at localisation, because “every country in Europe is a little different,” she says. Unlike Galkoff, Kirby does not believe it is absolutely essential to launch a local-language website, but “the more you can communicate with your customers, the more successful you will be.” Naturally, any retailer planning international
expansion should do its homework, particularly, says Galkoff, when it comes to delivery and returns, translations, and regulatory constraints. Another factor to bear in mind is the uniqueness of the offer. Retailers should
seriously consider whether to move into a market that already has an established leader. But, Galkoff and Kirby agree that
internationalisation will continue to be a trend in 2012. “If retailers see near-saturation in the UK, then they need to look elsewhere to grow and that’s the beauty of online,” says Galkoff. “If a business has the money to invest, then doing it during a downturn is a great time as they’ll get a much greater share of voice for their marketing spend. Famously, Ford continued to advertise during the great depression,” he adds. As to the top retail destinations next year,
Kirby predicts a boom in direct sellers heading to Australia, Brazil and India.
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printer Westdale, as well as taking advantage of the CatEx DCA postal scheme with Sunline Direct Mail and Citipost. It printed 50,000 copies and mailed
them to the house file, online enquirers and some lists sourced from Abacus and Transactis. Depending on its success, says Kong, there will be two catalogues in 2012, one for spring and one for Christmas. Kong is also considering mailing overseas, but has
not done so yet. Bodie and Fou currently generates 10 percent of sales overseas, and its biggest international markets are Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Debenhams, which posted turnover of £2.21 billion in the year to 3rd September, is also investing in print. Having discontinued its catalogue back in 2003, Debenhams returned to the print medium with a catalogue dedicated to homewares. The 68-page catalogue features both own-brand and third-party branded goods and, according to a statement is “the latest tactic in Debenhams’ assault on driving market share”. The catalogue will initially be mailed out to 195,000 of the retailer’s cardholders, and be available to pick up in selected stores from 24th October. It can also be viewed online. Debenhams divisional trading director for
home Steve Lightfoot says that catalogue is a way to communicate with customers and “encourage them to reappraise Debenhams as a homeware destination”. In addition to products, the catalogue uses an editorial style and includes information such as stylist’s tips and advice. Lightfoot adds that he hopes the new
catalogue will significantly drive sales in homewares and furniture, which traditionally take up a lot of space on the shop floor, and “result in a boost to our home business.”
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