CATALOGUES BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
the year before; within five years, doubling its revenue. With these new services from the Post
Office Department making it easier for the average American consumer (urban and rural) to shop, more entrepreneurs began to consider mail order as a viable option to reach new customers. Success was not automatic. One company, LL Bean, almost failed as soon as it got started when the first year’s shipment of Maine Hunting Boots in 1912 fell apart after just a few uses. Te company offered to replace every defective pair of boots, thus giving birth to customer-pleasing offers – satisfaction guarantees with liberal return policies. Consumers were not the only ones to
benefit from mail order’s early growth. American industry’s rapid growth following World War I – and fueled by innovations such as the Ford Model T – helped drive the growth of the first business and industrial-related catalogs. Tese catalogs made it easier for small businesses to find and order supplies. Te Grainger company’s first catalog mailed in 1928 served a variety of industries with electric motors, gradually increasing to thousands of products for hundreds of industries. It was not until after World War II that the catalog industry in the United
States truly expanded. Americans had more discretionary income, and were now presented with a vast array of tempting consumer products. In addition, mail order companies began to appeal to more than just rural customers. Companies such as Harry and David, Walter Drake, Eddie Bauer, Country Curtains, Vermont Country Store, Williams Sonoma, Lillian Vernon, and Talbots all launched their first catalogs in the decade after the war, selling a variety of hard goods, apparel, gifts and food. Finding new customers continued to
challenge businesses. Catalog companies advertised in magazines and newspapers, but this was often a two-step process, requiring customers to request the catalog, then wait for delivery before being able to purchase products. Once again, the Post Office Department stepped in. Tis time the innovation was created to speed mail processing. Few at the time saw the myriad of other opportunities it would generate. With the introduction of the ZIP code in 1963, catalog and other direct marketers now were able to develop efficient, computerized mailing lists. Tis led to the widespread use of catalog and mail order companies renting existing mailing lists, which helped them find new customers. ZIP codes, along with the introduction
of the toll-free 1-800 number, credit cards, and the introduction of women into the workplace (giving them at the same time more income and less time to shop during the day), helped usher in the “golden age” of catalogs in the United States. Well- known catalog brands that began in the 1960s and 70s such as Brookstone, Sharper Image, Lands’ End, Staples, Pottery Barn, J Crew and Victoria’s Secret are as recognized today for their catalogs as for their retail stores. One of the constants of the mail order
industry has been the growing role of the postal system in ensuring delivery of catalogs to consumers’ addresses, enabling Americans to sample millions of products without ever leaving their homes. Today, USPS delivers more than 11 billion catalogs annually while developing new programs (such as National Change of Address system), that give the catalog industry extraordinary reach, while keeping costs down and efficiency up.” I again want to extend many thanks
to Paul Miller at the ACMA, to Karen McCormick at the Smithsonian and the curators at the National Postal Museum for their help on this. Datamann is honored to be playing a part in this project.
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