Why DM?

For any locally-based, brick and mortar specialty retailer, only a fraction of the local market is worth advertising to. Catalyst helps retailers, and their suppliers, use the most sophisticated tools to target the best prospective buyers.

All Retailers Can Learn From the Pros
The retailers below spend millions on advertising. They measure results for every dollar they spend, and they don't waste time on fads. They rely on direct mail because they know it works.

Catalyst gives you the same tools these huge retailers use:

• Brookstone
• Sharper Image
• Victoria's Secret
• REI
• Crate & Barrel
• Joseph Banks
• Williams-Sonoma
• J.Crew
• Abercrombie & Fitch
• L.L. Bean

A 2.8 Billion Dollar Case Study
Williams-Sonoma is one of America's most successful specialty merchants. It's an extremely focused company that's unsurpassed in integrating retail stores, websites, and direct mail into a single experience for the consumer. It has a marketing/analysis staff of over 60. Williams-Sonoma's experience proves the need for Trek retailers to pay close attention to marketing investment and to stick to what works.

"Direct-mail catalogs are key to our growth as a $2.8 billion multi-channel retailer with 523 stores. We diligently measure catalog-driven customer purchase behavior across all of our buying channels, which include stores, the phone, and online. Results prove that catalogs are a major driver of our business growth. If you don't study the sales data carefully, you will undervalue the impact of the catalog."

- Beth Gumm, Vice President, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Don't be distracted by hype and gimmicks. As the Internet, cable TV and other media have emerged, direct mail has not declined. It has held a steady share of around 19% of total U.S. business advertising spending for the past decade. (USPS 2002 Household Diary Study)

Catalyst programs integrate with retailers' and vendors' multichannel promotions (email, Internet, radio, television, printed media) to drive sales in-store AND online.

Do you need walk-ins?
The USPS study found that, of those who respond, 39% of households respond to advertising mail in person, 27% by mail, 26% by phone, 5% via the Internet. When you send direct mail, you bring people into your store.

The Leading Sales Generator
A 2003 study by Yankelovich and DIRECT magazine found that 67% of consumers had purchased as a result of receiving catalogs mailed to their homes.

Upward Trend
Consumer response to direct mail has increased 12% in the past two years, according to a 2003 study by Vertis, a global marketing firm using all forms of electronic and print media. (www.Vertisinc.com)

Ideal for Your Best Customers
Younger Baby Boomers respond the most to direct mail. This group's response rates have risen from 36% to 49%. (www.Vertisinc.com)