DATABASE MARKETING 437The hard-selling catalogue is a sales-generating tool that should be able to sell without further
involvement of a salesperson, a dealer or distributor. These catalogues are used by clothing, soft-
and hardware, books and CD mail order companies. Other types of catalogues are more to support
sales and used as guidelines during a sales conversation or during a shop visit to stimulate
customers to visit the store, like the IKEA catalogue. This catalogue is the main marketing
tool of IKEA and gets around 70% of the annual marketing budget. It is printed in 38 different
editions, in 17 languages for 28 countries; 110 million catalogues were circulated last year –
three times higher than that of the Bible – with 13 million of these being available in the UK.^42
In 2010 IKEA took its catalogue mobile and launched an augmented reality application for
Apple’s iPhone. After selecting a piece of furniture from the catalogue, users can place it any-
where inside the room around them, changing its size to fit the perspective by using the phone’s
camera. In July 2010, hundreds of thousand applications were downloaded across Europe.^43
Because catalogues have been around for so long, they have become very sophisticated,
strategic vehicles. Still, the increasing cost of postage has made catalogues a challenging
choice for investment. Today, the role of catalogues is changing. The catalogue is no longer
just a direct selling tool. It drives web and store traffic, it is a channel between technologies and
it communicates and builds brands. These catalogues with their expanded roles are sometimes
referred to as ‘Megalogues’. Megalogues are much more strategic than the catalogues of the past.
As selling is the primary objective of many companies, the catalogues that drive sales must
make purchasing easy and must create an effortless buying environment. The product selec-
tion and the applications (photography, copy, illustrations, etc.) need to present the products
in an easily digestible, quickly understandable manner. Catalogues focusing on generating a
direct response must offer a broader selection of merchandise and provide adequate informa-
tion for product purchase.
Many companies have been driving business to the Web for quicker, less expensive fulfill-
ment. Catalogues did a good job in driving consumers to the Internet, although there is still
the opportunity to connect better with consumers resulting in improved service, branding
and sales. The customer wants to have an easy transition from print, web, e-mail and mobile.
Driving traffic to the Internet is only the starting point for catalogues. Tablet commerce and
mobile commerce represent the fastest-growing commercial opportunities. The focus on
multimedia becomes all the more important as catalogue pages reduce in number.^44 Royal
Mail in the UK reported that 45% of social net workers say they have used a catalogue in the
past six months, which proves that catalogue users are getting younger and more web-savvy.^45
Drama is the new technique used to motivate a retail-friendly audience to take action. There
is less emphasis on the product and related copy. Stronger luxury companies like Godiva place
greater focus on brand development and imagery. A traffic-generating catalogue must be less
about product copy and more about drama and promotional messaging that generates action.^46New interactive media
New media are often a combination of existing media such as phone, cable, TV and computers
in new applications. That is why they are also called multimedia. Interactive media are
characterised by the fact that they deliver tailor-made information to the users at the moment
when the user wants to have this kind of information. In other words, the user is directing the
information process. Media such as the Internet, websites and e-mail are the most important
new interactive media. These techniques will be explored in more depth later (see Chapter 15).Mobile marketing
A database is a collection of interrelated data of customers and prospects which can be used
for different applications such as analysis, individual selection, segmentation and customer
retention, loyalty and service support.^47 The minimum requirements of a good marketingM13_PELS3221_05_SE_C13.indd 437 6/5/13 2:56 PM