marnyb

As the holiday season approaches each year, I am always amazed at the number of catalogs we receive in the mail. Some days, I have few or no pieces of “real” mail awaiting me among the six or 10 catalogs crammed in the mailbox. Most of them are from retailers I’ve bought from before, but some are from companies I’ve never even heard of.

I feel compelled to browse every single one of them. And while I don’t make purchases from all or even most of the catalogs I receive, the chance that I will buy something because it was in a catalog is significantly higher than the chance I will go to a store and happen upon something I decide to buy.

Yesterday’s mail is a perfect example. We got six catalogs: Home Decorators; Pottery Barn; Cabela’s; Alloy; Signals (the Public Television catalog); and something called “What on Earth?” – which is full of gag gifts and novelty items. I suspect I get the Alloy catalog because last year I purchased a corduroy blazer from Delia’s, but for the most part, Alloy is not my style nor my age range (I know this because I look through the entire catalog each time I receive it). I probably get the Signals catalog because I donate to local public arts and sciences, and I get the Home Decorators, Pottery Barn and Cabela’s catalogs because we’ve purchased items from them online or at the local retail locations.

Whatonearthcatalog.com offers unique gifts for diverse people on my list.

I have no idea why I received the “What on Earth?” catalog, but I felt compelled to look through it not once, not twice, but three times. (Maybe it was the Obama Chia Head on the back cover that told me this might have some interesting gifts for the diverse group of people I buy Christmas gifts for.) Then I placed an online order for roughly $250, comprised of 10 different items ranging in price from $12.95 to $49.95. I was able to cross off four of the most hard-to-please people I shop for each holiday, and stockpile a few unique gifts for later in the year. All because I’m a sucker for the power of suggestion.

I’m also a sucker for all the credit-card-sized discount coupons I get from retailers with whom I have credit card accounts. Each week I get direct mail from Old Navy, Target, Ann Taylor, Bath & Body Works or Macy’s offering special deals when I redeem the nice, shiny coupons they send me. Usually, I have to use my store credit card to qualify for the discount, but sometimes stores like Lowe’s send me discount cards even though I don’t have a credit card with them. I have a special little wallet I’ve begun carrying with me to carry my ever-changing array of coupons. About twice a month I purge the ones that have expired and replace them with new ones I’ve accumulated. Each new deal seems better than the last, but still I find that most of these coupons are expired or are not valid for the particular items I tend to buy.

Yesterday, when I brought in the thick stack of catalogs, I remarked to my husband that we sure get a lot of useless catalogs around the holidays. He said he didn’t understand why retailers spend so much on a full catalog when they could just send a one-page flyer that directs you to their web site. But after looking through all six of them, and finding numerous specific things that are now on my “list,” I have to say the full catalogs probably do more to influence me than any other form of advertising I see – including online ads.

I don’t know if the discount cards or catalogs make me spend more than I would without them. (I like to think they do not.) But I must admit they probably influence exactly where I spend my holiday dollars – and cause me to consolidate my online purchases with a few key retailers instead of the random type of purchasing behavior I exhibit when shopping at local stores.

Marketing