Live from DMA Catalog Day: Catalogers Need to Think Multichannel

If catalogers want to grow, they need to redefine themselves as multichannel marketers.

That was the message Michael Petsky, CEO of New York-based direct marketing investment bank Petsky-Prunier LLC shared with attendees of the Direct Marketing Association's Catalog on the Road Day in Cambridge, MA on Thursday.

"Cataloging as a media and an order device is a critical part of the equation, but its no longer an industry," said Petsky. "Be channel agnostic."

Today's successful marketers are juggling a number of media channels -- including catalogs, e-mail, Web sites and e-mail -- as well as multiple order mediums, such as call centers, the Web, retail and mail.

One leading cataloger Petsky-Prunier works with reports that over a 12-month period, their average buyer who shops from catalogs, the Web and at retail spends $243. In comparison, the-catalog only shopper spends $69, the Web-only shopper $90 and the retail-only shopper $43.

The DMA's Catalog Council is thinking along the same lines as Petsky. George Mello, programming chair of the council, told attendees the group is considering rebranding itself to draw a bigger marketer -- as opposed to vendor--attendance at events.