NATIONAL MAIL ORDER CATALOG DAY

August 18th, 2016 by

 

Today marks the anniversary of National Mail Order Catalog Day, when, in August of 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward, of Chicago, produced the very first Montgomery Ward mail order catalog.

It was by buying the goods and then reselling them directly to the customers that Aaron Montgomery Ward removed the middlemen at the general store and to the benefit of the customers drastically lowered prices.

The very first catalog consisted of an eight by 12 inch single sheet of paper which included the merchandise for sale, the price list and ordering instructions.  Montgomery Wards single page list of products grew into a 540 page illustrated book selling over 20,000 items.

It was soon after that the Montgomery Wards catalog was copied by other enterprising merchants, most notably Richard Warren Sears.  The first general Sears catalog was mailed in 1896.  Many others entered the field, and catalog sales grew.  By 1971, catalog sales of major United States firms exceeded more than $250 million in postal revenue.

Nowadays, marketers can mail directly to households who are dedicated mail order responders, using either a general mail order responder list or our Transactional Data File to select households who buy specific goods & products, such as home furnishings, retail clothing or gifts & gadgets.

According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), catalog mailings grew in 2013 to 11.9 billion. The amount keeps increasing as marketers blend catalog and electronic media. Given the new dynamics of multichannel marketing and commerce, as well as the new targeting and measurement capabilities of catalog marketing, catalogs are here to stay.

national mail order catalog day

 

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