A new study has found that the good old catalogue still has plenty of cut-through with Aussie consumers, with the Ys apparently one of their more ardent fans.

The Roy Morgan study found that 13,436,000 Australians (31 per cent of the population) often read catalogues from cover-to-cover.

Analysing Australia’s 13.4 million catalogue readers by generation shows Millennials to be the largest readers of catalogues in Australia numbering over 3.2 million. Over 3.16 million Baby Boomers read catalogues and just under 3.16 million members of Generation X.

Generation Z is next with over 2.5 million catalogue readers while just on 1.4 million catalogue readers are part of the Pre-Boomers generation.

Catalogues don’t just reach those with the catalogue in hand – many people are sharing catalogues and sharing their finds ‘digitally,’ revealing that a secondary circulation of catalogues is occurring amongst Australian consumers.

Over a third of Australian catalogue readers (35 per cent) have shared hard copy catalogues with friends, family or neighbours while four in 10 (41 per cent) have shared catalogue ‘digitally’ by emailing or texting a picture of a product seen in a catalogue to a friend or family member.

The new research shows that catalogues play a significant role on the path to purchase by driving people in store and triggering high value unintended purchase.

Nearly half of catalogue readers (47 per cent) have made a special trip to a store to buy a product after seeing it in a catalogue – which they otherwise would not have seen without reading the catalogue.

Catalogues trigger unintended purchase on high value items – one in five catalogue readers who spend over $1,000 on their most expensive catalogue purchase in an average six months purchased an item they were not intending to buy before they saw it advertised.

Additionally, more than half (53 per cent) of catalogue readers find catalogues more useful than other forms of advertising.

Commenting on the findings, Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine commented: “The latest research into Australia’s catalogue industry has uncovered that catalogues are still very relevant and remain a key channel to reach Australian consumers despite the proliferation of digital media in recent years. In fact a clear majority of 70per cent  of Australia’s 13.4 million catalogue readers say that catalogues are a helpful shopping tool and over half (53 per cent) find catalogues more useful than other forms of advertising.

“Catalogues are also a great way to entice people to consider purchasing items they may not have originally even been aware of. Nearly half of Australia’s catalogue readers (47 per cent) have seen a product in a catalogue and then made a special trip to a store to buy the product which they otherwise would not have seen without reading the catalogue.

“This purchase trigger from reading catalogues isn’t just for Australians looking for bargains either. A further one-in-five catalogue readers who spend over $1,000 on a catalogue purchase in an average six months have purchased an item from a catalogue they were not intending to buy before they saw it advertised.

“Catalogue readers are avid consumers of content and close to a third read catalogues cover-to-cover and spend an average of six minutes reading catalogues. An added bonus for advertisers utilising the reach of catalogues is that over a third of catalogue readers share their catalogues with friends and families and over two-fifths have emailed or texted a picture of a product to a friend or family member.

“There’s little doubt that if you are looking for a way to reach hard-to-find and time-poor consumers that catalogues offer a direct route to the ‘eyeballs’ of over 13.4 million Australians.”