With the weather warming up, the summer sales hitting the racks and with Christmas just around the corner, retailers are coming in hard with their festive catalogues. And they don’t disappoint – in all different colours, sizes, styles and offers.

This is the time for retailers to get creative. With Amazon now launched in Australia, retailers are leveraging from print’s physicality to entice customers in-store and engaged.

Studies show they will achieve this as more, and more customers are reporting they will shop in a physical as opposed to a virtual store this year.

To leverage from this preference surveying, retailers are communicating to consumers and capturing their attention without delay. The Christmas path to purchase has begun, and brands wanting to be top of recall are campaigning hard.

Consumers are seeking out the best products to buy their family and friends ahead of Christmas, and of course, value through sales are key. Retailers are using catalogues to showcase value, range and brand reliability in order to attend to consumers’ needs.

B&T, with the help of the Australasian Catalogue Association, explored how some of the largest department store brands are capitalising on catalogue marketing this Christmas.

Myer

Myer has done it again. After the year-on-year success of the Myer’s ‘Giftorium’ campaigns, this year its direct mail campaign continues with the customisation trend that personally connects with individual Myer One members.

No other channel compares to the reach of letterbox marketing, and Myer has leveraged this channel to inform customers of Christmas the Myer way.

Loyal customers received a $20 reward card with personalised message from the Myer team, along with the booklet showcasing all the festivities and sales of the season.

Myer One members are spoilt for choice this Christmas, with the booklet showcasing membership privileges including exclusive offers and festive treats to enjoy this Christmas season, making it the star of the campaign.

Continuing with the personalisation theme, gift personalisation is a major attraction this year, with the ability for consumers to customise their own Tim Tams to have their names featured on the packaging.

Print acts as the foundation of this whole campaign, and is used cleverly to sell a Christmas with Myer that delivers, value, range and the ever-important stocking fillers with a twist.

The booklet is a key tool for the brand to entice customers in-store, as it informs consumers of the sales of the season and guides them on how to make this year’s Christmas special for all.

David Jones

David Jones is reaching out to its loyal customer group and wants to give their card members a Christmas to remember.

This retail giant is promoting luxury through print ahead of this festive season, with its annual Christmas book oozing luxe products available in store.

Along with the detailed book, members are receiving an itinerary of all the magical festivities David Jones is hosting this season. Embellished with gold foil detailing, the Christmas book plays a crucial role in getting their customers excited and in store for Christmas.

With the campaign featuring an animated gingerbread man throughout, it’s hard not to get into the Christmas spirit.

However, what really gives the campaign its overall Christmas vibe is the prominent Christmas tree green colour scheme, and the end of the book showcasing the best foods for this time of year.

David Jones has utilised the power of print to cover everything customers need to know about Christmas, bringing them products, sales and food for Christmas day.

With the launch of all the festivities at David Jones this holiday season, the retailer has tapped into the physicality of printed media to highlight themselves as the go-to store creating special moments for customers.

Sussan

Women’s fashion retailer Sussan needs applauding this year. It has pushed and strengthened itself as a brand through catalogue marketing in a way its rivals will no doubt be taking note of – it must be hurting at the cash register.

Sussan has deepened its brand message and built strong audience connectors, understanding that women read and are inspired by print content.

Someone has done their research, and the correlation of inspirational female brand ambassadors, quality photography and styling, as well as production, prepares the female customer for her festive season wardrobe.

Instead of saturating every page with a Christmas theme Sussan is more considered and respectful to its audience, providing the female customer an aspirational ‘break’.

Christmas with Sussan is luxe, sensual and summery. When picking up the November catalogue, you can lean back and begin a journey, immersing yourself into the pages and stimulating intent to purchase.

Three cheers

Department store retailers have cleverly implemented Christmas cheer into all of their catalogues through colour, a wide range of products and quality with their pages.

Myer, David Jones and Sussan have showcased the ability to adapt catalogues to target consumers in different ways for the upcoming holiday season.

Whether promoting Christmas from front to back cover, or simply saying ‘Christmas styled by Sussan’, each effectively promote this time of year and entice consumers in-store with a promise – a promise of value and range, a promise of luxe or a promise of inspirational

beauty – all tapping into their key customer groups and communicating the strengths their brands have to offer.

Hats off to the teams behind these campaigns.

This article is a collaboration between B&T and the Australasian Catalogue Association.