Move towards online shopping sounds death knell for print catalogues

guest · Aug 1, 2020

Argos to stop printing catalogue after almost 50 years
July 30, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...stop-printing-catalogue-after-almost-50-years

Argos is to stop printing its catalogue after almost 50 years, as the buying bible once found in three-quarters of British homes becomes yet another victim of the inexorable move to online shopping.

More than 1bn copies of the bi-annual catalogue have been printed since its launch in 1973, and at its height it was Europe’s most widely printed publication, with only the bible in more homes across the UK.
However, Argos is to stop printing the title, with the retailer saying that online shopping offers “greater convenience” than flicking through its print catalogue.
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Over the last decade the number of printed copies of each edition has dropped from about 10m to about 3m.

“Just as our customers’ tastes have changed over the years, so have their shopping habits. We are seeing an increasing shift towards digital shopping, using our mobile app, website and in-store browsers. Closing the book on the catalogue will help us focus on delivering exciting and inspiring digital shopping experiences to meet the changing needs of our customers.”
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guest · Dec 7, 2020

Ikea to stop printing catalogue after 'successful career' that spanned 70 years
December 7, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...logue-after-70-years-as-customers-move-online

[...] the catalogue of the Swedish furniture giant will, after seven decades, no longer be published because demand has fallen.

“It has been one of our best-known and best-loved products for 70 years, inspiring billions of people around the world,” an Ikea manager, Konrad Grüss, said in a statement. As ever fewer people were reading it, leading to the decision to “respectfully end the successful career of the Ikea catalogue”.
The first catalogue appeared in 1950 in Swedish only. It was 16 pages long and listed all the company’s products, accompanied by simple black and white drawings.
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Its own online trade rose by 45% last year, thanks in large part to its offering to customers of ever more options to create their home spaces digitally, especially using augmented reality to project images of furniture on to the walls of their homes.
While talks about the future of the catalogue had been ongoing for four years, Grüss said the final decision was taken in the past few months as discussions on a 2022 edition were under way.
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The Verge: Ikea ends publication of iconic printed catalog

Digital wins again
Ikea’s decision comes as catalog readership is in decline and the company becomes increasingly more digital. After initially resisting online shopping, the company was forced to embrace it during the pandemic. Ikea says its online retail sales increased by 45 percent worldwide last year with ikea.com reporting four billion visits.
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