Riding the Paper Tiger

The recent run-up in gasoline prices poses another reason catalogers won’t abandon print. But mailers aren’t quite assuming that consumers will stop driving to malls. Most will react according to market conditions, rather than potentially overmailing trying to predict consumers’ shopping behaviors.

“We’d like to see that happen [consumers going to stores less], and it probably will happen,” says Abrams of Specialty Catalog. “But we’re not going to increase catalog circulation in anticipation of that. As we see results improve and more customers ordering, then we’ll naturally increase our circulation.”