Channel shift among marketers who have both catalog and Internet sales became more pronounced in 2002, says a report out today from DoubleClick Inc.
Online sales totaled 30% of catalogers’ sales in 2002, up 25% from 2001, when the proportion of online sales was 24%, says the Spring 2003 Catalog Industry Trend Report from DoubleClick’s Abacus division.
The shift to the Internet became even more pronounced as Christmas approached, with 33% of cataloger’s sales taking place online in the fourth quarter. From Dec. 10-23, 39% of catalog sales occurred online and that proportion reached 50% during the last week of the year.
Abacus bases its numbers on a sample of marketers who have both catalog and Internet sales.
The channel-shift data were part of Abacus’s report on the overall state of the catalog industry. Abacus reports that catalog sales fell significantly this year after the U.S. invaded Iraq, then recovered once the fighting was declared ended, the same pattern that held after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Industrywide catalog sales were down 1.5% in 2002, the report says, with 800,000 fewer households making catalog purchases in 2002 vs. 2001. However, certain categories saw significant growth, including tools, up 12%, electronics, up 8%, the senior market, up 6%, home décor, up 4%, and gifts, up 3%. Apparel and accessories and children's products both declined 3%.
The Trend Report is compiled from DoubleClick’s Abacus Alliance and ChannelView data. The Abacus Alliance database consists of transactional information from 1,800 clients containing 3.7 billion transactions from 100 million U.S. households.
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