Why paper catalogs still matter
The pages of the 1942 Sears Christmas catalog held much that might seem quaintly old-fashioned today. The department store retailer’s easy payment plan, which could be laid out in a simple grid, has been replaced by sophisticated retail credit cards that offer various rewards and complex terms. The wooden toy tanks and metal fire trucks featured as Christmas toys are far more likely to be made of plastic and make electronic noise today. With World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, the catalog advertised war bonds and products that could be sent to soldiers and even devoted pages to imploring readers to save spare nails for the federal government. The mere existence of a printed Sears catalog would be just as alien to today’s consumers. The retailer axed the paper catalog in the 1990s and Sears is hardly alone. But the printed catalog isn’t gone. In fact by some measures, in some sectors of retail, it’s thriving. Retailers still mail billions of catalogs every year, and tens of millions of consumers still make purchases based, at least in part, on images and copy printed in catalogs that find their way to mailboxes. Click Read More below for more of the story.