October 3, 2007
Sears Brings Back Wish Book
By Tom Ryan
After 14 years on the shelf, Sears is bringing back its Wish Book catalog in a fresh bid to gain new customers and regain old ones.
Unlike its 800-page plus predecessor, the updated Wish Book being mailed to shoppers this week is only 188-pages. The Wish Book catalog, which began production in the 1970s, was canceled due to declining profits and sales in 1993.
“We all get lots of gifts, but wishes are a special thing,” Richard Gerstein, Sears’ chief marketing officer, told The Associated Press. “And I think that’s what this book used to embody and that’s why we’re bringing it back.”
Sears has created smaller toy-only Wish Books through a partnership with EToys.com and publishes smaller specialty catalogs focusing on categories such as tools or furniture, as well as the Lands’ End catalog. But this year’s Wish Book marks the first full-fledged catalog from Sears since 1993.
Half the catalog will be devoted to toys. Although Sears’ officials wouldn’t provide any estimates, distribution won’t be as large as previous Wish Book mailings. An online version of the Wish Book will be available on Sears’ web site.
Morningstar retail analyst Kim Picciola thinks the Wish Book will be favored by older customers, especially since younger consumers don’t typically use catalogs.
“It’s really more of a marketing tool,” she told the Associated Press. “It’s generating interest in the products, generating interest in possibly coming into the store.”
George Hague, a senior marketing strategist with catalog consultant J. Schmid & Associates Inc., said catalogs can still drive shoppers into stores or onto web sites.
“It certainly doesn’t hurt them that they have the nostalgic connection to their catalog,” he said. “(But) it’s not a build-it-and-they-will-shop-from-you thing.”
Discussion Question: What do you think of the return of Sears Wish Book catalog? Whom do you think the catalog will appeal to? What does the return say about catalogs as a marketing tool and cross-channel traffic driver?
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Calling the catalog a “wish book” instead of a catalog, having half of it be toys, and sending it out now certainly brings back the nostalgia of the past–people looking through the book and coming up with wishes for Christmas. Whether the nostalgic approach has an impact on a new generation of kids and young adults remains to be seen. Certainly it will hit home with a group of older adults.
Direct Marketing Services owns the rights to the name Montgomery Ward, and has been mailing catalogs for about a year. The catalogs are similar in size to the new Sears Wish Book. Montgomery Ward also sells merchandise via its web site, http://www.Wards.com. There are no physical Wards stores. I assume that Sears is testing the waters to see if a catalog can improve profitability. Generally catalog shoppers aren’t profitable immediately with their first order. Each customer becomes profitable only after he/she reorders repeatedly.
Bringing back the “Wish Book” can be viewed as an iconical statement of Sears overall retail strategy–“I wish….”
Remember the days when J.C. Penney was forever in catch-up mode with Sears? Remember when J.C. Penney crossed the $1 billion online sales milestone? What made all the difference? Sears discontinued its Wish Book/diminished its catalog focus; J.C. Penney stayed in the catalog business which in turn provided the scaffolding for future online dominance.
J.C. Penney also became masterful at launching smaller “media” (catalogs) that were laser-focused on particular customer segments, long before this became the industry standard for both bricks and clicks. J.C. Penney may have set the standard; however, it’s not too late for Sears to leverage its Wish Book concept as a multi-channel driver and as a marketing handle that ties everything together. I’m already impressed by the way that they are executing the concept on their website and in advertising.
The critical role that catalogs play in multi-channel has gone from “Who knew?” to “What are you doing about it?”
I wish I could say this is an example of a company realizing it made a mistake and bringing back a cherished icon–are you listening Macy’s ???–but given the lack of confidence in most everything Sears has done lately, it seems more like desperation.
As a marketing expense, the new Wish Book makes enormous sense. Not only can Sears target the message, they can monitor its impact and are in a position to convert to immediate sales via Sears.com. All catalogers are currently aware that mailings are driving conversions online. For an existing cataloger this has implications for cannibalization, but for Sears, it does not.
All of the brand reinforcement notes already made are valid, as are the observations about the benefit potential. There is nothing “wrong” with this move, and it has significant potential to produce a “win.” The Sears.com site has now had a flash header entitled “Sears Book” for a couple of months. One can only assume that the “Wish Book” may make an appearance as an alternate header for the home page. Any investment which enables the consumer to shop from anywhere on the site is a good one, and this WILL work that way.
As far as the impact of the Wish Book on the overall forecast for Sears Holdings….hmmmm. Again, it’s a solid and valuable marketing move, with good upside potential and no downside that I can see. However, believing it is going to move the dial for comp store performance, or even for top line revenue…not so much.
The return of the Wish Book is a great marketing move by Sears to bring back what was a mainstay and a stronghold of the company. The Wish Book will strengthen their e-commerce effort and bring Sears even more so to the forefront of the top retailers in America. The catalog will enhance other marketing efforts. It will drive traffic both to the stores and to the website as well as provide a third opportunity to view and purchase Sears products.
Good marketing approach from a number of levels. It will appeal to those who “remember” the old days of Sears Catalogs and for those unfamiliar with this heritage it is still useful as a secondary marketing tool. Assuming the offers in the catalog are compelling, it may result in the consumer investing time in either a store or website visit and maybe even a purchase.
Sears and Kmart were a perfect marriage but in an ironic and erroneous way. This example, bringing back the Wish List, is only the latest of a long history of both of these retailers appearing to rely on the past to bolster the present. This is much like when Kmart brought back the blue light special as what seemed liked a desperate move again a few years ago. The slogan for this retailer should be, “the future is back to the past.”
Catalogs’ share of multi-channel spending is declining, but they are still playing a crucial role in driving traffic both to web sites and to physical stores.
That’s why the number of catalogs mailed continues to rise about 5% a year, and will total about 20 billion this year.
Victoria’s Secret ships 400 million catalogs a year, or 1.3 for every American. Last year its catalog and online orders accounted for nearly 28% of its overall revenues of $4.4 billion. That represented growth of 10%, more than double the 4% increase from its stores.
Now that catalogs have a new mission as brand-building devices, reports BusinessWeek, companies are making changes in their design. Because catalogs are meant to give consumers ideas instead of listing every item in the product line, marketers can make them smaller, more interesting, more enticing, and more personal. Indeed, by sending out different versions of catalogs to different consumers, savvy retailers can test which ones work best for which market segments.
And of course inducements to visit the retailers’ web site are sprinkled everywhere in today’s (and tomorrow’s) catalogs.
It is a great move and I hope Sears is able to fully capitalize on this move.
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Calling the catalog a “wish book” instead of a catalog, having half of it be toys, and sending it out now certainly brings back the nostalgia of the past–people looking through the book and coming up with wishes for Christmas. Whether the nostalgic approach has an impact on a new generation of kids and young adults remains to be seen. Certainly it will hit home with a group of older adults.
Direct Marketing Services owns the rights to the name Montgomery Ward, and has been mailing catalogs for about a year. The catalogs are similar in size to the new Sears Wish Book. Montgomery Ward also sells merchandise via its web site, http://www.Wards.com. There are no physical Wards stores. I assume that Sears is testing the waters to see if a catalog can improve profitability. Generally catalog shoppers aren’t profitable immediately with their first order. Each customer becomes profitable only after he/she reorders repeatedly.
Bringing back the “Wish Book” can be viewed as an iconical statement of Sears overall retail strategy–“I wish….”
Remember the days when J.C. Penney was forever in catch-up mode with Sears? Remember when J.C. Penney crossed the $1 billion online sales milestone? What made all the difference? Sears discontinued its Wish Book/diminished its catalog focus; J.C. Penney stayed in the catalog business which in turn provided the scaffolding for future online dominance.
J.C. Penney also became masterful at launching smaller “media” (catalogs) that were laser-focused on particular customer segments, long before this became the industry standard for both bricks and clicks. J.C. Penney may have set the standard; however, it’s not too late for Sears to leverage its Wish Book concept as a multi-channel driver and as a marketing handle that ties everything together. I’m already impressed by the way that they are executing the concept on their website and in advertising.
The critical role that catalogs play in multi-channel has gone from “Who knew?” to “What are you doing about it?”
I wish I could say this is an example of a company realizing it made a mistake and bringing back a cherished icon–are you listening Macy’s ???–but given the lack of confidence in most everything Sears has done lately, it seems more like desperation.
As a marketing expense, the new Wish Book makes enormous sense. Not only can Sears target the message, they can monitor its impact and are in a position to convert to immediate sales via Sears.com. All catalogers are currently aware that mailings are driving conversions online. For an existing cataloger this has implications for cannibalization, but for Sears, it does not.
All of the brand reinforcement notes already made are valid, as are the observations about the benefit potential. There is nothing “wrong” with this move, and it has significant potential to produce a “win.” The Sears.com site has now had a flash header entitled “Sears Book” for a couple of months. One can only assume that the “Wish Book” may make an appearance as an alternate header for the home page. Any investment which enables the consumer to shop from anywhere on the site is a good one, and this WILL work that way.
As far as the impact of the Wish Book on the overall forecast for Sears Holdings….hmmmm. Again, it’s a solid and valuable marketing move, with good upside potential and no downside that I can see. However, believing it is going to move the dial for comp store performance, or even for top line revenue…not so much.
The return of the Wish Book is a great marketing move by Sears to bring back what was a mainstay and a stronghold of the company. The Wish Book will strengthen their e-commerce effort and bring Sears even more so to the forefront of the top retailers in America. The catalog will enhance other marketing efforts. It will drive traffic both to the stores and to the website as well as provide a third opportunity to view and purchase Sears products.
Good marketing approach from a number of levels. It will appeal to those who “remember” the old days of Sears Catalogs and for those unfamiliar with this heritage it is still useful as a secondary marketing tool. Assuming the offers in the catalog are compelling, it may result in the consumer investing time in either a store or website visit and maybe even a purchase.
Sears and Kmart were a perfect marriage but in an ironic and erroneous way. This example, bringing back the Wish List, is only the latest of a long history of both of these retailers appearing to rely on the past to bolster the present. This is much like when Kmart brought back the blue light special as what seemed liked a desperate move again a few years ago. The slogan for this retailer should be, “the future is back to the past.”
Catalogs’ share of multi-channel spending is declining, but they are still playing a crucial role in driving traffic both to web sites and to physical stores.
That’s why the number of catalogs mailed continues to rise about 5% a year, and will total about 20 billion this year.
Victoria’s Secret ships 400 million catalogs a year, or 1.3 for every American. Last year its catalog and online orders accounted for nearly 28% of its overall revenues of $4.4 billion. That represented growth of 10%, more than double the 4% increase from its stores.
Now that catalogs have a new mission as brand-building devices, reports BusinessWeek, companies are making changes in their design. Because catalogs are meant to give consumers ideas instead of listing every item in the product line, marketers can make them smaller, more interesting, more enticing, and more personal. Indeed, by sending out different versions of catalogs to different consumers, savvy retailers can test which ones work best for which market segments.
And of course inducements to visit the retailers’ web site are sprinkled everywhere in today’s (and tomorrow’s) catalogs.
It is a great move and I hope Sears is able to fully capitalize on this move.