A joint MDM-Real Results Marketing survey revealed that more than 65 percent of distributors still view catalogs as an effective marketing channel. But there are some that view print as dead or dying. The authors of this article examine the use of catalogs by distributors across sectors and what’s driving attitudes about print marketing in an increasingly digital age.

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Is print dead? Do distributors need to stop producing paper catalogs? Not so according to research conducted by Real Results Marketing with Modern Distribution Management. The results of a recent survey showed that over 65 percent of distributors (see Figure 1) who produce a catalog for their customers find that the catalogs are an effective channel.

Distributor measurements of catalog effectiveness primarily include return on marketing investment, customer retention and lifetime value, and secondarily include share of wallet and internal rate of return, according to the survey. Nearly 80 percent of distributors reported ...

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