DMA Survey Shows Increase In Online Catalog Shopping

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2003 – More catalog shoppers are placing orders and checking their order status on catalog Web sites, according to a new survey from the Direct Marketing Association (The DMA).

The Customer Audit of Catalog Performance Survey (CACPS) was released today at the 20th Annual Catalog Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco.

The survey showed that 20 percent of customers who ordered from a catalog during the 2002 holiday season placed the order over the catalog’s Web site, compared to only 14 percent in 2001. Sixty-six percent placed their most recent catalog order via the telephone, down from 69 percent one year earlier.

The study also shows the continued convergence of catalog and Internet shopping, and the continued importance of the print catalog:

Forty-four percent of catalog shoppers had also shopped online during the last year, an increase from 41 percent in 2001.
Twenty-six percent of shoppers had placed an online catalog order from the company of their most recent purchase during the last three months.
Shoppers also tend to keep catalogs in their homes, with 56 percent of shoppers keeping catalogs for more than three months or until a replacement copy arrives.

Customers also depend on catalog’s Web sites for more than just placing an order.

Fifty-nine percent had used the catalog’s Web site to check order status or confirmation, up from 48 percent in 2001.
Fifty-two percent used the site to "pre-shop" (e.g. do comparison shopping, research products), up from 41 percent in 2001.
Twenty percent responded online to an e-mail offer, up from 16 percent a year earlier.

The CACPS was based on in-depth interviews with 3,400 consumers who purchased from at least one of 17 catalogs during December 2002 and January 2003.

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DMA SURVEY SHOWS INCREASE IN ONLINE CATALOG SHOPPING/2

Catalog retailers who wish to participate in the 2003 holiday survey should contact Terri Bartlett, Director, DMA Library & Resource Center, at 212.768.7277, ext. 1651, or tbartlett@the-dma.org.

The DMA is the leading trade association for businesses interested in interactive and database marketing, with nearly 4,700 member companies from the United States and 53 other nations. Founded in 1917, its members include direct marketers from every business segment as well as the nonprofit and electronic marketing sectors. Included are catalogers, Internet retailers and service providers, financial services providers, book and magazine publishers, book and music clubs, retail stores, industrial manufacturers, and a host of other vertical segments, including the service industries that support them. According to a DMA-commissioned study, direct and interactive marketing sales in the United States surpassed $2 trillion in 2002, including $126 billion in catalog sales and $34 billion in sales generated by the Internet. The DMA's Web site is www.the-dma.org, and its consumer Web site is www.shopthenet.org

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