Retail Marketing News South Africa

Retail digital catalogue website launches in August

SA Catalogues, a new central interactive digital catalogue website, will help retailers to reach a wider audience, penetrate new markets and attract new customers when it launches in the first week of August 2011.
Retail digital catalogue website launches in August

The site analyses user interaction and engagement on the site, providing retailers with detailed consumer behaviour data to understand consumer behaviour and to measure campaign results more accurately.

With this knowledge, retailers will be able to plan and design more tactical online and offline campaigns in the future. The website is also designed to increase brand campaign interaction with a qualified audience who are ready to spend their money online and in-store.

SA Catalogues MD, Manuel Wakefield, explains the benefits, "Although crucial to retail campaigns, printed catalogues do not allow retailers to accurately track customer behaviour in response to their promotions. Online catalogues offer clear opportunities for retailers to study their customers' behaviour to a depth that could not previously be achieved."

System

Retailers' catalogues are converted from standard portable document format (PDF) files, using digital page-turning technology to make the catalogues categorised and fully searchable by regions, retailers and products for easy browsing. With a round-the-clock presence, it offers high frequency product and brand exposure at a low cost. The website will follow the seasonal retailer calendar themes throughout the year, enabling retailers to tailor their promotions accordingly.

Users are asked to register free, while browsing the site and to specify their region, product and retailer preferences. Registered users can opt-in to receive regular newsletters and emails announcing retailer promotions, special offers, and various registered-user, retail rewards and reviews. This helps retailers to communicate directly with qualified consumers.

Through its back-end analytics and reporting functionality, the company provides measurable results for the retailer. It will shortly be offering exclusive catalogue heat map reports to help retailers fine-tune their catalogue content based on what is most relevant and appropriate to their consumers. This will provide marketers with valuable segmenting data that retailers can use to design online and offline promotions. A mobile site will also be launched in the coming months.

The promotional catalogues carry direct links to the relevant advertiser's website. This function helps to drive online sales, increase online brand awareness and encourage increased foot traffic into stores. Retailers can tailor their promotions, updating them quickly in response to behaviour research. The technology also means that retailers can update their advertising materials, in real-time, for a fraction of the cost. The site provides retailers a cost-effective advertising medium that is supported by real measurable results. The site facilitates advertising of full product ranges at a very low cost per digital page.

In addition to delivering powerful analytical results, online catalogues do not have the wastage associated with print catalogues, making the digital versions much more sustainable and kinder to the environment. This will be an attractive alternative for retailers and brand owners who are conscious of their environmental impact.

For more information, go to www.sacatalogues.co.za.

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