Holiday Catalog Watch Week 5: That’s All Folks
Week 2: Lots of Kids and Candy
Week 3: Hilfiger’s Naughty List
There are seven shopping days left until Christmas as I write this post. My mailbox is starting to fill with cards from friends and family….which means the catalog glut has trickled down to barely a drip.
Since our last Catalog Watch, only three catalogs have come into my household. J. Jill another catalog to me (the third since we started keeping count). The cover callout of a quick deliver upgrade on orders of $150 or more appeals to shoppers concerned about gifts arriving on time, as does the reds and greens on the cover.
Wolferman’s sent its first catalog of the season late in the game last week. The cup of cocoa on the cover looked warm and toasty, and the square marshmallows are enticing yet somehow wrong at the same time. (I know they’re gourmet, but square marshmallows don’t seem quite right to me.)
There were no special offers of discounts on products or shipping on Wolferman’s products, a clear contrast to the Wine Country Gift Baskets book that arrived that day. The photo of the hamper of treats on the cover was half covered by a banner guaranteeing Christmas delivery on orders placed by Dec. 23, while other cover calllouts promoted free shipping on selected gifts and billing and shipping on requested dates.
I received 49 catalog total at my home this season. Lands’ End and L.L. Bean were the most frequent, with four books each, followed by Oriental Trading, J. Jill and Stonewall Kitchen.
Did any of the catalogs spur me to make a purchase? Eddie Bauer’s book did inspire me to pop into their retail store on Black Friday and buy two sweaters for myself (hey, a girl has to keep warm, and several others did lead to me checking out their websites (not all the decisions have been made yet for the folks on my list).
The most popular offers by far were for free or discounted shipping; while everyone likes to shop online, no one likes to pay those pesky shipping fees.
How is your holiday shopping coming along? Did catalogs inspire your choices? Let me know at [email protected] or @CMBethNegus.
Happy Holidays!
