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June 4, 2007

Overall, today some of the most exciting design layouts and page models in the catalog industry are happening in the B-to-B segment.

You might even find them in some very unlikely places. It used to be that B2B catalogs essentially were commodity lists of products. However, in 2007, the best catalogs take all of the tricks used by their B-to-C (Business to Consumer) counterparts and make them work a lot harder.

We provide here 2 quick tips to help you freshen your design, and improve sales and conversions. Surprisingly, for most B2B catalogs, the order of products in a catalog acts as either a welcome mat or a do-not-disturb sign to customers!

For B2B users, the order process begins in two places — your front and back covers — and works its way toward the center of the catalog.

Remember that customers buy from you because of the products you have to offer. They tell you what they’re looking for by their previous purchasing behavior. Listen to them, and place best-selling products right on the cover. Give them easy access to the products they want.

Whatever you do, don’t paginate alphabetically, or waste valuable back-of-the-book pages with weak-selling products.

Try these tips for a rough draft of your product order:

1. Begin pagination with your best-selling category
2. Take your second strongest category and place it at the back of the catalog
3. Place your third best-selling category in the back of the book, just before the second
4. Alternate throughout the catalog until you’ve placed all categories

Don’t mourn the loss of the benefit-driven headline. Just pick up the Hubert catalog. It sells display racks for retail stores and equipment for the food services industry.

Almost every product in its catalogs has a benefit headline; its big book is 916 pages.

Hubert strives to identify a key benefit with each product — even clothes hangers. “Fifteen inch Chrome Slack Hanger uses vinyl cover to hold pants securely.” What more do you need to know other than SKU, count and price?

Overall, buyers in the B2B segment easily can tell which type of hanger suits their needs. That’s one of the main reasons to show benefits — to make decision-making effortless.

Lands’ End, known for its high-powered consumer copy, brings the same energy to its B2B efforts. Its April 2007 corporate sales catalog carries the headline: “$19.50 Original Oxford: world’s greatest shirt value” Many catalogers would have settled for “Oxford Shirts.”

Greatness is in your catalog copy. It simply needs to be unleashed, that's all, really.

These improvements will go a long way toward re-engaging your B2B customer base and significantly improving sales.

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Source: Catalog Success.com