Catalogers are still printing and mailing, but as the uptake on tablets continues to grow the opportunity of reaching mobile buyers is delivering promise.
San Fransico-based e-shopping facilitator TheFind, an e-commerce partner to thousands of brands, has launched CATALOGUE , an app that the company claims is “re-imagining” the $100 billion catalogue shopping experience for iPad and Android tablets.
The new app already includes 30 catalogues featuring spring collections from retailers such as Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, Sephora, eBags, Stella & Dot, Sundance, Tea Collection, Uggs, and more–retailers skewed to match the early demographics of tablet ownership.
As noted in the announcement of the new catalogue app: “Many retailers report that already half of what they consider to be mobile traffic is coming through tablet devices,” wrote Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president, principal analyst with Forrester Research, Inc. in a January 2011 report, Five Retail eCommerce Trends To Watch In 2011. “This is likely to lead to a new subset of mobile commerce: tablet commerce…enabling easy browsing in a living room, during a bus commute to work, or at an airport.”
“Even today, catalog shopping is a $100 billion business, with more than 20 billion catalogs being printed and delivered via the postal service to people’s homes,” said Siva Kumar, CEO of TheFind, in the company’s press release. “Retailers continue to invest in this business because they stimulate demand and inspire consumers in a way that no other medium has matched, but the emergence of tablets with their tactile approach and high resolution screens presents an opportunity to revolutionize and reinvent a massive retail channel.”
CATALOGUE is a free download from the company’s website or the various app stores.
