The Post Corona World, digitally influenced sales became the driving factor behind the profits of many retailers. For marketing, the question arises how products can be presented in order to stand out from the flood of content. Here, the publication of a digital catalog can be an effective means of influencing the purchasing behavior of consumers and clearly conveying your own brand message.

According to a study, the e-commerce industry had such a surge in the second quarter of 2020 alone, which actually corresponds to the growth forecast for the next ten years. These new competitive conditions make access to and loyalty to a brand considerably more difficult. When visiting the store or clicking through categories and filters in the online shop, the consumer usually goes on an active search for a specific product. Compared to this, a digital catalog offers the possibility of effortlessly discovering products or special offers that were not previously on the screen - the visitor can scroll through until he comes across an interesting article. With their dynamism, digital catalogs can hold the reader's attention for a long time, create a strong association with the brand and thus help the consumer to discover latent needs.

Digital catalog supports product identification

But why do you need an online catalog at all or could you not only market your own products via the print catalog or online shop? Sure you can. But not every consumer who needs to be addressed also receives the printed catalog at home. Even online, users often just want to browse without a specific product in mind. According to Publitas, around half of all shop visitors do not initially know what they want to buy and are first looking for inspiration. By creating lookbooks, companies can take consumers by the hand to get to know new products or offers.

Networking the publications increases conversion rates

A paper catalog indirectly encourages visitors to visit an online shop, but an online catalog can create a direct link to the purchase decision. But how do you convert the people who use a digital catalog? This works by integrating all information relevant to the purchase decision and the add-to-cart functionality from the online shop directly into the publication. So you can use the traffic from digital catalogs, magazines and weekly advertisements for conversion optimization. With the help of so-called product hotspots, the product information can then be presented in a simple, non-intrusive and visually appealing way. So you can use the Discovery Marketing Medium Catalog to increase online and offline income.

Data-driven analyzes improve the quality of the publication

Compared to the paper version, the number of page views, the average length of stay on each page or in the entire catalog, clicks on hotspots, i.e. product overlays, the additional product information can be measured when you move the mouse over the product photo . These statistics can be used to find out where the contents of the catalog can be improved. In this way, it is possible to analyze which pages or hotspots are particularly attractive, for example generating more clicks, higher average length of stay, better conversion rates.

Findings can be used to experiment with the layout of the digital catalog, for example by placing articles and pages that are particularly well studied in a more dominant position in the catalog. Over the next few years, digital competition will continue to pick up pace and companies should deal intensively with how they present their brands online. Here, digital catalogs will play a more dominant role in conveying brand messages and generating sales.