Bill LaPierre |  Catalog Strategies, Catalog Survival, Catalog Trends I’m not going to recap Covid cases or report on the retail sales shifts – we already know that store traffic is down or non-existent, and as the virus cases grow, fewer consumers will venture out. Be glad you have a direct to consumer business.

However, here is what I’m hearing from readers and clients about current catalog and ecommerce results: hard goods and food mailers are generally doing great. Some moved their Black Friday sales events forward by a week or two, simply because demand is so strong, they were afraid they would be unable to ship all their orders. Despite many Americans still being unemployed, many catalogs report difficulty in hiring enough staff for the warehouse.

Backorders and out-of-stocks remain a massive problem, due to factories that were closed, shipping delays, and an overall increase in demand caused by the pandemic. Those of you selling anything for the home, or products that consumers use in a pandemic are simply struggling to get through the next six weeks. Several of our clients reduced circulation – even eliminating holiday mailings – simply to avoid customer service issues. Moreover, many clients have reported that they are reducing short-term digital advertising, simply because they can’t get orders out the door.

Response to apparel offers however is mixed, with most mailers reporting soft response. Fortunately, most apparel mailers did not dramatically increase circulation in anticipation of picking up sales that would have ordinarily been done in retail stores, which they expected to be shunned due to the pandemic.

The bottom line is that most of you are doing very well, but operational issues – which have not been part of the holiday season for years at the magnitude they are this year – are causing huge problems.

What I Didn’t Hear:

In years past, mailers always complained that they experienced soft sales the week before or the week of the election. However, despite all the other things that have gone wrong in 2020, no one has reported any hiccup in response related to the election, or its continued aftermath. And if consumers don’t go to the malls over Thanksgiving weekend, you should continue to reap a strong harvest into December, or until the shipping network grinds to a halt.

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