They may be at opposite ends of the turnover scale, but Debenhams
and Bodie and Fou are both launching catalogues to complement
their online offering.
Bodie and Fou is an online seller of gifts and homewares. Founded
in 2005 by sisters Elodie and Karine Kong, it expects to reach a
turnover of £1 million in 2012. Karine Kong explains the
company was biding its time before moving into print. Among the
first priorities was creating a brand voice and establishing a
reputation for excellent customer service. To that end, the
founders spent time crafting a website that had a boutique feel,
somewhere customers could visit and communicate with the
company.
The voice, says Karine Kong, is conveyed through the company’s
blog and Facebook page. Facebook is particularly important to the
business, says Kong, who expects to have at least 3,000 Facebook
fans by the end the of year. Bodie and Fou sees an uptick in
sales after a post about a particular product, or after a
notification that an item is back in stock and fans are
“very engaged and interactive” in general, she
adds.
In 2011, the founders took the decision to complement their
burgeoning online presence with a print catalogue. It appointed a
business mentor, Marc Winn, and created roles in PR, catalogue
production and marketing to help steer it through its next stage
of expansion. “The timing was right,” says Kong.
“Bodie and Fou was ticking all the boxes in preparation for
a catalogue, including the number of repeat orders, the average
order values and customer feedback.”
It mailed its first ever catalogue in October, using design
agency CHS Creative, print broker JPS and printer Westdale, as
well as taking advantage of the CatEx DCA postal scheme with
Sunline Direct Mail and Citipost. It printed 50,000 copies and
mailed them to the house file, online enquirers and some lists
sourced from Abacus and Transactis. Depending on its success,
says Kong, there will be two catalogues in 2012, one for spring
and one for Christmas.
Kong is also considering mailing overseas, but has not done so
yet. Bodie and Fou currently generates 10 percent of sales
overseas, and its biggest international markets are Europe, USA,
Australia and New Zealand.
Debenhams, which posted turnover of £2.21 billion in the
year to 3rd September, is also investing in print. Having
discontinued its catalogue back in 2003, Debenhams returned to
the print medium with a catalogue dedicated to homewares. The
68-page catalogue features both own-brand and third-party branded
goods and, according to a statement is “the latest tactic
in Debenhams’ assault on driving market share”. The
catalogue will initially be mailed out to 195,000 of the
retailer’s cardholders, and be available to pick up in selected
stores from 24th October. It can also be viewed online.
Debenhams divisional trading director for home Steve Lightfoot
says that catalogue is a way to communicate with customers and
“encourage them to reappraise Debenhams as a homeware
destination”. In addition to products, the catalogue uses
an editorial style and includes information such as stylist’s
tips and advice.
Lightfoot adds that he hopes the new catalogue will significantly
drive sales in homewares and furniture, which traditionally take
up a lot of space on the shop floor, and “result in a boost
to our home business.”
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