JC Penny Brings Back the Catalog As Part of their Omnichannel Strategy

After cutting costs by axing its catalog a few years ago, the executives JC Penny have changed their tune. When the original decision was made, it was expected that customers would simply switch to browsing online on their desktop or mobile device.

According to this article over on Diginomica, now that the change has had time to sink in its starting to look like the print material played a bigger part in the sales cycle than expected. The numbers don't lie, and JC Penny has just published a small (by their standards) catalog for home items. While it isn't the 1000 page thick book they published traditionally, it is a concession based on what they think the customers want.

The man in charge of the catalog initiative is, oddly enough, the one who chose to take it away, Myron Ullman.

We’re not going back to the thousand page several times a year book. That’s frankly with paper and postage not a good proposition and frankly, that’s not the way the customer wants to shop.

It's true. With rising postage and printing costs, it could be hard to justify the investment in the full blown catalog that was once a JC Penny staple. If the move proves to be profitable, the brand could follow other big retailers like Target and customize their catalogs based on customer preferences.