A product catalogue is an essential tool for a business. It plays a crucial role in presenting, promoting, and selling products or services. For customers, it’s a reliable source of information. It also contributes to enhancing the overall consumer experience.
Even though product catalogues are increasingly digitalised, they are just as important in physical format. These catalogues are often available inside a store, near the entrance, sent by postal mail, or present at trade shows and exhibitions.
Discover through this article the importance of a product catalogue from a business perspective and how to create one.
The Significance of a Product Catalogue for a Business For a business, a product catalogue offers numerous advantages. It’s an important marketing tool that, if well utilised, can have a direct impact on sales. This catalogue can be used either in B2B or B2C contexts.
A Professional Presentation A well-designed product catalogue offers a professional presentation of a company’s offerings. It strengthens the brand image and builds customer trust.
A Sales Tool Sales representatives can use the paper catalogue as a sales tool during meetings with clients. It facilitates the demonstration of products and offers. This format also encourages impulsive purchases by presenting special offers and attractive products.
Marketing Flexibility Even though the product catalogue is a paper format, it should and must be updated regularly. This tool is flexible and can be modified or adapted to meet the changing needs of the market, seasons, promotions, and new product launches.
A Wider Audience Whether in paper or online version, a product catalogue allows reaching a broader audience. For instance, with distribution by postal mail, a company automatically targets a new audience that might not have been intended.
The product catalogue thus increases the visibility of products and services to potential customers.
Creating a Product Catalogue When creating a product catalogue, there are many things to consider. First, decide on the type of catalogue:
- General Product Catalogue: This printed catalogue presents all of a company’s products across various categories.
- Seasonal Catalogue: Ideal for showcasing products relevant to seasons, holidays, or special events.
- Specialised Product Catalogue: This catalogue focuses on a specific category of products, creating a directory for each product range.
Next, consider the content of the catalogue. Elements should aim to inform, persuade, and encourage customers to make purchases. The most important and first thing to introduce is the cover page. It must be attractive and quickly draw the customer’s attention, encouraging them to open the catalogue.
Including a table of contents at the beginning of your catalogue is also beneficial. You can list product categories and corresponding pages to ease navigation.
Product Features Products are the main elements of your catalogue. Therefore, detail them as much as possible. Here are the main details to include for each product:
- High-quality product images
- Product reference numbers
- Dimensions
- Price
- A brief description
- Materials used
- Available options
- Indications of promotions, sales, or special discounts
It’s also important to note that each industry has specific needs regarding the content of the product catalogue, depending on its target audience and marketing objectives.
After deciding on the content, all that’s left is to start designing it. Discover in this article how to make a catalogue using Word.
Choosing a Format for a Product Catalogue During printing, you will inevitably face questions about format, colours, and the number of pages. It’s important to have all the necessary information to organise the design process best.
For the print format, a product catalogue typically favours A4, A5, or 16*24 cm sizes. The number of pages generally varies from 64 for smaller catalogues to 352 for larger ones. We recommend the standard A4 size, which is the most common and economical.
Beforehand, also consider whether your catalogue will be in colour. It’s recommended to use colour for your catalogue. The visual appeal is immediate, and product highlighting is enhanced. Colours can evoke specific emotions and associations that can influence customer perceptions.
Finally, consider the printing of the cover. It can be glossy or matte, depending on your preferences.
A product catalogue printing is thus an indispensable marketing tool in a business. Even with the growing presence of digital, this tool remains relevant and influences consumer behaviour. It should not be neglected.
