Tradition Meets Digital Innovation – The Future of Catalogs

There is probably no more controversial topic in product communication than the future of catalogs. Simple narratives are often used to address this topic, such as costs for production and shipping, the impact of paper consumption and shipping on a company's carbon footprint, and the long project times involved in creating catalogs.

These narratives are based on the assumption that there is no alternative to the way catalogs have been created in the past, and that companies only have the choice between printing catalogs in the traditional way or using a purely digital marketing approach.

At priint:day, I had the pleasure of discussing the future role of catalogs in product communication for retailers and manufacturers, and how they are meeting this challenge, in a panel discussion with Jürgen Mayer from the Hoffmann Group, Jürgen Pannek from the Einkaufsbüro Deutscher Eisenhändler (E/D/E) and Artur Wozniak-Feldmeier from WAGO.

One central point on which we all quickly agreed is that the days of the main catalog, or, as it was known in many companies, the “bible” in its traditional role, are simply over. In this context, it is important to examine this role in more detail. Jürgen Mayer summed it up aptly: 20 years ago, a catalog, the so-called bible, had to be created in order to have a central data source. The catalog was the central source of product information for many tasks in retail and industry.

Of course, this role, and with it the central relevance of the catalog, is obsolete nowadays. Retailers and manufacturers today are constantly faced with the challenge of adapting to the growing complexity of product data. To fulfill this central role in companies, central IT systems have been developed that specialize in the management of product data over its entire lifecycle. Today, this is usually referred to as PIM (Product Information Management) or PXM (Product Experience Management). These systems enable companies to map product data of any complexity and therefore supply all channels in modern omnichannel marketing.

The digital transformation of product communication and, with it, product data management offers companies a unique opportunity to truly establish themselves digitally. This 'radical' approach was the focus of Artur Wozniak-Feldmeier's contribution to the discussion. At Wago, “print” (synonymous with catalog) is dying out. Print, as in catalogs or data sheets, is no longer the defined goal at Wago, but only one of the results. Wago has invested in the quality of product data for years and has reached a level that enables rule-based delivery to any channel. He has already spoken about this at priint:day.

Consistently developed further, this approach enables the targeted development of highly personalized content in all relevant media for the respective target group – a central goal of the digital transformation in product communication.

We agreed that we need to put product communication on a new footing. To make this possible, robust data models, powerful systems, a great deal of commitment and an open mind for new approaches are necessary.

Change – easier said than done. Changes are a challenge for every company, and they can fail for a variety of reasons. A central point is the support of the management and the embedding of future product communication in a clear strategy. This strategy must be implemented at all levels and communicated to everyone involved within the company. I can only recommend the lectures by Christoph Büttiker (Möbel Pfister²) or Thomas Borkowski (Bofrost*).

In addition to change management, there is another key point that we kept coming back to: Data quality. The demand placed on product data has continued to increase over the years. In addition to the ever-increasing demand for information that customers directly require, there are, of course, also (depending on the industry) increasing legal / factually prescribed requirements. And of course, all of this data should be available in a contextualized or even personalized way to best meet the customer's needs. AI applications promise to help here, because they make it comparatively easy to process and display data in a certain context. However, these models are in turn based on the data that was previously created, so the quality of the results rises and falls sharply with the quality of the original data.

It can therefore be said that our traditional understanding of catalogs as the “bible” of a company can no longer reflect reality today, as they do not meet the future requirements of product communication. At the same time, our understanding of catalogs must evolve. We must apply all the concepts from modern communication to the catalog and further develop this channel; because, as the demands of the market show, there will continue to be applications for catalogs in the future.

This development does not mean the end of catalogs, but rather their rebirth in a more dynamic, personalized and sustainable form that better serves both companies and their customers in the digital age.