Postal carriers were doing plenty of heavy lifting in November, judging by the number of consumer books tallied by Direct Media’s Catalog Tracker. A service of the Greenwich, CT-based list firm, Catalog Tracker tallied 679 catalogs in November — two more than the 677 it received in October.
Sixty of the catalogs received in November, or 8.8%, offered free shipping. That was up slightly from 7.3% of the catalogs received in October. Only 5.7% of the November catalogs offered deferred billing, down from 8.7% the previous month.
Apparel accounted for the largest category of catalogs received: 30.9%, up slightly from 29.5% of those received in November 2001. Food catalogs also accounted for a greater proportion of the mix this November: 11.6% compared with 9.6% in November 2001.
But the percentage of catalogs in several other major merchandise categories declined slightly from the previous November. For instance, while decor and housewares catalogs accounted for 15.0% of the books received this past November, in November 2001 they’d made up 18.6% of the catalogs received.
And gifts and collectibles catalogs made up 6.8% of the mailbox mix this past November, compared with 8.9% of those received in November 2001.