Worthington Direct, a supplier of school, church and preschool furniture and equipment, has beefed up its catalog by more than 30%.
The company’s 2010 catalog, which dropped Jan. 4, jumped from 148 pages to 196. The increase in pages is largely to account for more early childhood products, such as preschool storage cubbies, dramatic play furniture, activity tables and classroom stack chairs.
Crimson Allen, Website administrator for Worthington Direct, says previously the company tailored its catalog exclusively toward the school market. “One of the main reasons for expanding our catalog was to increase our early childhood product offerings to both schools and churches,” Allen says.
There are nearly 39,000 pre-school programs within public and private church schools in the U.S, Allen says, and many are adding infant and toddler care programs as well. “Since we already target both the school and church market, it made sense to capture these additional sales by promoting our early childhood products as they increasingly become more needed,” she says.
The Dallas-based company this year switched to recycled paper for the inside text pages, which resulted in considerable savings and makes the company more environmentally friendly to its direct mail audience.
What’s more, Allen says Worthington Direct hopes the expanded catalog will help it gain market share within the industry, since many of its competitors are choosing to decrease or eliminate print marketing altogether. “We also hope that a larger book will have a longer shelf life and our audience and our clients will see value in holding onto our catalog until their purchase needs arise.”