The Amazon Catalog

It's deliciously interesting that a week after Orvis tells us the catalog is being retired I receive 64 pages of perfect-bound confusion from Amazon.

How, in the name of the old Sears catalog, is Orvis smarter than Amazon?

Everything that is wrong with modern catalog marketing is joyously on display in this catalog.

Can I show you something?

When I visited Amazon.com a few minutes ago, they knew me better than any other brand knows me. Look at what they show me.

Headphone amps, iems, a 1TB card that I'd like for music that I haven't even looked at on Amazon but I intend on purchasing soon, food, dog treats, omeprazole ... they know me better than I know myself.

This is the kind of stuff I'm begging you, the loyal reader, to do. Why don't you complement your marketing efforts with a little knowledge of each individual customer/user/visitor?

Now let's look at one page from the Amazon catalog.

How could a company that is so smart online be so utterly untargeted, unfocused, and just plain confused in print? Here's some of the gems they thought thought I should see on just this one page (page 55):

• Ice Cream Maker
• Nail Clipper Set
• Water Color Paint Set
• Doxie Ice Cube Mold
• SET Card Game
• Pea Pod Pill Case
• Pigma Micron Fileliner Pens
• Pad of Butter Notepad
• Crab Tea Infuser
• Pug Dog Hair Clipper
• Spongioli Kitchen Sponges
• Dog People Pens
• Unzipped Hand-Blown Glass Bowl
• Cherry Pie Jigsaw Puzzle
• Ceramic Coffee Cup
• Sheet Mask Set
• Sushi Socks Box
• Fortune Cookie Ornament
• Jonathan Alder Wood Domino Set

So, kudos for product density (19 products on one page). That's haulin' some product.

But, on just one page of the catalog, Amazon cleverly illustrates the waste of print when compared to the laser-like precision of their home page. One is product-vomit. One is well-tailored to my interests.

I know, I'm going to be criticized by the paper/print/catalog-agency folks for not appreciating the "whimsy and discovery" of print. Your catalog agency would be the first to tell you that if you did this, you wouldn't have a clear point of view and that you were being wasteful without a compelling story to tell.

2024. More than a half-decade since Amazon started sending catalogs ... the year Orvis discontinued a catalog. We live in interesting times.