These new forms deliver direct mai] at incredible speeds, compared to the post office's 'snail

mail' puce. Yet, much like mail delivered through traditional channels, they may he resented
as 'junk mail' it' sent to people who have no interest in them. For this reason, marketers must
carefully identify appropriate targets to avoid wasting their money and recipients' time.

Catalog-ue Marketing
Catalogue marketing involves selling through catalogues mailed to a select list of customers
catalogue marketing
Direct marketing or made available in stores. Examples of mail-order catalogue operators are Frcemans, GUS.
through catalogues Index, Otto Versand. La Redoute and Trois Suisses. Buying from a mail-order catalogue
that are mailed to a used to be popular among isolated populations or less affluent, older married women. The
select lint qf image of catalogue marketing, however, has been transformed by some retailers. Consider
customers or made the following example:
available in stores.
Trois Suisses, the French mail-order giant, has distanced itself from the old-fashioned
catalogue image. One of its recent catalogues featured nothing less than a pair of
sensuous lips. Its catalogues now feature a range of products by the leading textiles
designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Elizabeth de Senneville, as well as
household articles designed by Starck and Andre Ptitman. The new style is a far cry
from the first catalogue sent out when.jthe company was founded in 1932. It was the
first major catalogue to aim for the glossy high-fashion market when, back in 1992, it
featured the American model Cindy Crawford on a catalogue cover.
Trois Suisses stresses that the traditional rural clientele is giving way to
young working women who are busy and under pressure. The catalogue's up-market
repositioning reflects these changes. The company's market research suggests that
over a quarter of the regular clients who place orders six or more times a year are
women under the age of 24; new catalogues must be a fashion and media event. Trois
Suisses is described as an aggressive direct marketer, sending out more than 8 million
catalogues a year and keeping its best clients in touch with follow-up literature every
two weeks, Trois Suisses also operates in Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Austria.
Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. To support its up-market repositioning, the firm
has streamlined operations and improved performance (staff spend on average not
more than three and a half minutes on each order). It offers a 24-hour delivery service
on most items. Sales are processed in one large three-storey depot. There is one vast
room dedicated to express sales, where each regular client is allotted a location within
the section earmarked for his or her town. Over a kilometre of conveyor belts carry
the items round the complex and out to the delivery vans.
Trois Suisses' recent repositioning strategy has paid off, and it has turned a
lack-lustre catalogue business into a profitable venture during the 1990s. 12
Catalogues are increasingly used by store retailers, which see them as mi additional medium
for cultivating sales.
Most consumers enjoy receiving catalogues and will sometimes even pay to get them.
Many catalogue marketers arc now even selling their catalogues at book stores and
magazine stands. Advances in technology are enabling retailers and
manufacturers to experiment with multiple forms of media, such as videotapes, computer
discs, (ID-ROMs and Internet catalogues. The revolution has already begun in the United
States in the case of Royal Silk, a clothing company, which sells a 35-niinute video
catalogue to its customers for S5.95. The tape contains a polished presentation of Royal
Silk products, tells customers how to care for silk and provides ordering information.
Solot'lex uses a video brochure to help sell its in-home exercise equipment. The 22-minute
video shows an attractive couple demonstrating the exercises possible with the system.
Solotlex claims that almost half of those who view the video brochure later place an order
via telephone, compared with only a 1(1 per cent response from those receiving regular
direct mail.1-' Many business-to-business marketers also rely heavily on catalogues.
Whether in the form of a simple brochure, three-ring binder or book, or encoded on a
videotape or computer disc, catalogues remain one of today's indispensable sales tools.

Telemarketing
Telemarkcting uses the telephone to sell directly to consumers. It has hecorne a primary telemarketing
direct marketing tool. Marketers use outbound telephone marketing in a proactive way to
Using the
generate and qualify sales leads, and sell directly to consumers and businesses. Calls may telephone to sell
also be for research, testing, database building or appointment making, as a follow-up to a
directly to
previous contact, or as part of a motivation or customer-care programme. consumers.
Marketers use if abound freephone numbers to receive orders from customers.
These calls are usually made in response to an advertisement in the press, on radio or
television, in a door drop or direct mailing, in catalogues or via a mixture of these media.
Marketers also use the telephone in :i reactive way for inbound calls involving customer
enquiries and complaints.
The use of telemarketing has grown in recent years, particularly in the United
States. One study suggests that the average household receives 19 telephone sales calls
each year and makes 16 calls to place orders. During 1990, AT & T logged more than 7
billion 800-number calls. In 1995 marketers spent an estimated §54.1 billion on outbound
calls to consumers and businesses, generating an estimated 8385 billion in sales. Some
industry analysts boldly predict that by the turn of the century, half of all retail sales will be
completed by telephone.14
 Other marketers use telemarketing to sell consumers information, entertainment or
the opportunity to voice an opinion. For example, for a charge, Nintendo offers game
players assistance with the company's video games. Ronald McDonald House
Charities uses telemarketing to raise funds. Similarly, consumers can obtain weather
forecasts from American Express; pet care information from Quaker Oats; advice on
snoring and other sleep disorders from Somnus; or golf lessons from Golf Digest.
In the UK, the growth of inbound telemarketing may be linked to BT's
introduction of the 0800 Linkline in 1985, Prospects, once converted to a customer,
use the 0345 number, which charges only a local rate. Thousands of companies have
used these lines since, with over 10,000 calls an hour passing through them. In the
rest of Europe, telemarketing is more established in the Netherlands than in
Germany, which has the toughest telemarketing laws. For example, telemarketing in
Germany is impossible because the consent of the prospects or consumers is needed
before they can be contacted. If someone buys a shovel from a garden centre in
winter, even if they gave their name and telephone number, the centre cannot
telephone them in the spring with a special offer on bulbs because that would be
illegal. Contrast the situation in Holland, where, for example, before an election,
political parties are permitted to ring voters to gain their support. 1S
Not surprisingly, the rise in unsolicited telephone marketing annoys
customers who object to 'junk phone calls' that pull them away from the dinner table
or elog up their answering machines. Laws nr self-regulatory measures have been
introduced in different countries in response to complaints from irate customers. At
the same time, consumers can appreciate many of the genuine and well-presented
offers they receive by telephone. When properly designed and targeted,
telemarketing provides many benefits, including purchasing convenience and
increased product and service information. 1 "

Direct-Response Television Marketing

direct-response
Direct-response television marketing (DRTV) takes one of two main forms. The first
television marketing
is direct-response advertising. Direct marketers air television spots, 30-60 seconds
(DRTV) The marketing of
long, that persuasively describe a product or service and give customers a freephone
produces or services via number for ordering. DRTV is essentially mass marketing of a product or service,
televisian comm arciuls but with a responsive clement - the freephone number which gives the consumer the
and programmes which autonomy and authority to make the decision as to whether or not to buy the product.
involve a responsive Direct-response television advertising can also be used to build brand awareness,
clement, typically ihe usf convey brand/product information, generate sales leads and build a customer
of a freephone number database. For example, biscuit manufacturer MeVitie's ran an eight-week DRTV
that allows consumers to campaign offering consumers the opportunity to call in and request a free sample
phone for more pack of biscuits. Not only did the activity provide a means of collecting the names
information or to plac-e and addresses of consumers for follow-up purposes, but it also allowed the company
an order for the goods to consult and interact with consumers who respond, in a way that conventional
advertised. advertising has never done before. McVitie's believes that it will be better able to
target future mailings and marketing activity using the data gathered.
Television viewers may encounter longer advertising programmes, or
'infomer trials', for a single product. An infomercial is a themed TV programme,
typically 30 minutes long, during which the features or virtues of a product - say, an
exercise machine or multipurpose kitchen device — are discussed by 'experts' before
an audience. These are selling programmes which are presented in an entertaining
mariner to attract the target audience. In Europe, infomercials are broadcast on
existing pan-European satellite stations such as NBC Super Channel
and Eurosport. The ini'omereial industry is expanding, with companies such as
Quantum International and TV Shop airing programmes across countries in
Europe.
Direct-response advertising is growing in popularity. For example, in the
United Kingdom, some 20 per cent of commercials on television carry a
telephone response number, a growth ot' 46 per cent hi the last three years.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, spend in DRTV grew by 68 per
cunt during 1995 alone. Companies ranging from mail order (e.g. Sounds Direct),
leisure (e.g. Scandinavian Seaways) and financial services (e.g. Direct Line, AA
Insurance Services) to cars (e.g. Daewoo, Fiat) and fast-moving consumer goods
(e.g. Britvic, Martini, McVitie's) are spending on DRTV today. Direct-response
television marketing has also been successfully used by charities and specific
fund-raising campaigners to persuade viewers to offer donations or volunteer
services. The 'Live Aid' campaign that captured the imagination of millions of
people across the globe, 'Children in Need' and many other international fund-
raising events have used direct-response advertising to good effect. DRTV
recruitment campaigns have also been successfully employed by the British army
for a number of years: a recent campaign reported one in four enquiries converted
into a volunteer.17
Home-shopping channel*, another form of direct-response television
marketing, are TV programmes or entire channels dedicated to selling goods and
services. Television home shopping is already a massive phenomenon in the
United States, with more than half of all.US homes having access to home-
shopping channels such as Quality Value Channel (QVC), HSN and Value Club
of America. European consumers seem likely to follow suit.
In the United States, home-shopping channels, such as the
Quality Value Channel (QVC) and the Home Shopping Network (HSN),
broadcast 24 hours a day. QVC's live shows run not just 24 hours a day,
hut 364 days a year, and it processes well over 130,000 phone calls every
day. On IISN. the programme's hosts offer bargain prices on products
ranging from jewellery, lamps, collectible dolls and clothing, to power
tools and consumer electronics - usually obtained by the home-shopping
channel at close-out prices. The use of multimedia techniques means that
the presentation of products is upbeat and a theatrical atmosphere is
created, often with the help of celebrity guests, and up-to-date
information can be given on product availability, creating further buying
excitement. Viewers call an 800 number to order goods. At the other end
of the operation, hundreds of operators handle more than ] ,200 incoming
lines, entering orders directly into computer terminiils. Orders are
shipped within 48 hours.
QVC and other US-spawned TV shopping channels are already
operating in Europe and consumers are waking up to the benefits of TV
shopping. Ry far the largest electronic home-shopping" business owned
by Europeans is TV Shop, TV Shop is active in 19 European countries, of
which Germany is the biggest market, and it is now expanding into Asia,
particularly China. TV Shop is 94 per cent owned by the MTG Group,
itself part of steel and paper group Kinnevik. which operates radio
stations, television stations - TV3. TVI000, TV6 and ZTV - and digital
and cellular systems telephone networks in Scandinavia as well as
cellular systems in South America, eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
While infomercials account for some 60 per cent of the firm's turnover,
its activities are wide ranging. It is Scandinavia's largest producer of
commercial videos and short-form commercials. It puts together TV
programmes, operates TVG, its own Swedish shopping channel, runs