Function Over Fashion: Your Catalog is a Sales Tool
Lesson 2 from: Create an Effective Wholesale CatalogKatie Hunt
Function Over Fashion: Your Catalog is a Sales Tool
Lesson 2 from: Create an Effective Wholesale CatalogKatie Hunt
Lesson Info
2. Function Over Fashion: Your Catalog is a Sales Tool
Lessons
Introduction to Workshop
10:47 2Function Over Fashion: Your Catalog is a Sales Tool
05:22 3The Essentials of a Good Catalog
24:29 4Why Product Photos Are Critical For Your Catalog
36:58 5Real World Catalog Critique with Cara Underwood
31:51 6Extend the Life of Your Catalog
11:46 7Don't Let Budget Stand in the Way of Your Perfect Catalog
17:46 8Be Proud of Your Finished Catalog
04:01Lesson Info
Function Over Fashion: Your Catalog is a Sales Tool
Your catalog is a sales tool, so it needs to be functional, functional again. Think functional more so than it needs to be pretty. You wanted to represent your branding. You wanted to mirror the marketing thatyou're doing elsewhere, but you really want to focus on the nuts and bolts of what this piece is doing and what its purpose is. So it should be a sales tool first and foremost, and built with the retailer in mind. And then, you know, the pretty needs to be added after the fact. So catalogs do the job when you're not there to sell. As I mentioned, sales reps will use them. Retailers will mark them up. They need to be easy for anyone to pick up and write an order. Um, it needs to be self explanatory. So, um, and we're just going to run through some quick details before we get into the nitty gritty but printed catalogs superduper important, but digital catalogs are must you absolutely have to have a digital catalogue in this day and age? There's no reason not to it's a pdf that you s...
hould be able to keep on your website and as that see to your point about new releases which we will cover more depth later. It's easy to update that digital catalog there's really limited cost to it, and you can get that up on the website quickly and easily. So you know, if you don't have the means to do a printed catalog like as long as you're digital's up to date, you should be good. Um, so I also wanted to talk about catalogs from the standpoint that their sales tool, but a marketing tool in one because the seals catalog is different than a lancia line she, like loras, is more of just a list of your items can include some images, too, but it's more line sheets or like single sheets or like a few pieces of paper, a catalog is a booklet style. For the most part, it is going to tell your story and we're talking about all the components, but it is going to have hopefully details about who you are as a brand who you are as a maker, how you started your company, you know where you get your inspiration from it it's more of a it's, more of a story, pieces more of ah it's it has more substance to besides just the tactile what your products you're selling, so we will talk about this in a little bit, but again, I'm going to repeat myself here catalog goal our goal here is to make it easy for the retailers to buy and her catalog is going to do this in three simple ways you want it to be simple you wanted to be clear, concise and easy for the buyers to use so you want to structure simply and um and easy for them to flip through you wanted to be informative s so you want to include everything a buyer needs to know to make a decision and you want to focus on sales and the third is on brand you really want this catalog again? Teo use the colors, the bonds you know the style and the overall feel that you get from your catalog it should mirror your branding that you're using throughout your website and your social media feeds and everything else you do want to be careful not to over style your catalogs as well on don't talk about that more when we talk about product images you wanna be careful at that so let's let's let's get down and dirty what are the essentials of a good catalog? How should we build this thing? Oh, you had a question? Yes katie there's a couple questions their mind so carol nning asked what's the minimum number of items toe have in a catalog that is going to vary that's good question that that is going very based on what types of products you offer and really it ties back tio discussion we had during our beginners wholesale course of you know how big should your product line b and we did a couple of exercise is about you know opening order amounts and how larger line should be in helping to determine those quantities so you know if you were planning to sell wholesale you should have a catalog regardless of how many products now determining how many products you should be carrying that's a whole nother calculation which I'd encourage you to wash beginners beginning total sale of course for that but you know it really varies. I mean, every industry is different the paper industry we recommend fifty to sixty cards jewelries different candles are different so but if they plan to sell wholesale they should have a catalog it's okay right to only have a digital catalogue to start. Yes. Ok, yes, it is and we'll talk about that a little bit later too. But if you can only get you know if your budget will only allow you to do digital catalogue that's ok. But really once you want to take this step of working with wraps and ones you want to take the step of really expanding your outreach to more many more retailers you are going to want to invest in a printed catalog but it is an investment and, you know it's investment as I mentioned from two different asked s becks time and money. So if you want to kind of tear this approach and do the time investment to build out your templates and create that catalog for, you know, the first leg of it, do that. And then maybe the next year or something, you do a printed version. But yes, it's, totally fine to start with a digital, but you need to stay diligent about keeping that digital catalog up to up to date that's. My biggest point there.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
user-458bc3
Even though I've been selling my creative work through my wholesale business for several years, this class was a great refresher! It can be so tempting to make a catalog that's artistic and flashy, but Katie reminds us that the main focus should be to make it easy for your client to BUY! Katie has tons of experience with businesses buying and selling paper goods and gifts, and her insights help me focus in on the details that matter most to my buyers. Thanks for the help!
Katy Casey
This course was fantastic and gave specific tips on how to effectively create your wholesale catalog. It was a perfect resource as I hadn't even thought about creating my catalog yet, but the info I learned will help influence the direction and thought I put into building out my product line.
Tracy Clarke
I already had a digital catalog, but this really opened my mind up to the idea of a printed one and how important it can be for getting sales. It was great to see other catalog examples and learn about the variety of product that a retailer is looking for in a catalog. Really great class for anyone wanting to expand into the wholesale business.