It's not only good things that come in small packages. Apparently so do good gift catalogs, according to The Bombay Company.
Bombay mailed a spring gift catalog this month that has smaller dimensions than its previous gift books along with a completely new look.
The company also increased the circulation for the spring gift book by 60 percent.
“We think of our gift catalogs as something special, and we wanted to make sure people knew that we were doing something different,” Bombay creative director James Welch said.
The new book measures 6 1/4-by-8 15/16 inches. The company's past gift catalogs and all of its other catalogs measure 8 1/2 by 11.
The new catalog is 84 pages while previous versions usually contained 40. However, it has about the same number of SKUs as prior books. This lets the company show one or two products on many of the pages.
“We wanted to get close up with a lot of the products,” Welch said.
Also, many images of different-sized items have been reproduced on the same scale. For example, the photos of a votive candle holder and a wine cabinet are shown at about the same size.
Another benefit of the book's smaller dimensions is its portability, Welch said, as it is the right size for someone “to slip into a purse and show to people.”
Another change is that many of the photographs weren't shot in a room setting.
“In other books, that's where we need to be,” he said.
In the new gift catalog, for example, silver salt-and-pepper shakers are photographed next to a bird's nest.
Many shots are also dominated by a single color.
“We wanted to be monochromatic and tell more of a color story, but still let the products stand out,” Welch said.
Bombay will adopt the new format for its holiday gift catalog as well, which is to reach homes Nov. 8. A last-minute gift book, however, will retain the regular 8 1/2-by-11 format.
Chantal Todé covers catalog and retail news and BTB marketing for DM News and DM News.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
