Does the paper catalogue still have a place?
“Should we stop printing our catalogue?” The question comes up regularly among companies that present their products on paper. And the answer sometimes comes as a surprise: no, not necessarily.
The real question is rather: how many copies to print, who to send them to, and what to add to the paper version to reach people who are more comfortable with digital. So the paper catalogue still has its place. However, it is no longer the only one.
What paper does better than anything else
Indeed, the printed catalogue still has real strengths, and it would be a shame to do without it where it works.
- At a trade show, it is leafed through on the stand and leaves in the visitor’s bag.
- In a sales meeting, it anchors the conversation. You turn the pages together and point to a product.
- For customers who are less comfortable with digital, it remains the simplest format: no link, no screen, no password.
- On a desk, it is kept, annotated and dog-eared. In fact, some customers keep coming back to it for months.
- For your image, good paper and high-quality printing say something about your brand, especially at the premium end.
In all these situations, paper is therefore often still the best choice.
Where it shows its limits
However, paper also has its constraints, and they weigh more and more.
Prices and product references date quickly. A price increase, a discontinued product, a new reference: sometimes it only takes a few weeks for part of the printed catalogue to be out of date.
It is expensive to produce and send. Printing, finishing, postage: every copy has a cost. In addition, the price of paper has risen sharply in recent years.
You do not know what is read. Once the catalogue has been sent, there is no way of knowing whether your customer opened it, which pages interested them, or whether they left it in its wrapping.
Its environmental impact is not neutral. Paper, inks, transport: the larger the print runs, the larger the footprint. Printing just what you need is therefore also a way of communicating more sustainably.
How many, for whom, and with what?
So rather than choosing between paper and digital, the right approach is to share out the roles.
- Paper for the audiences and moments where it makes a difference: trade shows, meetings, loyal customers, resellers.
- The interactive catalogue for everyone who prefers to read online, on a computer or on mobile, with reading analytics, search across the whole catalogue and direct links to your products.
The result: you print less, but better. Moreover, you target your print runs and leave no one out.
Print and publish at the same time
In practice, most of our clients keep things very simple. When they send the final proof to their printer, they send us the PDF and the resources needed to create the interactive catalogue.
Both versions are therefore ready at the same time. The paper catalogue goes to the printer, we put the interactive version online, and the launch campaign can rely on both formats from day one. No time lag, and no online version arriving three weeks after the paper one.
Find out more: Is your PDF catalogue still enough?
An example: a gradual transition
We have worked with companies in a range of different sectors.
Today, they print their catalogues on a case-by-case basis, for certain specific audiences. On the other hand, they publish some editions online only, from a PDF turned into an interactive catalogue.
The transition happened gradually. Among their reasons was the rising price of paper, which led them to rethink their strategy: keep print where it is genuinely useful, and move to digital for the rest.
So, do we keep paper?
Yes, where it makes sense. In short, the paper catalogue has not had its final say, but you no longer need to send it to everyone. By pairing it with an interactive catalogue, you reach each audience with the format that suits it, and you keep control of your printing costs.
Ultimately, the easiest way to see this for yourself is to view your own catalogue as an interactive version. Send us your PDF and we will prepare a demo for you.