Is your PDF catalogue still enough in 2027?
The PDF has one real advantage: everyone knows how to open it. For years, it was the simplest way to share a catalogue online. You take the file sent to the printer, upload it to your website, and job done.
Once online, though, that PDF lives a life of its own. You do not know who opens it, what people look at, or whether it is read to the end. It sits on a server until the next one replaces it. So, in 2027, is the PDF still enough? For some uses, yes. For others, it makes you miss out on a great deal.
What the PDF does badly today
On mobile, reading becomes a chore
An A4 page on a phone screen means zooming in, swiping, zooming out. And often, before you can even start reading, you have to download a file of several dozen megabytes. Many readers give up before they reach the third page.
You do not know what is read
No statistics, no clicks measured. There is no way of knowing which pages interest your customers, or which are never opened.
Versions multiply
The PDF emailed in January is still circulating in September. Between the website version, the sales rep’s version and the one a customer forwarded to a colleague, no one knows which is up to date any more.
Google and some of your readers struggle to read it
Google indexes PDFs, but poorly: a single file for dozens of products, with no structure and no links to your product pages. And in the vast majority of cases, the PDF is not accessible to people who use a screen reader. Find out more: common misconceptions about digital accessibility.
What an interactive catalogue changes
An interactive catalogue takes your PDF, with the same layout, and brings it to life online:
- smooth reading on computers and mobiles, with nothing to download;
- reading analytics: page views, time spent, clicks on products;
- links to your product pages, your shop or a contact form, plus embedded videos;
- a search engine across the whole catalogue;
- a single link that is always up to date: you correct the catalogue, and the link already shared stays the same;
- direct integration into your website, via an iframe;
- an accessible version if you need one.
A real tool for your sales team
The catalogue can also support your teams in meetings: a favourites list, offline reading, note-taking, bookmarks. Sales reps prepare their selection before the visit and find it on their tablet, even without a connection.
For confidential documents
Negotiated prices, documentation reserved for distributors, internal catalogues: we can set up login-based access. Your contacts read the document online, without being able to download the PDF.
Paper and digital: two complementary uses
In most cases, we start from the PDF you send to the printer. The interactive catalogue is aimed at the same audience, particularly people who are more comfortable with digital. You are not replacing your paper catalogue, you are adding a second way in. If you are wondering about this, find out more: the place of the paper catalogue today.
The catalogue can also become an internal tool. For a client in the educational equipment sector, we took its product catalogue and developed a version for its marketing department: when you hover over a product, the team can see, for example, the sales made on it during the year. The same adapted format is used to sell and to steer the business.
An example: a works council catalogue
A works council shared its partners’ offers in a PDF catalogue. By moving to an interactive catalogue, the document gained in value. Employees order more easily, and the works council has a tool that helps and encourages it to win over new partners.
So, do we keep the PDF?
Yes, for printing, archiving or a one-off send. But if it is your only online format, you are sharing a document without knowing what becomes of it.
The easiest way to get an idea is to see your own catalogue as an interactive version. Send us one of your PDFs and we will prepare a demo for you.