{"id":5300,"date":"2015-08-28T07:28:37","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T05:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.alainveuve.ch\/hooray-the-new-catalog-is-here\/"},"modified":"2015-08-28T07:28:37","modified_gmt":"2015-08-28T05:28:37","slug":"hooray-the-new-catalog-is-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alainveuve.ch\/en\/hooray-the-new-catalog-is-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Hooray the new catalog is here!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day before yesterday I was once again in beautiful Switzerland. I was invited to give a talk at Topsoft15<\/a> on the topic of “Digital transformation: where to start?<\/a>“. On my way there, I noticed the poster below. Although I had seen it before, I thought to myself, well, what a funny satire. What fine self-irony. Very cool. After I returned to Basel from Zurich, however, a different picture emerged: Switzerland is plastered with the thing. The Pfister people are obviously serious about it. Oh boy. A few thoughts on this. <\/p>\n


\n(Reading time 4 minutes)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Pfister<\/p>\n

Pfister is an upper mid-range furniture store in Switzerland.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyone who reads here regularly knows that I consider the separation and consideration of online and offline channels to be quite nonsense. Nonsense that, especially in retail, promotes a separation of actions, an opposition (namely offline store vs. online). However, as we learn every day, this is precisely what the customer does not want. The customer is active both online and offline, sometimes depending on the use case, sometimes simply on a whim. So I’m not going to say here that a catalog is something that is no longer needed today. <\/p>\n

The catalog is dead #not<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the contrary. As I recently saw again in a peer group workshop on an eCommerce strategy. In retail, customers very much want physical product information in written form. As an impulse generator, as an entry point, as inspiration. Are they waiting for it? Is it a highlight? No, not at all. But you can’t do without it. <\/p>\n

“Cool, they sell catalogs now too!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I still think it’s pretty ridiculous to advertise this new catalog in such a central way. And apparently I’m not the only one. The tenor in the office yesterday morning: grins and “nobody buys there anyway”. Perhaps my exclusively female colleagues are not necessarily in Pfister’s defined target group. However, they would certainly have the necessary money and affinity for higher-quality products.
\nWhy the new catalog now? <\/p>\n

What is Pfister really trying to tell us with this advertising? I think they want to tell us: Look, we’ve updated our product portfolio and added lots of great products and lowered prices. It’s worth stopping by again, the colder days are coming anyway, get your nest ready for winter. Or something like that. <\/p>\n

For me, this association is logical because I remember looking in the catalog to see what a store had. And yes, you walked past when there were new things. Back then with my parents. When there was no unleaded gasoline. <\/p>\n

Today, however, this message has degenerated into what is written in black and white on the poster: Friends, we’ve had a new catalog printed. And the reaction of today’s customers? They find it kind of funny. Simply because it’s absurd in this day and age. <\/p>\n

What do customers want?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I say they want what Ikea does. And I have to say up front that I’m a total fan of Ikea. Not of the products, most of which I think are totally overpriced (price\/performance) garbage, but of the company. <\/p>\n

But the company is great. Customer-friendly, courteous. Online and offline. There is almost no other retailer in this country (maybe Hornbach, but that’s in Germany) that has its product data under control like Ikea. And there are probably also intermittent portfolio renewals. But it is also constantly being renewed. <\/p>\n

I know a lot of people who only shop at Ikea because it’s easy. Looking at products at home, checking availability, reserving the tedious, large part of the purchase. Then you have to go through the bazaar to pick up the small items. Delivery time is usually zero. <\/p>\n

Ikea also has a catalog<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, Ikea also has a catalog, but it would probably never occur to them to advertise it so crudely. They do it with a certain amount of humor. And it works. Ikea manages to create a comprehensive customer experience that makes it as easy as possible for customers to buy and get excited about the products. Online and offline and across the board. <\/p>\n

Pfister has a lot to offer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pfister has lots of great products. I’ve also had really good experiences with the advice there. The price\/performance ratio isn’t bad either. Unless you can’t recognize quality. They don’t do everything wrong, quite the opposite. <\/p>\n

But instead of throwing huge sums of money at such poster campaigns and catalogs, perhaps they would rather work on creating the most pleasant and comprehensive online and offline customer experience possible. They are not known for that. But perhaps they simply define it as not being “part of our concept”. I’m sure you can sense my frustration in this regard, because as a customer I simply don’t care about the concept. <\/p>\n

Slipping from pole position to midfield at the start<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is sad and typical that these medium-sized companies in particular, which<\/del> were actually well positioned in the market, are unable to transpose this good position into the digital age. Perhaps it is the long-lasting success that is the sweet poison that paralyzes this “always reinventing oneself” in the respective time. Pfister seems a little stuck in the past. Despite the eCommerce platform and other digital measures. And all because of a poster. <\/p>\n

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