Two recent retailer-focused articles, one from the UK and one from the US, give weight to the Australasian Catalogue Association's recent gung-ho supplement to its Catalogue Industry Report.

Here are two examples of stores whose strategies, and use of rich content, we just love - because selling needs to be more than just product and price.

One is seemingly a content driven site with a store attached. 

The other is a well planned, well positioned "outdoorsy" online store that has a small bricks and mortar presence. And it uses catalog(ue)s plus a good dose of content to promote its wares.

As reported in the Wall St Journal and NPR Two-Way, J.C. Penny recently announced their return to catalog marketing after an absence of 5 years.

The annual ACA (Australian Catalogue Association) industry report just hit our desks. It contains fresh insights garnered from research by Roy Morgan, PwC's Entertainment and Media Outlook, Nielsen, Australia Post and other sources.

If you're a marketer who is looking at how to create more web traffic; or how to create more consumer engagement; or how multi-channel marketing can increase your ROI, it's well worth an in-depth read.

But for now, here are some top-line highlights - these are metrics you may not be receiving from your traditional media planner.

A prediction of direct mail's continuing relevance from an unusual source.

Seemingly unstoppable, digital marches on and bricks and mortar crumble in its path. Wait on, that's a myth!

We think this is gold.

We were just about to go "Live" with an article based on "How We Shop, Live & Look" by John Lewis, one of UK's leading High Street retailers.  

Yes, the report was dated November 2013 but we still thought there were lots of good and current learnings for local retailers.

Changing a corporate website is about as contentious as changing the logo. Even the cleaner wants a seat at the table - and we don't employ him!

That we managed to do a complete transformation in under 2 months (including a fully mobile responsive version) we think is amazing. Thanks to all our wonderful people.