Survey: Majority of shoppers prefer digital catalogs

Los Altos, Calif. -- Survey results released Thursday by catalog shopping app Catalog Spree showed that 89.8% of American shoppers would prefer to receive their catalogs digitally and would opt out of the paper versions if they could receive a digital copy instead.



The survey also revealed that more than half (55.1%) of respondents would prefer all of their catalogs in digital form. Today, some 19 billion catalogs are mailed in the United States each year.



“The annual costs of producing print catalogs are astronomical on many levels,” said Joaquin Ruiz, CEO of Catalog Spree. “Catalogs often represent the biggest line item in a retailer’s marketing budget, but their environmental cost has a massive impact too, especially when you factor in the trees required for the paper, the energy required for the printing, and the CO2 emissions from shipping.”



Other survey findings related to catalog and offline shopping habits include:

• Forty-eight percent of respondents recycle their catalogs, while 28% deposit to the trash.


• Twenty-four percent keep their catalogs, with 20-29 year olds being the most likely to hang onto them.