France Graphique: How substantial in volume terms is the catalogue market today in France?
Stéphane Claret: As for now, no official study makes it possible to definitively assess this sector. The catalogue market is not a standalone industry, and no statistics are available to quantify it separately. Granted, data exist relative to the mail order industry, but nothing can be found specific to actual B-to-B catalogue activity. Without any underlying figures and while awaiting a detailed survey on this topic, a rough estimate would place at approx. 5,000 the number of firms producing catalogues in France for a cumulative volume on the order of 1 to 1.5 million published pages a year. But again, this is just a rough guess.

F.G.: Why are quantitative data so hard to come by?
S.C.: The lack of hard data is tied to this market’s diversity, its broad array of players, the multiple sectors of activity covered and the ultimate purpose of the end product. For good insight into the catalogue sector, the overall market would have to be segmented more finely.

F.G.: Which are the major leading sectors in this field?
S.C.: In terms of business activity, the uncontested leader is obviously mail order, for which everything suggests the catalogue is placed front and center. Next would be large retailers, and this sector is far from enjoying the same relations with the catalogue production trade. After these two majors comes a group of manufacturers who use the catalogue medium to sell their products to wholesalers, along with specialized retail distribution and the travel industry. In volume terms, manufacturers are responsible for the most pages produced among this 2^nd tier of users.

F.G.: What would you say are the key differences observed among the various sectors?
S.C.: In the mail order business, catalogues play the role of an authoritative reference. When placing an order by mail, the catalogue serves as the real bedrock, a definitive source to the extent that, like in a store, it contains the entire available offering. This type of product conveys a certain durability, hence issues related to its design and production have become as critical as its content. All aspects concerning its format, paper used, supervision, etc. receive extra special attention. Besides these catalogues, which are intended for the general public, mail order companies use a wide array of promotional catalogues for prospection purposes. In the retail sector, the objective of introducing catalogues is clearly promotional, with the emphasis on presenting high-end products in an effort to attract new customers. In comparison with mail order catalogues, retailer catalogues are obviously not as thick and designed for shorter life cycles. It’s not uncommon for retail chains to release a new catalogue every week as part of a campaign to feature their latest sales items. This schedule is integrated with the release of more specific, theme-based catalogues. The travel sector works somewhat differently, typically with the publication of one sizable catalogue per season, complemented by smaller promotional brochures.

F.G.: What are the main expectations expressed today in each of these sectors?
S.C.: Mail order is not making any special expectations given that this sector has already undergone industrialization and computerized its catalogue production processes a good while back. Nonetheless, it should be pointed out that mail order made its way online somewhat late in the game and is still seeking solutions that allow meshing Web versions with print versions. In this area, many companies are pursuing divergent paths by treating these two media separately and are not always forthcoming about the directions chosen. The sector would gain from taking a broader and more critical view of its underlying profession. Given that the catalogue is a key tool in the business model, and to a certain degree a vital tool, the temptation to adopt a more conservative stance is strong. Among manufacturers, the fundamental question is how to ensure that promotions are reaching the targeted population segment as quickly as possible? Saving time, shortening turnaround – the famous “time to market” – is absolutely critical here. The demand for cost optimization tools also runs high. In the travel sector, the Web has replaced the role of the ad agency, though this transition is slow to take shape. While travel purchases are very often made online, it’s still the catalogue that triggers the choice of destination and type of stay. This sector will continue to invest more heavily in Web technologies while maintaining the catalogue as the focal point for generating sales.

F.G.: And what about mass retailing?
S.C.: This sector is constantly looking for ways to cut costs. Yet, compared with other media and non-media budgets, including more recent forays into television, catalogues are not the biggest drain. To produce their catalogues, retailers have long preferred the outsourcing route by relying on the expertise of a network of partners. At the present time, a handful of players in the retailing sector are seeking to reintegrate the catalogue function into their activities and exert real influence over their catalogue production. To a certain extent, industrialization of the catalogue process, in accompaniment of this “reintegration” step, is like the advent of desktop publishing: it provides advertisers with the opportunity to alter their typical work approaches and raise the team’s level of professionalism, not to mention the substantial gains in terms of time, money and quality.

F.G.: How can and should the printed catalogue be positioned to compete with the Internet and mobile devices?
S.C.: A catalogue works like a shop window display and embodies all the direct marketing codes. Through these codes, the catalogue is supposed to tempt and showcase the product offering. But it doesn’t necessarily need to be printed. There’s no reason why the catalogue format can’t be transposed onto other supports, like the Web or mobile devices. The time has come to no longer systematically oppose paper and digital, but instead to take a distance from this debate. No one would ever think of saying, for example, that advertising is solely reserved for the regional daily press or TV. Moreover, the attraction of paper might be solely an emotional one, which by itself cannot save the paper medium.

F.G.: Are you still confident about the future of the printed catalogue?
S.C.: Consumers make their decision only after ingesting and assimilating a number of different signals, and just because orders are now placed on the Internet doesn’t mean that the catalogue has run its course. Marketing should be seen as something comprehensive and consistent that encompasses the physical store, the printed catalogue, the e-catalogue, the mobile device, etc. The catalogue needs to be reinvented. Today’s brands will require gaining consumer trust all over again, in addition to preserving their reputation and highlighting their products. And without a doubt, the catalogue, more than any other media support, provides a platform for brands.

Source : France Graphique, Special Issue, March 2011, interview conducted by Rodolphe Pailliez

Quark and PageOnDemand.com will Present a Webinar Series on “Best Practices” for connecting all the catalog production players in the Cloud on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 .

This webinar will provide answers and solutions to these questions…

• Is your data synchronized to both print catalog and Web?
• Is your process and roles making you do things over and over again?
• Is there a way to avoid crunch time?
• Learn how you can resolve catalog version and variation problems
• Tired of hearing how easy it is to build a page?

REGISTER NOW

Join us to learn about one of the leading web-based, hosted solution (SaaS) — PageOnDemand.com — specifically designed for catalog publishers, mail-order houses, multichannel retailers and their agencies, with the aim of helping them cost effectively publish to both web and print channels.

Join us to find out how brands such as Publicis, Carrefour and other catalog and retail publishers have saved significant time and costs with this online.

This single, collaborative publishing platform addresses the overwhelming customer demand to substantially improve catalog production processes by leveraging the latest Web technologies making cutting-edge publishing affordable for those catalog and retail publishers who aren’t publishing tens of thousands of pages per year.

Find out why Gartner* says,
“Vendors are putting cosmetic enhancements on their solutions and are trying to call them full-fledged SaaS Catalog offerings… This is leading to confusion in the market,” and how an authentic SaaS solution such as PageOnDemand.com powered by Quark’s dynamic publishing technology can help you:

In this eSeminar, you will learn how PageOnDemand.com technology can help you:

• See it like it prints and say goodbye to content handoffs
• Build new catalogs with a single, standardized process across all your teams
• Get up and running fast
• Connect all the players (internal and external agencies) in the cloud
• Hear how one of the largest retailers in Europe saved over three million dollars

REGISTER NOW

In this eSeminar, you will learn how PageOnDemand.com powered best of breed publishing technology can help you:

• Build new catalogs with a single, standardized process across all your teams
• Connect internal teams and external agencies in the cloud
• Get up and running quickly
• Automate and save as much as 40 percent on production costs

This e-seminar was attended by well know brand catalog publishers, mail order houses, multichannel retailers and their agencies. Attendees heard how this single, collaborative publishing platform addresses the overwhelming customer demand to substantially improve catalog production processes by leveraging the latest Web technologies making cutting-edge publishing affordable for those catalog and retail publishers who publish thousands of pages per year. They also learned why Gartner* says, “Vendors are putting cosmetic enhancements on their solutions and are trying to call them full-fledged SaaS Catalog offerings… This is leading to confusion in the market,” and how an authentic SaaS solution such as PageOnDemand.com powered by Quark and Adobe’s dynamic publishing technology can help you:

• Build new catalogs with a single, standardized process across all your teams
• Connect internal teams and external agencies in the cloud
• Get up and running quickly
• Automate and save as much as 40 percent on production costs

Click on this click to find how PageOnDemand.com provides the only SaaS solution for automating catalog production, that is offered as a service gives publishers who publish just a couple thousand pages a year a cutting-edge but affordable solution!

We have included a link to the recording so you may review this more carefully or send it around to other concerned colleagues in your organization. In the meantime should you have any questions please contact PageOnDemand.com at : 707-478-1429.

PageOnDemand.com will attend the 2010 edition of the international e-commerce / catalogue sales gathering in Lille, to be held October 19th through 21st.

• A one-of-a-kind collaborative platform specially designed to coordinate European teamwork

This contract pertains to implementation of the PageOnDemand.com platform for the purpose of collectively producing the Carrefour Group’s entire range of catalogues. Available via a simple Web interface, PageOnDemand.com is a shared tool and service that standardizes business processes and yields a rapid catalogue layout, in all languages and on all supporting media.

The contract stakeholders (including Carrefour’s marketing teams, their ad agency and prepress partners, photographers, translators and printers) can all access the current draft version of the catalogue as well as the latest round of modifications.
As a result, the interruptions and delays in work schedules are eliminated, as data are exchanged more securely and the various customizations and transformations proceed much more quickly.
Introducing PageOnDemand.com at the European scale will enable Carrefour to share best practices and substantially improve the profitability of its marketing operations, while reducing the production schedules and costs of its catalogues.

“We are genuinely persuaded that non-media forms of communication remain a key investment, with an eye to increasing in-store traffic and retail sales. This contract with the Carrefour Group marks an important milestone in our company’s development. The experience with a Europe-wide scope places us in a position to incorporate the most optimal uses of retailing, in addition to accelerating our efforts to marry the printed catalogue with an array of Web and mobile supports, wherein lies one of PageOnDemand.com’s founding concepts.”
— Stéphane CLARET, Managing Director of PageOnDemand.com

• A collaborative venture initiated in 2009 with Carrefour Market

Carrefour’s preference for PageOnDemand.com goes hand in hand with the Group’s strategic plan entitled “Carrefour takes the lead” covering the period 2009-2012, with the assigned goal of lowering costs and sharing operational functions across the countries composing the “G4″ market segment.
The company’s platform has been extensively evaluated and tested; it has enjoyed operational status in a production context for two years, focusing on the brand Carrefour Market and its 1,000-store network.
Catalogue production schedules have been successfully scaled back by 20 days, which allows for greater buyer flexibility and higher catalogue output with the same staff resources available to advertising managers.
The PageOnDemand.com solution will be operational for all Group retail brands and in all “G4″ countries by 2011. The implementation stages dedicated to the platform and its range of services are already underway at Carrefour Belgium and Carrefour Italy.

• PageOnDemand.com to attend the 2010 international catalogue sales and e-commerce trade show

PageOnDemand.com will be present at this year’s international catalogue sales and e-commerce event, to be held in Lille October 19th and 20th, 2010.
The top spot for professionals working in multichannel media, the show proposes a survey of the expert skills, techniques and innovations that are shaping this e-commerce sector.

PageOnDemand.com’s stand number: G22
Planning your visit:
The 2010 e-commerce / catalogue sales trade show at Lille’s Grand Palais convention center:
1, boulevard Cités Unies – 59777 LILLE

Opening hours:
9:15-6:30 (October 19)
9:15-7:00 (October 20)
9:15-5:00 (October 21)

Download the entire press release in PDF format

Join Stephane Claret and Steve Palladino of PageOnDemand.com to learn how they are helping major brands such as Publicis and Carrefour save significant time and costs with an online, hosted solution that publishes to both web and print channels. Mr. Claret and Mr. Palladino, along with Nick Howard of Quark, will demonstrate how PageOnDemand.com – powered by Quark’s dynamic publishing technology – allows retailers to:

- Build catalogs with a single, standardized process across all teams
- Connect internal teams with external agencies in the cloud
- Get up and running quickly on a hosted solution

This eSeminar will be especially helpful for catalog and retail publishers who have relatively short publishing runs and are looking for an affordable yet cutting edge Web-to-print solution.

When: Wednesday, October 20
Name: Increase ROI by Lowering Catalog Production Cost by as Much as 40 Percent
Who:
- Stephane Claret, President, PageOnDemand.com
- Steve Palladino, President for North America, PageOnDemand.com
- Nick Howard, Director, Enterprise Product Management
Register:
- 10:00 a.m. ET: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/284941096
- 12:00 p.m. ET: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/421709320

Source: WhatTheyThink

Buoyed by solid growth in the e-commerce market, this show enjoyed tremendous success thanks to the participation of 450 exhibitors and more than 27,500 visitors making their way through the stands filling Hall 7.3 (vs. 25,000 at last year’s event).

Within just a few years, the e-Commerce show in Paris has become Europe’s leading destination for Web aficionados.
For the 2010 event, PageOnDemand.com was among the increasing number of exhibitors presenting their lines of products and services and cementing new partnerships. You’ve demonstrated a real interest in e-catalogues; our PageEX product is already well poised for tomorrow’s market!

We would also like to thank all visitors and professionals who came out to meet us at our stand: let’s announce our upcoming gathering at the e-Commerce mail order show scheduled in Lille on October 19th through 21st, 2010.

Advertising brochures will not be disappearing from our mailboxes anytime soon… The French firm PageOnDemand has developed a collaborative Web platform to speed up the catalogue and brochure design process. The market for such a service is huge given that 5,000 companies in France are currently producing catalogues. As an added advantage, this tool is multichannel: paper catalogues can be easily converted into a Web version and even formatted for smartphones and iPads.

PageOnDemand was founded in 2006 around technologies that at the time were still emerging; “cloud” (or remote) computing was taking shape, alongside its on-demand software counterpart known as SaaS (for Software as a Service). “We took a gamble on SaaS, a solution that eliminates a number of constraints, beginning with catalogue production costs”, points out Stéphane Claret, PageOnDemand’s CEO. Accessible via the Internet from a browser, the application becomes operational very quickly since no special workstation installation is required. Advertisers can access a platform that allows tracking progress during catalogue formatting, in addition to a complete library of templates for simplifying catalogue layout. This resource is enhanced by a conversion tool that automatically generates desktop publishing files ready for use by graphic artists, assigned to complete the format before final submission to the printer. “Simplifying and streamlining production phases are the chief objectives sought by advertisers, who through our system are able to directly control tasks they often had to delegate to creative media agencies”, insists Stéphane. Here’s another convincing argument in favor of adopting this service: professional users pay for just their consumption, as only the number of pages produced are invoiced.

• A client list that includes Carrefour

The company’s staff size is currently 20 and its revenue is expected to reach €1.3 million this year. The PageOnDemand platform has already produced some 4,000 catalogues (for companies like the retailer Boulanger, Belambra resorts and Carrefour). For two years now, the 1,000 stores in the Carrefour Market chain have designed their promotional materials using this tool. “Advertising managers can modify prices or photographs until the very last minute. Each change is automatically relayed to all versions of the catalogue. What’s more, stores in the various regions can customize their sales ads”, notes Mr. Claret. A broader dissemination effort encompassing all Carrefour stores throughout Europe has also been launched.

Source: La Tribune, issue 4565, Tuesday September 28, 2010 by Laurent Pericone

➢    Key challenges in the retailing and mail order sector

Today, when having to deal with increasingly demanding and temperamental clients, multichannel distribution stands out as a surefire strategic approach for companies.
Multiplying the distribution channels in play allows companies to tinker with the specificities of each channel: the complete product line presented in a printed catalogue, ease of access to information at any time via Internet or a cell phone, direct contact with the product plus seller’s advice inside a store, etc.
The consumer needs to feel special and wants to be kept informed by a retailer that a given product or service is now on the market, that its price has dropped or that a sale is being held: all should be configured to accompany the consumer in his quest for information.

By enhancing the modes of contact with the customer, multichannel distribution constitutes a real springboard for growth that companies must now incorporate into their sales and marketing strategies.

A multichannel approach means more than adapting a message to a particular means of transmission. This approach entails differentiating the message depending on the recipient’s profile and thus knowing how to manage content produced in all its facets: type of target, language, product segmentation, type of sales promotion, etc.

PageOnDemand.com proposes a bold and innovative concept that allows companies to confront these complex issues while limiting the constraints encountered.
The goal consists of streamlining the paper catalogue production in a way that reduces costs and offers companies the opportunity to deploy their content on the Web as well as all mobile devices with minimal additional investment.

➢    Innovative and competitive multichannel solutions

• PAGE-ON-DEMAND

The response provided by PageOnDemand.com is the PAGE-ON-DEMAND collaborative platform.

This Web 2.0 platform is intended for advertisers, catalogue designers, prepress agencies and the like, regardless of catalogue size (from small posters to catalogues containing thousands of pages) and type (promotional, technical, travel, industrial, flyers, guides, brochures, etc.).

All actors involved in catalogue production use PAGE-ON-DEMAND: product retail managers, marketing firms, catalogue managers, designers, editors, layout artists, printers, translators, Webmasters, etc.

PAGE-ON-DEMAND runs in SaaS mode: accessible via the Internet using a browser, the platform is immediately operational without requiring any upfront investment or installation. No technical competence is needed either; this zero-investment opportunity allows standardizing professional processes and rapidly disseminating catalogues in all languages and on all types of media.
Content exchange is fully secure and the resultant gain in profitability from marketing operations is ensured through shorter schedules and lower costs for catalogue production.

This model is indeed unique: professionals only pay for actual use and are billed a fixed price per catalogue page produced. The platform has been adopted by some leading retailers like the Carrefour Group, Socoda, Orange, Codes Rousseau and Belambra, as well as by many advertising agencies including Euro RSCG 360, Mundocom and Sell Marketing.

Within a span of barely 4 years, PAGE-ON-DEMAND has won over more than 2,000 users and has contributed to the creation of 3,600 catalogues via its PAGE-ON-DEMAND platform.

• PageEX™

Since the multichannel formula has become part and parcel of the sales and marketing strategy adopted by advertisers, PageOnDemand.com launched PageEX to ensure that e-catalogues (i.e. a Web version of the printed catalogue) are more than the paper catalogue posted online.

Enhanced by a multitude of functionalities, relative to searches, browsing and a “shopping list” (or cart), the PageEX e-catalogue works as a standalone micro-site, which cannot be distinguished from traditional online retailing sites.

More intuitively laid out than a regular e-commerce site, given that the standard codes of the paper catalogue have been incorporated, the PageEX e-catalogue makes it possible to reach a wider audience and build a clientele among those relative inexperienced in online shopping.
Since promotional items and offers can be highlighted in a PageEX e-catalogue, the Web user is able to browse the various e-catalogues of a given advertiser, searching by keyword or cross-category selection (price, article).

By clicking on the product image, the Web user is directly routed to the page or pages of interest.
Close-up images, notes, access to product fact sheets, order forms and two-way links with the e-commerce site… all the tools are now available to provide a maximum amount of information to the Web user and accompany the purchase decision.

• A promising outlook for m-commerce

In June 2010, PageOnDemand.com launched a PageEX application for both iPhone and iPad.
This PageEX advance allows industrializing the step of e-catalogue implementation onto new mobile devices.
The process involved is also fully automated and requires no technical intervention whatsoever. The applications on iPhone and iPad feature the same functionalities as Website use.

➢   SaaS mode for greater speed, availability and security

The SaaS mode is a novel concept that has revolutionized the use of software. It has gained popularity in the corporate world as an attractive and highly efficient alternative to internal applications.

This mode stands out for its availability; it can be up and running within a few days, enabling companies to quickly access an operational solution.
Furthermore, by requiring absolutely no in-house resources or technical competence, SaaS makes it possible for project colleagues to perform their functions without delay independently of computer services staff. Information is immediately available to all actors, and every level of the company has a complete and accurate picture of activity progress in real time.

The PAGE-ON-DEMAND platform posts an availability rate of 99.97%. This kind of service is very difficult to reach for a company’s internal operations, and moreover a rate like this very often necessitates significant additional costs.

PAGE-ON-DEMAND also offers very fast turnaround thanks to an operational customer service, which is not always included with in-house applications.

Download the entire press release in PDF format

Founded 15 years ago, Avanci was PageOnDemand.com’s first partner agency. When seeking innovative professional solutions for her clients, Brigitte very quickly decided on a multichannel platform that was both collaborative and ready-to-use at all times.

The added advantage?

It’s the economic model, which is unique in that professionals only pay for their actual consumption and the price charged is set per catalogue page produced.

Photo illustration…

This 7th E-commerce show will be held at the Parc des Expositions Center located at Paris’ Porte de Versailles from September 21st to 23rd. For the second year in a row, PageOnDemand.com is participating in this high-profile adventure.
At its stand, PageOnDemand.com will introduce you to its latest multichannel innovations for reaching your clients wherever they may be: An event not to be missed!

Plan your visit:
Venue:
Pavilion 7.3 – Parc des Expositions (Paris Convention Center) Porte de Versailles, Paris

Schedule:
8:30 to 6:30 on Tuesday, September 21, 2010
8:30 to 6:30 on Wednesday, September 22, 2010
8:30 to 6:00 on Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sign up now and we’ll look forward to meeting you at this major event (stand i5) to demonstrate our latest innovation: a 100% multichannel feature that’s sure to amaze you!