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Ooh, pretty—that’s the feeling one gets leafing through bedding catalogs. All the linens look crisp, fresh and inviting. But, from synthetic to the real stuff, nothing evokes the desire to crawl in and curl up quite like a down comforter.
So it was surprising that several of the catalogs reviewed this month do not show their down comforters on a bed.
And with the broad array of weights, materials and colors available for today’s down comforters, it was odd that only two catalogs of those surveyed offered the comforters in colors other than white.
James Padgitt, president and chief catalog consultant of Direct Marketing Insights in Mount Pleasant, SC, assisted Catalog Success in its review of home catalogs featuring the down comforter. Overall, he says, presenting merchandise in its end use is very important to mail order shoppers. In the case of down comforters, they should be shown on a bed.
“It is important that the photography give the customer as clear a picture about how it will look in the house as possible,” says Padgitt. “Show it on top of the bed, not on a deck chair on your patio. They should be able to take the visual you give them and say, ‘I can see that on my bed in the master bedroom.’”
The Company Store possibly used outdoor settings to play up the myriad colors of its goose down comforters and to highlight the nature-related names: celadon, lake, aegean, wisteria, carnation.
“The names of the colors are so incidental, it seems too much of a stretch,” says Padgitt. “To me a bed on a deck looks strange. Maybe it’s something their art director thinks is clever, but I doubt many consumers identify with that. From a selling standpoint, they didn’t present as well as they could have.”
Padgitt seriously objected to The Company Store’s spread featuring its down comforter draped on deck chairs. It does show one comforter set on a bed, but the bed appears to be on a patio, which Padgitt says makes it hard for customers to visualize it in their home.
Padgitt, however, did like one thing about The Company Store’s presentation—the icons that symbolize each comforter’s weight: palm trees for warm weather, oak leaves for crisp, fall weather; and snowflakes for winter. The number of icons further differentiates the weights.
The Company Store’s goose down comforter is an exclusive. Offered in the May 2000 catalog, the company presents it as “supersized,” about 14˝ larger than other comforters. It provides four types of comforters, each with different types of feathers as fill materials. It also offered myriad fill powers (the amount of fill in cubic inches per ounce), baffles (pockets where fill is sewn in), and stitchery (the design used for the baffles).
So it was surprising that several of the catalogs reviewed this month do not show their down comforters on a bed.
And with the broad array of weights, materials and colors available for today’s down comforters, it was odd that only two catalogs of those surveyed offered the comforters in colors other than white.
James Padgitt, president and chief catalog consultant of Direct Marketing Insights in Mount Pleasant, SC, assisted Catalog Success in its review of home catalogs featuring the down comforter. Overall, he says, presenting merchandise in its end use is very important to mail order shoppers. In the case of down comforters, they should be shown on a bed.
“It is important that the photography give the customer as clear a picture about how it will look in the house as possible,” says Padgitt. “Show it on top of the bed, not on a deck chair on your patio. They should be able to take the visual you give them and say, ‘I can see that on my bed in the master bedroom.’”
The Company Store possibly used outdoor settings to play up the myriad colors of its goose down comforters and to highlight the nature-related names: celadon, lake, aegean, wisteria, carnation.
“The names of the colors are so incidental, it seems too much of a stretch,” says Padgitt. “To me a bed on a deck looks strange. Maybe it’s something their art director thinks is clever, but I doubt many consumers identify with that. From a selling standpoint, they didn’t present as well as they could have.”
Padgitt seriously objected to The Company Store’s spread featuring its down comforter draped on deck chairs. It does show one comforter set on a bed, but the bed appears to be on a patio, which Padgitt says makes it hard for customers to visualize it in their home.
Padgitt, however, did like one thing about The Company Store’s presentation—the icons that symbolize each comforter’s weight: palm trees for warm weather, oak leaves for crisp, fall weather; and snowflakes for winter. The number of icons further differentiates the weights.
The Company Store’s goose down comforter is an exclusive. Offered in the May 2000 catalog, the company presents it as “supersized,” about 14˝ larger than other comforters. It provides four types of comforters, each with different types of feathers as fill materials. It also offered myriad fill powers (the amount of fill in cubic inches per ounce), baffles (pockets where fill is sewn in), and stitchery (the design used for the baffles).
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