Retailers have reported that more than 50% of mobile traffic comes from tablet devices, noted Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president, principal analyst with Forrester Research, Inc. in the January 2011 report, Five Retail eCommerce Trends To Watch In 2011. “This is likely to lead to a new subset of mobile commerce: tablet commerce (you read it here first: T-commerce)…enabling easy browsing in a living room, during a bus commute to work, or at an airport.”
Responding to this trend, TheFind, a facilitator of online, mobile, and offline commerce and partner to thousands of stores and brands, recently announced the launch of CATALOGUE, an app that brings the $100 billion catalog shopping experience to the iPad and Android tablets.
Many retailers continue to depend on their catalogs for direct and indirect sales. With CATALOGUE, these retailers can reap the benefits of the catalog while potentially reducing printing and mailing expenses associated with the big books. “We are very excited to partner with TheFind on creating a unique tablet shopping experience that leverages our strengths in merchandising with TheFind’s demonstrated capabilities in mobile and tablet commerce,” noted John Seebeck, Vice President of eCommerce for Crate and Barrel.
Advertisement
“Even today, catalog shopping is a $100 billion business, with more than 20 billion catalogs being printed and delivered via the postal service to people’s homes,” said Siva Kumar, CEO of TheFind. “Retailers continue to invest in this business because they stimulate demand and inspire consumers in a way that no other medium has matched; but the emergence of tablets with their tactile approach and high resolution screens presents an opportunity to revolutionize and reinvent a massive retail channel.”
The CATALOGUE will feature spring collections from national retailers, catalogs and brands including Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, Sephora, Uggs and many others. Currently, TheFind is working with more than 70 retailers, whose products are expected to appear in the Catalogue In June and July.
Currently, CATALOGUE is focused on the brands and catalogs that match the early demographics of tablet ownership, according to TheFind. As of the initial release, 30 catalogs are included in CATALOGUE.
