We previously wrote about the “revenge” of print, part of a broader trend dubbed “the revenge of analogue.” What’s driving this phenomenon is the sense that digital moved so fast and so far into every corner of our experience that only now are we truly stepping back to critically consider where analogue technologies, like paper, still hold the edge.
For instance, here in our corner of the world, we know that when it comes to comprehension and learning, paper — tactile, physical, thousands of years old — still reigns supreme.
Some brands that once tried a digital-only strategy have now returned to print. The list of those reintroducing printed catalogues runs from Dollar General and Neiman Marcus to Amazon and IKEA.
There are many reasons print is making a comeback. The most obvious is simple consumer demand. J. Crew (an American retail brand) found that customers respond to the premium, editorial quality of their catalogues rather than a bare-bones e-commerce interface. These catalogues include in-depth features, interviews and celebrity photo shoots that make the magazine feel more like a fashion magazine than a catalogue.
Tangibility is also high on the list — an even more powerful draw for brands without physical stores. As a recent Harvard Business Review article noted, “For e-commerce retailers without physical stores, catalogues can effectively mimic the sensory experience of stores to build customer intimacy.”
By contrast, print is a medium in which advertising can be far more deliberate, where brands can weave in lifestyle cues they know their customers share, and where a more pleasant, frictionless communication experience is possible.
Sometimes, print isn’t the best way to tell your customers about the product — it is the product.
In October, the New York Times published a piece about ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, stepping into the book publishing world. The conglomerate started with digital titles, but now plans to add 10–15 physical print titles a year.
What’s even more interesting is that this move to physical books is aimed specifically at Gen Z. Even just a few years ago, it might have sounded ridiculous to some to think “Zoomers” would represent a growth opportunity for paper and print. But it turns out they want to read their books in three dimensions — underlining them, dog-earing them, and tossing them in their backpacks.
Also notable, per Time’s article, is the detail that ByteDance built its publishing strategy “backwards” — first looking at what kinds of books TikTok users are talking about on “BookTok” (hint: romance, fantasy and young adult), and only then buying into those spaces.
This is another example of how digital and analogue can work together for companies: digital helps you find out where your customers are, while analogue gives them what they want.
Do you shop at Costco (the retail chain)? Yes — which is why I read with great interest the recent piece about the success of Costco Connection magazine, whose monthly print circulation has reached a staggering 15.4 million, plus another 300,000 copies sold on newsstands in Costco warehouses. That makes it the third-highest-circulation print publication in the country.
Costco Connection is also a premium product, sent only to “executive” members who pay double the standard annual membership fee of $65.
What strikes me across most of these anecdotes is the idea of a paper product being presented as a “premium” experience layered on top of a more basic digital experience.
For the future of the category, it’s good news to see companies motivated both by the intrinsic usefulness of paper (such as printed catalogues that help Amazon shoppers pick out toys for the holidays) and by consumers’ widespread belief that a printed experience is simply more premium, desirable and memorable than a purely digital one.
Print will never disrupt the digital world, and we shouldn’t want it to. But the best version of the future is one in which consumers — and people in general — have access to sensible, well-functioning, beneficial paper options.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/company/paper-and-packaging-board/posts/?feedView=all