November 17, 2004

Using Snail Mail to Boost Technology

At times companies can get caught up in the "tech" part of technology and forget about traditional means of reaching customers. Email, RSS, web sites, chat and other forms of digital communication are great, but at times, it's important to step back and think about plain old postal mail.

eBay - their entire business is online, is going to be mailing printed catalogues to customers. Maybe a catalogue is too expensive for you, but what about a paper newsletter or post card?

USA Today writes Online auctioneer eBay (EBAY), in a major push to capture holiday sales, is getting into the catalog business. The 32-page color catalog, eBay Holiday 2004, gets mailed today to several million eBay customers in the USA.

The venture could have far-reaching implications, e-commerce analysts say. EBay is the first major Web company to publish a catalog in several years. If successful, it could trigger a spate of new catalogs from e-tailers looking for more ways to reach consumers as more of them hunt for holiday deals on the Web.

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