Mail-order catalog

The pattern

This still is filed under Mail-order catalog.

Define

A catalog that is the store: browse, choose, order, without a clerk and often without a website.

Mechanism

Assortment as argument. Density, numbering, and an order path do the closing. The book is the funnel.

Verdict

We have a range, remote buyers, and a way to take the order on the same object.

Why it works

The ad is the shop counter on paper: three columns of titles, each with its price in piastres, ranging from Tolstoy and poetry to the stock exchange, cotton trading and home medicine. The address and phone number sit under the shop's lettered name, and a line says the new full catalogue is sent free, so a reader who finds one title here has a reason to write in for the rest.

The big idea

A priced list of dozens of titles on every subject lets the reader order straight from al-Hilal bookshop, and a free new catalogue promises the rest.

The offer

Order the listed books, each priced in piastres, from al-Hilal bookshop, 65 at the start of Faggala Street, telephone 1201. The new catalogue is out and sent free.

Lines from the ad

اطلب هذه الكتب النفيسة من مكتبة الهلال

Order these fine books from al-Hilal bookshop

وقد صدرت قائمتها الجديدة وترسل مجاناً

Its new catalogue is out and is sent free

بأول شارع الفجالة رقم ٦٥

At the start of Faggala Street, number 65

Steal this when

Use it when you sell a wide range to remote buyers and want a short priced list to act as both a sample and a lead magnet for the full catalogue.