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 two-page cover argues scale before the buyer sees a price: on the left a crowded offices-and-warehouse hall and the factory and laboratories at Wandsworth, on the right the firm's own branded goods, such as Kepler Malt Extract, Hazeline and Lanoline, piled beneath a classical bust. The eagle carrying E PLURIBUS UNUM and the words AMERICAN MERCHANTS mark the firm's American trade link for a London buyer. A chemist choosing a supplier reads capacity, range and medical seriousness in one glance.

The big idea

Before a single price, the cover shows the firm's scale: a busy offices-and-warehouse hall, a Wandsworth factory and laboratories, and a table crowded with its own branded preparations.

The offer

The price list inside, from importers, exporters and manufacturing chemists, with products such as Kepler Malt Extract, Hazeline, Lanoline and Beef and Iron Wine shown. The cover states no prices.

The proof

Engravings of the offices and warehouse and of the Wandsworth factory and laboratories, a display of named branded products, and a classical bust and serpent emblems that borrow the authority of medicine.

Lines from the ad

BURROUGHS WELLCOME & Co.

IMPORTERS EXPORTERS MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS AND AMERICAN MERCHANTS

FACTORY AND LABORATORIES WANDSWORTH, LONDON, S.W.

Steal this when

Steal this when your price list goes to trade buyers choosing a supplier and your premises, range and brands can show you will deliver before any price is read.