Top Digital Catalogs: Examples to Inspire

3 Product catalogs that guide customers to their dream buys

Online catalogs are used in many ways. They’re shared by sales teams on the road when they visit prospects; they’re promoted on social media to a growing audience around the world; they’re used to create memorable and interactive consumer experiences with brands on websites and apps.

Product catalogs have come a long way from the Sears-style catalog of yesteryear. Today’s digital catalogs permit brands to sell direct-to-consumer (DTC), both to a wider audience and with the power to update products more often and in direct response to the market.

This kind of dynamic commerce is what the best digital catalogs leverage.

To get inspired, just look at the full potential of a digital catalog by glimpsing into the worlds of three brands that have used their digital catalogs in exceptional ways. These are powerful marketing tools that offer a unique look at companies that offer more than amazing products: they offer a customer experience that carries buyers to their desired end results.

The consumer who’s looking for that perfect sofa, or the best skincare product, or the matching pair of shoes for a suit — these experiences are guided onto the tracks of a shopping experience laid by the brands who make their extraordinary catalogs available on the right channels at the right times.

Why do I need a digital catalog?

The benefits of creating a digital catalog include:

• Low distribution costs: costs are pared down to whatever you spend to get the PDF on the web. No more distributing physical catalogs or laboring over product data that’s partitioned into multiple formats for multiple resellers.
• The opportunity for interactive elements: add more product information into your catalog than ever before with collapsible sections and clickable links to your product listings or product content.
• Expand your customer base: digital catalogs can be accessed from anywhere, opening your brand up to the possibilities of worldwide sales.
• Make product updates easy: whenever you do update a product or simply improve its product data, updating your digital catalog is fast and easy — and totally seamless for the end consumer.

Digital catalogs do require some heavy lifting in product data management if you aren’t prepared. Don’t learn product data management the hard way. Just keep reading to see the top 3 digital catalogs examples and to learn how they can easily be imitated with better product data processes and faster time-to-market.

1. LedgeLounger: A Digital Flipbook

The LedgeLounger catalog flipbook looks like a digitized version of what would have been their magazine-grade product catalog.

Right?

After flipping through the first few pages of beautiful lifestyle photography, though, you discover that the catalog’s table of contents is clickable. You select a section and jump right to it. You then find yourself on the title page of a product collection and navigate the subsequent pages with the “zoom” feature on the cursor as you close in on the elegant bullet points and color palettes for each product.

Wait a second — those are clickable, too?

The photographs throughout the catalog show products placed in their intended environments, with graceful numbering on each picture to identify which product on the page is represented in which part of the photograph.

This catalog is clean and simple and, above all else, easy to navigate. It’s easy to see how this digital catalog acts as a resource for this growing brand.

2. SteinMart: An Interactive Digital Catalog

There isn’t a person in retail who hasn’t heard of SteinMart, and their interactive digital catalog is as worthy of acclaim. Each page is like a mini-site in itself with products carefully organized into style groups titled by collections and life events. At the top of every page, you see the same clickable header with the major departments available for one-click access.

On every page, there are additional calls to action (CTAs), like “shop farmhouse kitchen & décor.” Click on any one of these CTAs and your shopping experience expands exponentially as new tabs pop up on your screen with even more products to see, all directly available online.

3. MoMA Design Store: Iconic Branding

The Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY is iconic. Their brand is well established, so much so that we don’t really think of it as a brand. We just picture a museum full of the greatest art from the last century and all the culture it represents.

MoMA does have a brand, though, as you can see in its digital catalog of curated product selections. The products are conveniently organized into collections for each shopping season.

MoMA’s use of its iconic colors and style immediately evokes admiration in shoppers who peruse the catalog. The photography in the catalog is unrivaled, too, making this catalog as stunning in its branded beauty as it is in its user-friendliness.

Then, its interactive “+” icons next to each product pop out a lightbox with product details, giving consumers every exciting specification to help them visualize the product in its intended space.

Speaking of brands, have you checked if you need a brand refresh?

Key Takeaways

A digital catalog must have the same root design strategy that a print catalog does: start with the right combination of branded color and photography, then add in rich, complete, and compelling product information.

To make that catalog digital, you then open the possibilities to reach a global audience. You create a path to more accurate and dynamic product data. You invite consumers into a new and exciting interactive experience. Of course, you win more business, too.

Make your own digital catalog stand out by following these top digital catalogs examples. That means:

• Add more than just beautiful product photography: add videos and GIFs, too
• Respect your branding rules (colors, fonts, etc.) when designing your digital catalog
• Let your digital catalog be the linchpin for a faster and simpler process for updating your product data
• Use product banners across catalog pages to call out related product groups and collections, or to expand to other CTAs
• Integrate a shopping cart right into your digital catalog
• Build a lead capture form right into your digital catalog, too
• Publish your digital catalog on multiple channels, including a domain you own
• Make navigation interactive and easy by including links to each product collection, links on every page back to the table of contents, and links onto your website or into product-related content

Once you have the catalog design that’s both beautiful and interactive, to ensure you get the most out of this resource, build your catalog on the very best product data. Product data management is what unlocks all the possibilities that a digital catalog brings.