Axon Publishing | Customer Publishing Agency, London UK

The M&S Home catalogue has broken the mould, by achieving a relaxed, editorial style of photography, while still selling products off the page. M&S sales figures, and independent focus group research, both reinforce its success.

This catalogue is key to the operations of M&S Home. M&S stores cannot display their full Home offering, so the catalogue acts as a shop window to present the range. With the growth of web shopping, the catalogue has become the shop in people’s homes, and an essential part of the M&S multi-channel strategy.

Brand execution is key to its success; the core M&S customer has enormous trust in the brand, and anticipates certain traditional styles, colours and settings. Ease of purchase is critical, but at the same time, customers look for inspiration and ideas. The catalogue balances this, between the parameters researched as “inspiration” and “functionality”. Research also proves that the catalogue is perceived to have a good brand fit with M&S, both in its physical format, and its mix of styling and looks.

The catalogue is photographed with the clarity and physical arrangement of products required to sell off a page, but in a warm and relaxed manner coupled with inspirational styling. Journalists then add not only informative captions, but also copy that engages with the customers’ lifestyle, and makes the customer want to buy.

And they do. In the M&S Annual Report, Stuart Rose said that “Despite the difficulties experienced by the industry, our Home business had another good year.” Indeed, in a year in which overall revenue at M&S fell by 1.7%, revenue in Home actually increased by 1.1%. And in their Q1 statement this year, M&S declared that “Home sales continue to outperform the market”. Given the structure of the M&S Home business, the catalogue clearly plays a key role in this success.

The catalogue is published twice a year, with material repurposed by Axon into minibooks, web content and leaflets. Its success at brand execution is demonstrated by the way in which M&S visual merchandisers echo the catalogue photography when they subsequently present products in store.

The M&S Home catalogue engages with its readers; it presents them with ideas and inspiration; and it ends up displayed on coffee tables and shared with friends. And research demonstrates that, on a “want to buy” scale, it ranks higher than all of its perceived competitors – surely the ultimate test of a successful catalogue.

In 2009, Your M&S Home won Best Catalogue in the International Customer Publishing Awards. “There’s great design at work here,” said the judges.

“The catalogue clearly has an edge over its competitors, an edge that’s translating into commercial success for its client.”