11 Ways To Refresh A Tired Wholesale Catalogue

Sometimes you want to refresh your wholesale catalogue, without completely starting over. Here are 11 ways to do that.
 

1. Change the front cover

Keep the design elements on your front cover, like the fonts and hierarchy, but pick a new cover photo. This is the easiest, fastest way to make your catalogue look and feel fresher.
 

2. Update your Welcome note

A few tweaks to your welcome note can grab a retailer’s attention. If you’ve created new items or a whole new collection since last time, mention it. If your minimum order or carriage paid level is lower now, point that out. Even little revisions like these keep stores in the loop and help you look professional, polished and credible.
 

3. Update your credentials section

If you’ve won an award, snagged a starry new stockist or have new press mentions, share the details. (Send a service email about your good news to your existing retailers while you’re at it.)
 

4. Update your testimonials

If the existing testimonials in your catalogue are from regular customers but now you have some nice words from a real, live shopkeeper, switch them out. Praise from retailers always carries the most weight in a wholesale catalogue.
 

5. Revise your terms and conditions

It’s important that retailers have the most up-to-date information about how you do business. If any of your policies have changed, let them know.
 

6. Answer common questions

If several stockists have all asked you the same question, stick the answer in your catalogue. If they were wondering about it, others probably are too.
 

7. Revise your How To Order page

Little adjustments to your How To Order page can make a difference. A dash of colour, a small copy change or a few seasonal touches, perhaps?
 

8. Include an offer with your catalogue

If your catalogue is digital, you can insert a brand new page containing a discount, promotion or upsell, any time you like. Make sure you limit it to a specific period and that the end date is crystal clear. Also remember to remove that page once the offer expires. This works for printed catalogues too – just include a separate page or slip with the details.
 

9. Highlight new products

One of the simplest ways to make a catalogue look and feel fresh is by emphasising different items. These might be brand new products or existing pieces in your range which have taken a back seat. Re-organising your products on the page can inject new life and energy, but be careful not to obscure your best-selling pieces. The items that get the most space generally bring the most sales.
 

10. Take some new lifestyle photos

White box photos are relatively timeless. As long as your product or packaging stay the same, you can keep using them. Lifestyle shots, on the other hand, are more seasonal.

Using the same ones in your catalogue, year after year, is bit like trotting out the same old stories every time you see your friends. They might be very funny stories, and you might tell them very well, but sooner or later people are going to stop paying attention.

That’s why it’s a good idea to refresh your lifestyle pictures on a semi-regular basis. It keeps retailers awake and on their toes, and it deepens and develops their understanding of your work.

Once you get the hang of setting up a shoot, styling products and editing photos, it takes less time. And if you can keep a corner of your studio or workspace permanently available for taking pictures, with all your props and equipment ready to go, you might find that you’re able to take new lifestyle shots fairly often.

Keeping your hand in like this sharpens your skills and gives you more material to play with – not only for your catalogue, but for your wholesale mailing list, website and social media channels.
 

11. Reshuffle the pages

Give retailers what they’re most interested in first.

So in May and June, when you’re selling for Christmas, move your Christmas items to the front of your catalogue.

In November, when you’re selling for spring occasions, push the Christmas stuff back and highlight Valentine’s items.

There are lots of ways to refresh your wholesale catalogue and give it a sales-boosting revamp (take a look at my Canva catalogue template if you don’t want to start from scratch,) but remember that you don’t have to put all of these ideas into action at once.

Even one or two can help retailers see your products with fresh eyes.