Mail order

thumb|Cover of a mail-order catalogue for scientific equipment

Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:

Sending an order form in the mail
Placing an order by telephone call
Placing an order with a travelling agent
Filling in an order form on a website or mobile app — if the product information is also mainly obtained online rather than via a paper catalogue or via television, this mail-order model is called online shopping or e-commerce

Then, the products are delivered to the customer. The products are usually delivered directly to an address supplied by the customer, such as a home address, but occasionally the orders are delivered to a nearby retail location for the customer to pick up. Some merchants also allow the goods to be shipped directly to a third party consumer, which is an effective way to send a gift to an out-of-town recipient. Some merchants deliver the goods directly to the customer through their travelling agents. Payment may be made by installment.

A mail order catalogue (or catalog) is a publication containing a list of general merchandise from a company. Companies who publish and operate mail order catalogues are referred to as cataloguers within the industry. Cataloguers buy or manufacture goods then market those goods to prospects (prospective customers). Cataloguers may "rent" names from list brokers or cooperative databases. The catalogue itself is published in a similar fashion as any magazine publication and distributed through a variety of means, usually via a postal service and the internet.

Sometimes supermarket products do mail order promotions, whereby people can send in the UPC plus shipping and handling to get a product made especially for the company.

History

Early catalogues

In 1498, the publisher Aldus Manutius of Venice printed a catalogue of the books he was printing.

In 1667, the English gardener William Lucas published a seed catalogue, which he mailed to his customers to inform them of his prices. Catalogues spread to British America, where Benjamin Franklin is believed to have been the first cataloguer. In 1744 he produced a catalogue of scientific and academic books. In 1833, Antonio Fattorini started a mail order watch club in Bradford, which would eventually transform into Empire Stores.

First mail order

The Welsh entrepreneur Pryce Pryce-Jones set up the first mail-order company in 1861. Starting off as an apprentice to a local draper in Newtown, Wales, he took over the business in 1856 and renamed it the Royal Welsh Warehouse, selling local Welsh flannel. It was an ideal way of meeting the needs of customers in isolated rural locations who were either too busy or unable to get into Newtown to shop directly. This was the world's first mail order business, an idea which would change the nature of retail in the coming century.

The further expansion of the railways in the years that followed allowed Pryce Jones to greatly expand his customer base and his business grew rapidly. He supplied his products to an impressive variety of famous clientele, including Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria, the Princess of Wales and royal households across Europe.

One of his most popular products was the Euklisia Rug, the forerunner of the modern sleeping bag, which Pryce-Jones exported around the world, at one point landing a contract with the Russian Army for 60,000 rugs. By 1880, he had more than 100,000 customers in the UK alone and his success was rewarded in 1887 with a knighthood.

In North America

left|150px|thumb|The cover of the first [[Eaton's catalogue, published in 1884. The Eaton's catalogue would continue to be published until 1976.]]

In 1845, Tiffany's Blue Book was the first mail-order catalogue in the United States.

In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward of Chicago produced a mail-order catalogue for his Montgomery Ward mail order business. By buying goods and then reselling them directly to customers, Aaron Montgomery Ward was consequently removing the middlemen at the general store and to the benefit of the customer, lowering the prices drastically.

Hammacher Schlemmer is the earliest still surviving mail-order business, established by Alfred Hammacher in New York City in 1848. Offering mechanic's tools and builder's hardware, its first catalogue was published in 1881.

T. Eaton Co. Limited was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an Irish immigrant. The first Eaton's catalogue was a 34-page booklet issued in 1884. As Eaton's grew, so did the catalogue. By 1920, Eaton's operated mail order warehouses in Winnipeg, Toronto and Moncton to serve its catalogue customers. Catalogue order offices were also established throughout the country, with the first opening in Oakville in 1916.

Sears

thumb|right|160px|Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogue, 1918

Richard Warren Sears started a business selling watches through mail order catalogues in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, in 1888. By 1894, the Sears catalogue had grown to 322 pages, featuring sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods, automobiles (produced from 1905–1915 by Lincoln Motor Car Works of Chicago, not related to the current Ford Motor Company brand of the same name) and a host of other new items.

Organizing the company so it could handle orders on an economical and efficient basis, Chicago clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald became a part-owner in 1895. By the following year, dolls, refrigerators, stoves and groceries had been added to the catalog. Sears, Roebuck and Co. soon developed a reputation for high quality products and customer satisfaction. By 1895, the company was producing a 532-page catalogue with the largest variety of items that anybody at the time could have imagined. "In 1893, the sales topped 400,000 dollars. Two years later they exceeded 750,000 dollars."

In 1906 Sears opened its catalogue plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower. And by that time, the Sears catalogue had become known in the industry as "the Consumers' Bible". In 1933, Sears, Roebuck and Co. produced the first of its famous Christmas catalogues known as the "Sears Wishbook", a catalogue featuring toys and gifts and separate from the annual Christmas catalogue.

From 1908 to 1940, Sears also sold kit houses by mail order, selling 70,000 to 75,000 such homes, many of which are still lived in today.

Industrialization

150px|left|thumb|[[The Outlook (New York)|The Outlook, American magazine advertisement from 1916 offering mail delivery of fish and seafood]]

By creating a direct marketing industry through the mail order catalogue, Pryce Pryce-Jones and Aaron Montgomery Ward enabled the creation of a powerful global network that came to include everything from mail order, to telemarketing and social media. Mail order changed the worldwide marketplace by introducing the concept of privacy and individuality into the retail industry. Today, the mail order catalogue industry is worth approximately 100 billion dollars

With the success of the catalogue business, Moores moved his business four times to larger buildings in 1932. Moores sailed to America to look at the operations of Montgomery Ward and Sears and Roebuck. By 1936, the business had hit the 4 million pound mark, making Moores a millionaire a second time over, by mail order.

Catalogues through the ages

File:NEHA tulip book p.003 Switsers.jpg|Hand-painted page from a Tulip Catalogue, 1630s

File:Findlay and Co. -Findlay and Co's illustrated catalogue of cottages, doors, sashes, mouldings, architraves, and every description of furnishings for building purposes. Steam saw and planing mills, (21049534156).jpg|Cover of Findlay and Co's Illustrated Catalogue of Cottages, Doors, Sashes, Mouldings, Architraves, and Every Description of Furnishings for Building Purposes, 1874

File:Illustrated Catalogue of Cottage Organs (1875), J. Estey & Company (Brattleboro, Vermont).pdf|Illustrated Catalogue of Cottage Organs, J. Estey & Company, Vermont, 1875

File:Fall and Winter, 1890-91 Fashion Catalogue - H. O'Neill and Co. (1890) (14804977333).jpg|Fashion Catalogue, H. O'Neill and Co., 1890

File:Catalogue of seeds, plants, bulbs and fruits (1894) (20575408742).jpg|Page from Catalogue of Seeds, Plants, Bulbs and Fruits, 1894

File:Arthur Yates and Co. Ltd, Auckland -(Pansies). Yates' nursery catalogue. 1899. Front cover). (21662791745).jpg|Cover of Arthur Yates and Co.'s Nursery and Seed Catalogue, Auckland, NZ, 1899

File:Catalogue (1902) (19944767254).jpg|Page from Henry G. Gilbert's Nursery and Seed Trade Catalogue, Kentucky, 1902

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Wunderman

Mail order had always relied on the innovative technique of selling products directly to the consumer at appealing prices,

Rise of e-commerce

With the invention of the Internet, a company's website became the more usual way to order merchandise for delivery by mail. Unless the retailer provides a paper catalogue from which to order, that is if the products are mainly presented to and searched for by the customer on a web site or mobile app, the term "mail order" is rarely used to describe the ordering of goods over the Internet. It is more usual to refer to this as e-commerce or online shopping. Online shopping allows more detailed information (including audio and video) to be presented, and allows for faster ordering than by mailed form (though phone orders are also common for mail-order catalogues). Most traditional mail order companies now also sell over the Internet, in some cases with a PDF or tablet application which allows shoppers to browse an electronic catalog that resembles a paper one very closely, though by the late 2010s this has become increasingly rare, and product information is presented in a format designed for the Web and mobile apps, rather than a PDF.

Rising paper, printing, and postage costs have caused some traditional catalogue merchants, such as Bloomingdale's, to suspend their printed catalogues and sell only through websites. Also, while some Internet merchants are or were also catalogue merchants, many have never had a printed catalogue.

Catalogue publishing

Year Mail Order Catalogues were founded

Tiffany's Blue Book: 1845 (US)
Thonet brothers 1859 (GER)
Royal Welsh Warehouse 1861 (UK)
Montgomery Ward: 1872 (US)
FAO Schwarz: 1876 (US)
Hammacher Schlemmer: 1881 (US; claims to be the longest-running catalogue in the U.S.)
Eaton's: 1884 (Canada)
Kastner & Öhler: 1885 (Austria)
Sears: 1888 (US)
Kays Catalogues: 1889 (UK)
Universal Stores: 1900 (UK)
Freemans: 1905 (UK)
Spiegel Inc. 1905 (US)
Empire: 1907 (UK)
Grattan: 1912 (UK)
Johnson Smith Company: 1907 (US)
L.L.Bean: 1912 (US)
Lane Bryant: 1917 (US)
Eddie Bauer: 1920 (US)
La Redoute: 1922 (France)
Quelle: 1927 (Germany)
SS Adams Company: 1920s (US)
Littlewoods: 1932 (UK)
Neiman Marcus: 1939 (US)
Scholastic: 1940 (US)
Vermont Country Store: 1945 (US)
Spencer Gifts: 1947 (US)
Walter Drake: 1947 (US)
Neckermann: 1950 (Germany)
Lillian Vernon: 1951 (US)
Ikea: 1951
Taylor Gifts: 1952 (US)
Simpsons-Sears: 1953 (Canada) - a partnership of Sears with the pre-existing Simpson's chain
Otto: 1949 (Germany)
JC Penney: 1963 (US)
Quill Corporation: 1963 (US)
Lego: 1966
Whole Earth Catalog: 1968 (US)
Carol Wright Gifts: 1972 (US)
Victoria's Secret: 1977 (US)
Sharper Image: 1977 (US)
Dr Leonard's Healthcare Corp: 1980 (US)
Hallmark: 1979 (US)
Toys R Us Big Book: 1980 (US)
J.Crew: 1983 (US)
Archie McPhee: 1984 (US)
Next: 1988 (UK)
Staples Direct: 1988 (US)
Previews/Diamond: 1988 (US)
SkyMall: 1990 (US)
Scotts of Stow: 1992 (UK)
Delia's: 1993 (US)
Abercrombie & Fitch: 1997 (US)
Urban Outfitters: 2003 (US)
Westport Big & Tall: 2006 (US)

Taxes

The objective of the direct marketing industry is to alter the sales distribution chain, in other words [bypass] the wholesaler and the retailer and go directly to the customer, reducing therefore tariffs and taxes.

In the European Union, a "VAT union" is in force: the merchant selling to a buyer in a different EU member country adds the VAT of his own country to the price, and the buyer pays no additional tax. A buyer for resale may deduct that VAT, just as with purchases made within their own country.

Up until June 21, 2018, mail order retailers in the United States operated with the advantage of not being required to collect state sales tax, unless the retailer's business had a physical presence in the customer's state. Instead, most states required the resident purchaser to pay the applicable taxes. In 2018, after the United States Supreme Court heard the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. and a five-justice majority overturned Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, ruling that the physical presence rule decided in Quill was "unsound and incorrect" in the current age of Internet services, American e-commerce and mail order retailers began collecting state sales tax on orders.