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Looks at the development of mail order trading in the UK and the USA, showing that there are substantial differences. Uses tables to give emphasis to the growth of UK mail order and follows this up with a similar study of the USA. Confirms that it is difficult to forecast the future of total sales through the medium of mail order, that it is unlikely that it will not pick up relative share, but that its growth rate will probably slow down. Sums up that there is certainly room for expansion in this market.

Mail order, the success story of the 1960s, is still putting up an impressive performance: in 1974 it grew at an estimated 16% as compared with 12% for retail trade in general. Computing techniques have been applied in mail order to order processing, credit control, accounting, stock control, and merchandising. By the early 1970s most companies had established good systems which in general were able to cope with the substantial growth of the 1970s. Most effort in these areas is now directed to refining and reviewing established systems, but in addition the leading companies have moved into more sophisticated areas, such as developing systems for selective advertising and promotion, in‐depth sales and catalogue analysis.

The purpose of this research was to examine the relative importance of socially responsible attitudes, along with catalogue shopping involvement and product‐related attributes, as predictors of consumers' intentions to purchase apparel. Data were collected through a mail questionnaire to randomly selected customers of an alternative trade catalogue; the 320 respondents represented a 67 per cent response rate. Data were analysed by a maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL VII. The proposed model exhibited good fit to the data as evidenced by chi‐square, GFI, AGFI, and RMS measures. Social responsibility, desire for individuality in dress and shopping involvement were all positive predictors of intention to purchase apparel. Desire for individuality exerted the greatest influence, followed by attitudes toward social responsibility.

Relatively scant attention thus far has been accorded in the marketing literature to the examination and explanation of return behaviour of consumers, especially within the mail order industry. The issues examined here consist of the nature and influence of such factors as “buying experience”, “perceived risk”, and “return frequency”. The aim of this paper is to analyse four groups of returners (“heavy returners”, “medium returners”, “light returners”, and “occasional returners”).

This paper details an empirical study of return behaviour based on a field survey that was conducted specifically focusing on the apparel category. Exploratory factor analyses and analyses of variance (ANOVA) have been employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results show that there exist different reasons for returns among the four groups of returners. In particular, they differ in their initial shopping motivation for mail order purchases, their group‐specific reasons for product returns, and also in their spending patterns.

These are discussed within the body of the paper.

A number of meaningful implications for mail‐order firms are developed from the empirical findings. While product returners have been thought to be an amorphous category (akin to a “black box”) in the past, this paper highlights the disparate motives for making returns. Specific prescriptions are provided regarding the management of product description, consumer return policy, and the handling of consumer perceived risk.

This paper contributes toward the evolving literature of consumer return behaviour in the context of distance purchasing and also by taking into consideration the heterogeneity of return groups. It looks at the characteristics of the return groups and how they differ in their prior motives of making their purchase decisions.

The long interview is an intensive questioning of informants selected for their special knowledge, experiences and insights (or ignorance) of the topic under study. The objectives of the long interview include learning the thinking, feeling, and doing processes of the informants, including an understanding of the informants' worldviews of the topic under study in their own language. The chapter compares the strengths and weaknesses of the long interview to other primary data collection methods. The chapter describes a research application of the long interview in integrated marketing. The study was designed to (a) learn about the rich complexities in the lives of household gardeners buying and using seeds plants after responding to direct marketing appeals and (b) resolve two conflicting “theories-in-use” of how and why different customer types purchase products. These competing theories were proposed by different executives in the firm sponsoring the study. The development and critical testing of competing theories-in-use are described. This chapter reports a study to learn the behavior of five customer types. The results include thick descriptions of the processes of buying and using seeds and plants purchased through direct marketing offers and store visits.

The objectives of the study are to examine consumer attitudes to mail‐order speciality food products on the basis of a survey of mail order shoppers. The particular question which is addressed in the paper is concerned with the benefits perceived by mail‐order speciality food customers. Specifically, it identifies the perceived benefits associated with mail‐order, then establishes the underlying dimensions of these benefits and, finally, investigates the existence of customer segments on the basis of benefits sought. Consumers’ perceptions of the benefits of mail‐order emphasise quality, uniqueness and convenience. However, underlying these attributes are four main dimensions of customer relations and service, convenience, nostalgia and uniqueness. Furthermore, it is possible to identify two consumer segments of active mail‐order shoppers in terms of a product‐oriented group and a mail‐order‐oriented group.

Non‐store retailing in Japan mostly takes one of three forms: mail order, door‐to‐door selling and on‐line shopping. There is still much scope for development in all these areas in Japan. However, there are many factors to take into consideration before achieving success in these areas. Two particular areas are distribution and marketing skills.

While direct marketing is still in its infancy at Levi Strauss & Co., recent testing has demonstrated that this discipline can now play a unique and very effective role in the marketing of its products.

Catalogue sales have received increasing attention due to their phenomenal growth in the USA. Professional women, because of their need for convenience and their buying power, are an important market for catalogue marketers. This study was designed to identify clothing categories which professional women tend to purchase through catalogues, compare professional women's involvement with professional clothing versus non‐professional clothing in relation to their catalogue usage and determine the variables that predict professional women's heavy catalogue usage for specific clothing categories. Data analyses were based on a mailed survey of a national sample of professional women catalogue shoppers (N=506). These consumers tended to purchase clothing in distinct categories rather than as one product class, and exhibited greater involvement with non‐professional clothing than with professional clothing. Profiles of frequent catalogue users for three clothing categories (street clothing, footwear and clothing for others) were identified, based on their involvement, lifestyle and demographic variables.

This study investigated fashion involvement, pre‐purchase clothing satisfaction and clothing needs of petite and tall‐sized consumers. The differences between petite and tall‐sized consumers were compared, and the relationship among the three variables was examined. Petite and tall‐sized women's shopping characteristics were identified. The data were obtained through mail survey method. The final sample consisted of 177 petite and 144 tall women. Data were statistically analysed to fulfil the purpose of the study. Descriptive statistics, such as frequency, mean and standard deviation, were utilised to define the characteristics of the sample. Analysis of variance was tested to compare beliefs about clothing attributes. T‐test and analysis of covariance were utilised to determine if there is any difference between petite and tall women in terms of fashion involvement, pre‐purchase clothing satisfaction and clothing needs. Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Pearson Partial Correlation Coefficient were utilised to test the hypotheses. The results indicated significant but relatively low relationships among fashion involvement, pre‐purchase clothing satisfaction and clothing needs. Fashion involvement and clothing needs were positively correlated, while pre‐purchase clothing satisfaction and clothing needs were negatively correlated for both petite and tall‐sized women.