Online menswear shopping is projected to grow faster than any other consumer market—faster than women’s fashion, groceries, and even computers and tablets. The engine behind this new consumer machine is the print catalog. Innovative e-commerce fashion companies like Mr. Porter and Huckberry have re-envisioned catalogs to be more than a formulaic, product-driven deliverable. New strategies that involve influencer marketing and storytelling have not only supported their online sales but increased them.

Men’s fashion brand executives are connecting to their customers through lifestyle content carefully curated for the company’s print catalogs. Their catalogs no longer contain pure product information. They now serve as entertaining, visually-appealing, magazine-style articles about travel, adventure, and personal stories, topics that are appealing and engaging to their customers. The result is a catalog that is much more magazine than sales promotion, and much more likely to be read than discarded as junk mail.  

Fashion brands have discovered that women are more likely to be motivated by sales and discounts, whereas men are motivated by content, resulting in a specific kind of brand loyalty. “Bought loyalty is coupon-driven, instant gratification for a retailer—it feels good. Earned loyalty results in lifetime value, but it takes longer. It requires more content, nurturing, education, and differentiation,” says Eric Feinberg, VP of marketing at ForeSee, a voice-of-customer company, in an interview with CPC Strategy.

Content that resonates not only with the customer but with your company’s aesthetic, goals, and purpose, allow the customer to experience your company’s vision, not just its products. Quality content such as interviews with industry professionals, or a behind-the-scenes look at your company’s operations or how your products are made, create a more meaningful experience. Additionally, educational articles that show a customer how to use a product effectively or creatively to solve a problem, builds a better relationship with customers—one that goes beyond sales.