Saving the Planet, One Digital Catalog at a Time.

Every season, hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours are spent on creating catalogs for your buyers. With all the many changes that happen after going to market, the linesheets are then reupdated, reprinted, and redistributed. The process can repeat even several more times, and it can honestly be nauseating to see the stacks of paper being thrown away.

But beyond the large piles of paper, there is a larger effect happening on the environment. According to the Environmental Paper Network, if you have a 100-page Digital Catalog and 3,000 copies are made, the print job is really costing our environment:

• About 30 trees 
• 36.7M BTUs of energy - equivalent to the energy of 44 refrigerators
• 28.4K pounds of CO2 - equivalent to the emissions of almost 3 cars
• +34.8K gallons of water - equivalent to 35 loads of laundry 
• 1.8K lbs of solid waste - equivalent to 407 people generating solid waste.

To get a direct idea of the impact your line sheets are having on the environment, you can plug your last season’s print numbers into the calculator on their website. 

As a solution to saving our planet and creating better selling tools, RepSpark offers Digital Catalog software. Our Digital Catalog eliminates the costly production of paper catalogs and is complete with approved templates, brand marketing and lifestyle assets, and real time dynamic inventory. Users can like products, add notes and add to the cart directly from the digital catalog.

Unfortunately, there has been a slow adaptation in this industry to the software. Throughout the years, paper has been the go-to medium for selling and wholesalers are faced with a deep fear of retailers walking away if paper isn’t offered. This fear is so great that even clients who pay for RepSpark’s software, are slow to implement the tool. We are here today to share the good news that the fear can be replaced with hope, and that the times are changing where retailers are now adapting to digital and brands are witnessing an increase in sales when the new tool is implemented.

Just in 2019, sales reps using RepSpark’s tools, like the Digital Catalog, have sold 34% more than previous years. The truth is, the apparel industry is changing, and more retailers are adapting to technology because it’s something they are already use to when making personal purchases online. You can learn more about current retailers buying behaviors via this blog post. 

Not only is it helping increase sales because it’s easier to use and the information is consistently up-to-date, but it’s also sharing a better story for companies, while also creating a new path for the apparel industry’s future. At the end of the day, we need to be asking ourselves “what lasting effect do you want your brand to have on the environment?” There are so many movements in this industry to creatively develop more sustainable fabrics and dyes, giving back to charities as a percentage of sales, etc.  The Digital Catalog is just another way to support the reduction of your environmental footprint. Sending off the Digital Catalog should represent more than clothing that can be used outside, it should also reflect the choices your company is making in protecting our environment and cutting back on unnecessary waste.

So how do you begin the process for your retailers to adapt? While some retailers may be hesitant at first, with the right education of how to use the tool, they will fall in love with it’s ease of use and the time it saves them with purchases. 

Enjoy this video sharing how buyers can easily preview the line, engage with your marketing, and book their orders all through the Digital Marketing Catalog:

As you prepare for this upcoming season, start a new story for your company and be a leader of environmental change by taking advantage of all RepSpark has to offer with our Digital Catalogs. 

Not yet using RepSpark software? Schedule a Demo today and get your company started on a better tomorrow.