Choosing to ignore the digital aspects of direct marketing will likely earn your brand the consumers’ collective cold shoulder. Just ask The North Face and Patagonia — two outdoor apparel retailers with distinct customer approaches that effectively blend e-commerce efforts with catalog mailings.
Patagonia, however, appears to use its e-commerce site more ?effectively to interact with and serve brand enthusiasts than to drive sales. The company goes out of its way to advertise its environmentalism via its “The....