A catalog is a listing of the merchant’s products or services. Catalog shopping in the United States has gone through more than one complete cycle. Catalogues did not become readily available until after the printing press has commonly used, but became very popular in the early 20th century in America.

The large catalog based retail outlets such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck sent literally millions of catalogues out during their heyday. Each year a typical household would receive a Spring-Summer catalog and a Fall Winter catalog. The catalogs were hundreds of pages each and included pictures, descriptions, prices, sizes and even such tools as measurement instructions.

In addition to the regular twice yearly catalogs, the merchant usually distributed a number of specialty catalogs each year. For instance, the Christmas catalog was eagerly awaited by the parents and children in the family both. The Christmas catalogs had heavy emphasis on toys, of course, but also many other items which were suitable for gift giving. Since the Christmas catalogs typically arrived in the fall, the activities for many children in the longer evenings consisted of paging through the catalogs and making extended lists of what items were must-haves for the next Christmas. With a little help from the parents, it is amazing how often Santa must have shopped with Montgomery Ward. The jolly gift-giver often gave gifts that looked just like the ones in the catalog.

Other specialty catalogs were distributed throughout the year. Sears Roebuck, for example usually sent a tool catalog once yearly. Other merchants distributed catalogs for outdoor patio, lawn and garden furniture and supplies in the spring sale catalogue.

As catalog shopping became more popular during the days when a trip to town might be a once weekly or monthly event, more and more items became available from smaller merchants. These merchants usually had a business focused in one area geographically, or handled mainly one type of item. An example is the L L Bean catalogs which displayed hiking, outdoor and cold weather recreational clothing as well as other outdoor sports related items.

The more prestigious companies eventually began charging a fee for the catalogs which may have led to the near demise of the printed book size catalog. At the same time, with the explosion of merchants moving product lines to the internet has made online catalogs not only available but much more popular even than the paper ones. Product descriptions are up-to-date, prices can be kept current, and inventory control means no disappointed customers.