In Europe, USA and Japan a significant purchases are made through direct mail. In these system manufacturers, distributors or marketer mails the catalogue to the consumers giving certain basic details about the product, its price and mode of payment preferred by the seller. Some customers in USA get lots of such mails everyday. Some of the consumers study them and place orders but some others discard such mail literature. In India also some companies are mailing literature to the consumers directly or through agencies. But most of the consumers do not have faith in such sales and just ignore them. They are afraid that they may not be cheated with regard to the product or it may be inferior or may not be dispatched at all. The theory of such marketing is that it eliminates intermediaries and so consumers get products at cheaper price. But consumers buy them through mail only if they are well known brands; in other cases one prefers to see the product. Therefore this system of purchase is not popular in India in spite of renewed efforts by some companies but it is quite popular in USA.
13 Comments