10 Facts About Mail order

Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery.

Mail order catalogue is a publication containing a list of general merchandise from a company.

Companies who publish and operate mail order catalogues are referred to as cataloguers within the industry.

In 1833, Antonio Fattorini started a mail order watch club in Bradford, which would eventually transform into Empire Stores.

Customers were able to order by mail for the first time—this following the creation of the modern postal service and the invention of the postage stamp where there was a charge of one penny for carriage and delivery between any two places in the United Kingdom irrespective of distance—and the goods were delivered throughout the UK via the newly created railway system.

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Mail order distributed catalogues of his wares across the country, allowing people to choose the items they wished and order them via post; he would then dispatch the goods to the customer via the railways, promising next-day delivery.

Mail order supplied his products to an impressive variety of famous clientele, including Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria, the Princess of Wales and royal households across Europe.

Catalogue Mail order offices were established throughout the country, with the first opening in Oakville in 1916.

Mail order changed the worldwide marketplace by introducing the concept of privacy and individuality into the retail industry.

Mail order had always relied on the innovative technique of selling products directly to the consumer at appealing prices, but the term "direct marketing" was only coined in 1967, by Lester Wunderman — considered to be the father of contemporary direct marketing.