A Beeline to Uline

Don’t ask me why I’m so enamored of the Uline catalog my husband gets every once in a while. They’re a company that specializes in shipping supplies, and 99.9999% of the shipping Jim does is via e-mail attachments, but he is incorporated, and somehow he found his way onto the Uline list.

It’s not as if I do all that much shipping that’s not attached files, either, but I absolutely love looking through their catalog, which is, by the way, largely devoted to their "over 900 box sizes - always in stock," and to paraphernalia associated with putting things in said boxes and getting them ready to go out the door: labels, labelers, tape, strappers, humidity indicators, bubble wrap…

My affection for the Uline catalog is, no doubt, an extension of my lifelong love of office supplies.

Whenever I walk by a Staples, I am drawn in, moth to flame. Once inside, I’m no longer a moth, I’m a kid in a candy store. Gel pens. Post-its. Yellow pads. Thumb drives. Pencils. Erasers. I don’t have to have a purpose for stopping in. I don’t have to be in need of printer paper or a toner cartridge. No, I just like to graze. (Hey, 8 1/2" by 5 1/2" white envelopes. I could use some of those, couldn’t I?)

What I also like about Uline - and there’s a lesson in there for us product marketers of all stripes - is that they don’t just show pictures of all those plain brown shipping boxes. They actually show stuff in the boxes, which really helps you gauge just how much is going to fit in the box.

No, I really don’t know what the "normal" size of the statue of the big-horned ram on page 11 is, but, like most people, when I see that set of golf clubs in the long box on page 16, I have a pretty good idea of what I can get in that box. Hard hats. Bicycles. Wine bottles. Guitars.

By using common objects as shorthand, Uline does a very good job of letting everyday people figure out what they need. (And if I ever need to ship 24 full paint cans, I’ll sure know where to go for corrugated pads.)

Hmmm. Gym weights - they look like twenty-pounders - that box must hold heavy stuff. And I can see just about how many books I can fit in this other one.

And the indestructo mailers that show someone’s work-shoe-shod foot (and the bottom of their jean-clad leg) poised on it. Sure, it’s only one leg, and it may be delicately resting there, but we get the point. A person in work shoes and jeans can may not be able to stomp on this box, but they sure can stand on it.

Sure they make mistakes.

What’s that object that appears to be a Kansas City Chiefs pillow doing in the literature mailer?

But mostly, they take something that is essentially utilitarian and pretty darned plain - the brown cardboard box - and actually make it kind of interesting. And give the browser an idea of how it might be useful.

How does this apply to those of us who market things that are more obscure and/or less tangible?

If you’re showing pictures of your product, show it being used by a real person to do a real job. If you’ve got a product demo, make sure it tells a story - not just run through a list of features. The more concrete you can make something, the more apt people are to be able to picture themselves using it.

Meanwhile, I would dearly love to have the scooter cart pictured on page 278. Where in the world I would use it is another matter altogether. But if you order $1000 worth of stuff, I could get a free Major League Baseball moon chair, which looks comfy, and which is even pictured with the Red Sox logo on it. The scooter cart is $840, so for only $160 more I could get that chair.

What looks interesting? Those multi-colored inventory labels. The frosted take-out boxes. The cool colored CD holders. Telescopic tubes. Gusseted reclosable bags. Anti-fatigue mats…

Stop. Stop.

I think I’ll head over to Staples for an office supply fix.

Florescent Post-its will be way cheaper, and I may actually use them.

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