Nobody Told Print It Was Supposed to Disappear
For a long time the story was simple. Digital was the future, print was fading, and paper would soon disappear from daily life. Anyone paying attention to grocery stores, mailboxes, and bookshelves lately knows that story left out a few things.
Paper Coupons Are Back in Circulation
Digital coupons were supposed to make saving money easier. For a lot of shoppers, they made it more frustrating. More than a third of consumers say digital coupons fail to work close to half the time, which is a poor track record for something as basic as a discount.
Retailers have taken notice. eMarketer reports that smaller brands like Culture Pop and Blume, along with major chains like Kroger, are bringing back paper coupons. Kroger added them back to weekly flyers after shoppers complained that apps and barcode scans got in the way.
When people are watching their spending, a coupon that works without a login has real appeal. It goes on the fridge, doesn't expire without warning, and does its one job without a hitch.
Why Are Catalogs Showing Up Again?
Print catalogs never fully went away, and lately they are showing up more often. Everyone from discount chains to Neiman Marcus has leaned back into the format, and even Amazon has tested its own catalogs.
The reason comes down to attention. A catalog does not have to compete with a feed of unrelated posts the way digital does. It sits on a counter, gets picked up more than once, and gives a brand room to be seen without racing against everything else on a screen.
Even Book Sales Are Turning Around
Books tell a similar story. After three straight years of decline, Publishers Weekly reported that 2024 brought the first year of growth in book sales. The bump was modest, but the shift in direction says something. Readers are choosing paper again for a lot of the same reasons shoppers are choosing coupons and catalogs. A physical book does not need a password, will not crash, and will not interrupt itself with a notification.
What This Adds Up To
None of this means digital is going anywhere. What has changed is how quickly people push back when digital falls short, and how often print becomes the format that fills the gap.
That is the whole idea behind Pollock Printing. We are known around Nashville and across much of the eastern half of the country, where a lot of that territory gets next-day shipping, as The Service Company That Prints. When a client needs something in someone's hands, not just their inbox, that is the job we are built for.
