Bonsai mart began producing paper mail order catalogues way back in the very early nineties. Back then the internet was in its infancy and this is how business was done. We have continued with our cataloguesthis tradition until now.

Producing a catalogue takes about 5 months of work and costs enough to pay someone’s wages for about the same amount of time. Last year (2011) we had to agonize whether to continue, not because of the cost but because things were changing so rapidly. The content of a catalogue has to be finalized by the beginning of August and needs to be current for the better part of the year and in these uncertain times this is just not possible. Prices are rising, suppliers are disappearing and shipping costs and government taxes are rising faster than we can keep pace.

Having spent over 20 years working in the printing industry I love paper and ink and feel that the inexorable move to online retailing, whilst convenient, leaves us a little worse off. After all who doesn’t love browsing a paper whilst having a quiet sit down 😉

Whilst not producing a catalogue didn’t affect business over the tail end of the year we do hope to get back to this old tradition very soon.

G.