Mail order and home shopping catalogues have been a round for hundreds of years and span the continents. The very first mail order catalogue in the world was introduced in 1774 by American founding father Benjamin Franklin, selling scientific and academic books. Today the mail order business offers many different types of products and services, but the current popular home shopping catalogues often came from very humble beginnings, before they became the retail giants we know today.

In the UK Kays Of Worcester issued their first catalogue towards the end of the 18th century, this was effectively the beginning of the modern mail order or home shopping catalogue business. Kays of Worcester later became simply Kays Catalogue and featured a huge range of houseware products, fashion items and jewellery. In the 19th century, home shopping catalogues began to soar in popularity, Kays continued to flourish and competitors began to emerge such as Empire Stores. William Kay and his sons travelled all throughout the UK and Europe finding products for their home shopping catalogue and their catalogue became one of the most popular in the modern home shopping era. In 2008, the Kays Catalogue was bought by the Shop Direct Group who merged it with two of their other acquisitions to create the new K & Co catalogue.

In the early 20th century, another future catalogue giant was formed by millionaire John Moores, the Littlewoods Pools empire, later Littlewoods catalogue, listed clothes and products for the home and was marketed initially through shopping clubs with the organiser collecting money for the orders. The arrival of the Internet has greatly changed the home shopping experience of course.

Though the catalogue companies do still send millions of catalogues each year, many people simply browse online versions of the home shopping catalogues and order directly online. However, catalogues are still an important part of home shopping as not everyone has a computer at home! But most catalogues offer a choice of either receiving a glossy printed catalogue mailed to your home free of charge, or using their shopping catalogue website and ordering online. Of course you can do both if you prefer to browse the printed catalogue, but would prefer to order online rather than by phone or mail.

Today there are many catalogue companies, some of which also have a high street presence (like Argos and Littlewoods), the competition has ensured that catalogue shopping offers many advantages even in this modern age, and home shopping catalogues continue to rise in popularity despite being hundreds of years old!