John Lewis Direct, the online and catalogue arm of the high street retailer, has released two preview catalogues to drive online sales and pave the way for a full catalogue in spring 2002.

The personalised preview catalogues for the Home and Gift sectors both had 24pp text with an 8pp cover and had print runs of 500,000 and 700,000 respectively.

John Lewis Direct head of merchandising Alison Lancaster said: "So far they have produced fantastically good results. It is really us dipping our toe in the water for a full catalogue to be run out in spring next year."

She added that the a printer for the 2002 catalogue had yet to be decided.

The previews were organised by Leeds-based print management firm JPS, personalised covers were produced by Graphic Inline, text by Waddington & Ledger and finishing by Nottingham Print Finishers.

Lancaster added: "We believe that print is the best driver of web and store sales. There is even the option of having online ordering for orders generated by the hard copy catalogue."

Story by John Davies