MONROE - Wasn't the Internet supposed to bring the end of something like the hard-copy catalog?

John Baumann, whose company sends out a number of them he estimates as "north of 150 million" per year, argues no. In fact, he says certain aspects of the e-commerce world are actually dependent upon his catalogs.

And aren't catalogs associated with clutter? I mean, save a tree, right? And have you ever seen an episode of "Hoarding: Buried Alive?"

"Really, it's the Internet that has become so cluttered - a person can easily get lost in it all," said Baumann, the president and CEO of Colony Brands. "Shoppers need a means of direction for what they're looking for and we provide that. It's our catalogs that drive the online sales.

"It's simple: Our customers find it helpful to view the catalog before going to the website. It's a very comfortable mode of shopping. We're giving them exactly what they want."

Beginning with what were mere flyers in 1926, Colony Brands is one of the few major companies to stick with an advertising concept many have abandoned.

"It's a tried-and-true method," Baumann said. "And truth is, most people just love receiving catalogs."

Today, it ships out as many as 12 catalogs per year for its 12 brands - many to which it acquired catalog rights six years ago.

And there's no dispute its business is thriving.

"Our competitors who dropped their catalogs saw a significant depression in sales and profits," Baumann said. "They paid a very unfortunate price."

Recently, JCPenney announced it is coming back with a limited version of its catalog with which it was so synonymous. Like fashion, maybe all things are reciprocal.

"It's good to see them follow our lead," said Baumann, who relishes the idea that by staying retro his company has become a trailblazer. "Some other large companies are doing the same with printed material, like Amazon for example."

Among the recent acquisitions for Colony is the massive Montgomery Ward catalog. It is the world's oldest, dating back to 1872, and was the predecessor for what JCPenney and Sears used to produce in their heyday. Now its showcase catalog, Baumann's staff sends out an annual holiday perfect-bound volume that exceeds 300 pages in size.

It's hardly what anyone could call junk mail.

"Our frequencies vary by brand, but we don't send out catalogs that aren't necessary," Baumann said. "We don't bombard people with materials they don't want. After all, this isn't cheap."

From creation to printing to mailing, he said some catalogs are as inexpensive as 50 cents each and some as costly as $5 each. On average, Colony spends an average of about $1 per catalog, he concluded.

Doing the simple math, if an average catalog is a buck and more than 150 million go out each year, the price tag is a staggering one.

With an investment like that, Baumann puts an emphasis on the creative process so that the product stands out.

That's where people like Todd Valeria come in. He's the company's executive director of creative marketing services, and his charge is to create catalogs that pack a punch. The results are high-end, glossy, colorful magazine-like catalogs, complete with a bold cover photo. It's probably not something you'd expect when shopping for cheese and sausage.

"There's got to be something intriguing on the cover or the back in order to get noticed - to not be thrown into the recycle bin before the reader gets into the house," he said. "We compare it to the importance of the subject line in an email. If it doesn't grab your attention, it's seen as junk mail.

"Next comes a narrative on page 2 or 3 telling them why the catalog is important, followed by the photos. We call it the three stages of investment."

Sometimes, carefully selected words can do the trick, Valeria said, such as the message he ran on last fall's Montgomery Ward catalog: "Wishes come true with Wards."

"It makes you wonder how that is," he said. "It draws you in."

And it hopefully becomes not only a resource that sticks around the house, but even a conversation piece.

"I feel our catalogs have a very good shelf life," Baumann said. "They need to make a statement for people to keep them. If they're finding their way to someone's coffee table, and we know they do, then we're doing something right. And that's great news for us."

Those who receive the free catalogs are anyone who enters the company's database, whether it be online or in person. Anyone can request to be removed from the mailing list, instead choosing an option for digital messaging, but Baumann said those requests are infrequent.

"What we do is what our customers want us to do," he said.

While printed catalogs may have an old school connotation to them, Baumann does not fear his target audience is dying off.

His ordering system, which tracks demographics and can determine if an online order came as the result of a paper catalog introduction, helps support that.

"We see people of all ages. We don't always know exact numbers, but we do know the catalog and computer have grown into a relationship for most people," he said. "A real balance has been struck for young and old."

Finally, while acknowledging a lot of paper is needed for his printing, Baumann feels Colony's strong Internet presence is helping the environment.

"Our type of business can be very green," he said. "It's direct, so we're taking vehicles off the roads that used to be headed to the malls and were burning gas."