Dive Brief:

• Five years after announcing the end of its once-famous “big book” catalog, J.C. Penney is bringing it back.

• The first 120-page catalog will arrive to select customers in March, featuring mostly home department items.

• CEO Mike Ullman is bringing the catalog back, although it was Ullman in 2009 who decided to end it initially.

Dive Insight:

It looks like J.C. Penney may have underestimated the value of its physical catalog. When Penney killed off its “big book” in 2009, the idea was that e-commerce was on the rise and the catalog was a waste of paper. But in the past several years many retailers have learned that the line between the physical and the digital is not so clear cut. Consumers enjoy catalogs and magazines, which can boost e-commerce as well as physical store sales.