iPad Holiday Shopping

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

The catalog, a print institution that accounts for about $270 billion in annual retail sales, is going the way of the magazine by going digital this year, just in time for the holidays. Retail favorites including J.Crew and Bloomie's are offering free iPad apps that allow you to flip through the catalog with the swipe of a finger, as well as purchase items directly. Google is also throwing its hat in the ring with Google Catalogs, which aggregates dozens of digital catalogs across various retail categories. [LA Times]