People just weren't ready five years ago, they say. According to Internet Plus, consumers are ready to go back to the future. The company has its work cut out for it, as it hopes to establish the CD-ROM as a direct marketing tool for retailers and media companies eager to reach the lucrative consumer market. For starters, Internet Plus can only point to a limited track record. While the USPS seems happy, even Internet Plus admits the CD-ROMs used in that case addressed a niche market full of buyers with a clear need for the service who also wanted the complicated topic laid out for them in detail.
Consumers are far more fickle and far less tied to any single marketing channel.
Analysts say even the latest versions CD catalogs don't stack up against the Internet. Both believe the CD-ROM catalog can help strengthen their ties to customers, as well as ring up sales for Bloomingdale's. After an opening video and audio show discussing fashion trends, the CD-ROM catalog dishes up a collection of still pictures of clothing, jewelry, beauty products and accessories, sometimes rotating images to show the products from multiple angles. The catalog lets shoppers search according to product category or by the brand name of vendors that have bought advertising in the catalog. This is where Internet Plus makes its money.