But Chuck doesn't think so. At least not yet. When he looks at the FBC membership, he finds mostly housewives who have little or no internet experience. They prefer paper catalogs, fax machines, and talking to a customer representative on the phone. Thus, the FBC's internet site is primarily an extension of current customer services, not a sales or marketing tool.
Members can download catalogs and spreadsheet order forms.
Eventually, FBC members will be able to track current orders and review old orders, but placing orders and searching for items on-line in an Amazon Books like manner are not likely to happen soon. One small but growing area of FBC operations that is part of the Japanese system is distribution, a hurdle that has knocked more than one foreign operation out of the race. Ask Chuck about the FBC's distribution problems, and he just looks at you and shakes his head. Even years later he still doesn't believe the stories he is about to tell you, such as the one about being unable to buy at any price products from Japanese distributors. Some distributors would not even return phone calls.