Most catalog Web sites are not doing enough to help shoppers make their selection, argues Maxwell Sroge, an Evanston catalog consultant who publishes the The Non-Store Marketing Report newsletter. Most of them are taking the still pictures from their catalog and using those on the Web because it's the least expensive thing to do. Indeed, creating a successful home on the Web requires more specialization than meets the eye. But only a relative handful of retailers, including Eddie Bauer, are actively using all three retail channels. At first glance, the Internet seems to have more in common with catalog retailing.
Shoppers send in their orders, which are filled at a giant warehouse.
The orders are then dispatched to their homes or offices via a delivery company. But, in fact, the Internet has just as much in common with selling in real live stores, experts say. That makes it a hybrid between stores and catalog selling. When you walk into a store, you're seeing what's available at that point in time. It's a very dynamic environment.