NFIB

Save Money by Putting Your Catalog on the Internet
07/ 07/ 2003

by Jeffrey Moses

Small companies are discovering that even with the increasing usage of the Internet, online catalogs have not entirely replaced the need for hard-copy catalogs. Just as it would be unreasonable to assume that all of your customers have access to the Internet, it would be unreasonable to not consider the advantages of online catalogs as a supplement or replacement to your printed products.

With lower costs for the creation and maintenance of a Web site than for a printed catalog, the advantages of placing your catalog online are many:

On a Web site, you can add pages and links at minimal costs. Since limited space isn't a consideration, you can provide comprehensive information about every item your business offers. Also, since some of your specialty products are interesting to a small percentage of your customers only, it would not make sense to feature these products in a hard-copy catalog. In an online catalog, however, you can feature every item that you offer and give in-depth descriptions of them.

In a printed catalog, including one photo of each product would be very expensive, if not impossible. With an online catalog you can provide multiple photos of products (perhaps from different angles), giving customers a complete look at what they are buying.

As your customer base grows, you have to continually reprint and redistribute hard-copy catalogs. Whenever you add new products to your company's product line, your hard-copy catalog becomes outdated. With an online catalog, you can easily add a new page or section.

A Web site, unlike a catalog, can be interactive. This allows customers to make comments about products they have purchased. Customer testimonials (when positive) are a great boon to sales.

FAQ pages (frequently asked questions) on your Web site can save your sales staff and your customers time and frustration. Make sure you maintain coordination between your sales staff and Web site creators so that when your sales staff encounters a question that comes up often, it can be added to the FAQ page.

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