Online catalogue activities
Copyright 1999 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
PR Newswire
January 11, 1999, Monday
SECTION: Financial News
DISTRIBUTION: TO BUSINESS EDITOR AND TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
LENGTH: 734 words
HEADLINE: Catalog City, New Catalog Shopping Super-Site, Announces Explosive Growth Since October Launch
DATELINE: MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 11
BODY:
Catalog City, the online destination for millions of catalog shoppers, today announced e-commerce transactions in excess of $1 million in just the first three months since its October 1998 launch. In its quest to become the online equivalent of Amazon.com for the print catalog industry, Catalog City is moving in the right direction. Compared to the $510,000 Amazon.com did when it launched its Web site, Catalog City did more than twice the business in half the time.
"From the moment we started taking orders, we experienced the growing power of the Web as an e-commerce platform," said Lee Lorenzen, president and CEO of Catalog City. "From October through December, we've nearly doubled our orders each month."
Catalog City attributes its quick growth to strategic partnerships with top print catalog and online brands; the site's easy navigation and personalization features; and establishment of a simple back-end process. Unlike Amazon.com, Catalog City does not have to incur costs related to warehousing, merchandise handling and shipping. Instead, Catalog City leverages the existing infrastructure of the $100 billion print catalog industry. Catalog City takes the content of these print catalogs, presents the merchandise in a consistent format at catalogcity.com, and simply relays orders back to the catalogers who take care of the rest.
Catalog City Improves Online Performance of Top Catalog Brands
Catalog City offers a united Internet presence for the entire print
catalog industry by giving merchants more access to online shoppers. Some of
these catalogers had already established a Web presence; others had not.
Either way, merchants recognize the benefits of working with Catalog City. By
giving online shoppers an easy format for viewing and buying thousands of
items from hundreds of top catalog brands on just one site -- with one sign-up
and one shopping-cart -- Catalog City is the logical destination for the more
than 150 million catalog shoppers.
In the first three months, some of the top performers ranged from name
brand consumer catalogs including Hammacher Schlemmer, FRONTGATE, SkyMall and
Lane Bryant (BryLane) to specialty catalogs like Japan Woodworker and Popcorn
Factory. New additions to the Catalog City e-commerce-enabled catalog list
include the following: Crate&Barrel, Figi's (Fingerhut), Neiman Marcus, and
1-800-Batteries.
Catalog City Moves Forward to Syndicate Catalog Content
As the leading online aggregator and integrator of print catalog content,
Catalog City is aggressively pursuing syndication partnerships with signature
portals, communities and other destination sites. Beginning with portals,
Catalog City announced its first affiliate partnership last month with Yahoo!.
"We're expanding our original goal of offering shoppers 'whatever they
want, whenever they want it' to include 'wherever they are,'" said Lorenzen.
"Now either online shoppers can come to Catalog City, or we can bring it to
them."
Catalog City's new affiliate syndication strategy not only benefits
consumers but also helps top catalog brands by further expanding the
availability of their merchandise across the Web. In addition, portals like
Yahoo! appreciate the efficiency of dealing with one source for access to the
entire print catalog industry. Catalog City benefits from increased
distribution and name brand awareness.
About Catalog City
Founded in September 1997, Catalog City is the first catalog shopping
portal, offering a complete and personalized online catalog shopping
experience. With the wide range of products offered through thousands of
catalogs, Catalog City has the authoritative selection required to turn
browsers into buyers. Catalog City delivers the Internet services that the
mail-order catalog industry needs to connect buyers with sellers. The site
includes brand name catalogs such as Brookstone, Critics' Choice, Hammacher
Schlemmer, Harry and David, J. Jill, Jackson & Perkins, Lane Bryant, Levenger,
Northwest Express, One Hanes Place, Patagonia and SelfCare.
The privately held company has offices in Mountain View and Pacific Grove,
California. For more information, visit Catalog City's Web site at
catalogcity.com.
SOURCE Catalog City
CONTACT: Debbie Frank of Blanc & Otus, 415-512-0500, ext. 236, or dfrank@bando.com, for Catalog City; or Misty Guerra of Catalog City, 650-917-6620, ext. 304, or mistyg@catalogcity.com
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: January 12, 1999
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