What is an electronic catalogue?

An electronic catalogue is an online publication, that is to say a graphic interface -generally an html page in which the products and services offered by a company are showed. Digital catalogues can store great quantities of items, which can be organized and classified into different categories for users to search in a more rapid and effective way.

There are different types of catalogues according to their functions. The simplest catalogues show only descriptions of the products and price lists, and do not enjoy a purchase and payment online method. Others have shopping carts, order forms and offer payment methods. The amount of functions an online catalogue has will determine the price of its development.

The main aims of e-catalogues are to advertise, to sell, to distribute, and to draw the customer’s attention. They are the digital representation of a company and a powerful e-commerce tool. In the e-commerce world we find business-consumer transactions and business to business transactions. In this way, e-catalogues are excellent communication tools between a company and its client, suppliers or other companies. For all these reasons, catalogues became a marketing tool used everyday by different types of organizations.

There are different types of electronic catalogues according to the way they appear on the Internet. Retailer’s e-catalogues are generally independent pages on the Internet, and their aim is to promote and sell products and services. But, big companies generally include their e-catalogues on their general websites. Generally, they are not used as tools for selling but as means to promote products and services and to draw the customer’s attention. There are also malls, that is to say e-catalogue groups –ebay.com for example. In this case, an Internet provider gathers different companies’ digital publications, showing a great number of offers made by the users.

Advantages

E-catalogues bring many advantages to different companies. Here we show them to you for you to consider catalogues as a promotion tool for your company:

Low costs:

Unlike conventional catalogues, these e-catalogues allow you to save money, since you will not need to spend on paper and printing. For this reason, they are perfect for small and medium-sized companies, which will have, with them, the possibility of getting into the world market.

Market expansion

Thanks to the possibilities that the Internet provides, people around the world will be able to gain access to your online catalogues any time. With these catalogues, different companies gain new customers, providing a faster and more comfortable service to consumers. By using these catalogues, users will be able to search for products and services, place orders, make payments by credit cards or payment portals, and clear up their doubts. In this way, sales increase considerably.

Interaction

Unlike printed catalogues, digital catalogues allow a direct relationship between the company and its clients. With an e-catalogue, a company can inform about its products and services to its clients, who will contact the company’s representatives to clear up their doubts, to make comments or suggestions. Because of this, company will be permanently updated about the fluctuating necessities of their target.

Information for customers

With these catalogues, each company will be able to provide information on the products and services it offers and links to other websites for customer to get complementary information on the subjects the company’s website leads with.

Regular update

E-catalogues content is stored on a server to which navigators from all over the world have access. They can be updated from the server in a regular, fast and easy way. What is more, the changes made are immediately available for customers to see. In this way, catalogues show the latest about new products, prices, points of sale, new technology incorporations, etc.