Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290105
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If you can find a Macintosh computer equipped with a CD-ROM, all is not lost.
Spiegel, Orvis, Lillian Vernon and Renovator's are just a few of the catalogs represented on The Merchant CD-ROM being offered almost free (there's a shipping charge) by Magellan Systems of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
There are 39 catalogs represented on the disk, which also has a vacations section and a Buick promotion that tells you everything there is to know about that line of cars.
The CD-ROM disk is supposedly the equivalent of 2,000 printed pages. Thus far, it's only available in Mac form, but an IBM compatible is due out in October.
Chris Comfort, vice president of advertising for Magellan, said about 200,000 CDs have been distributed using lists from the catalogs represented and names compiled from responses to an ad in Computer magazine.
The first 100,000 disks sent out included a survey that will "pop up" after the disk has been used several times, Comfort said. Responses from the surveys will be used in developing later versions of the shopping CD.
If you've never shopped by computer, and I haven't done much of it, it will feel strange. However, the electronic shopping offers some advantages over paper catalogs. For example, with a click of the mouse you can change the color of a blouse worn by a model in the Spiegel book. Perhaps the best experience is listening to bits of music for sale by Earth Beat. I recommend "The Best of Rio Carnaval," "Esperanto" and "Reggae on the River."
The interactive features are crucial to the CD's success, said Comfort. In promoting The Merchant to the furniture industry, he suggested that one of the pluses was that furniture can be shown from various angles. A cabinet can be opened and then closed as the shopper watches. Pieces also can be seen in a variety of finishes, just as color can be changed on the Spiegel blouse.
The disk is easy to use, even though I got hung up several times because my machine was running out of memory. In addition to clear listings of categories of merchandise for each catalog, you can search by category within a specific catalog or in all catalogs at once.
For example, if you want pet items, you type in "pet," and the items will pop up one after another at your bidding and tell you which catalog they're in. In just one catalog, Orvis, you get a range of products that include a Cat Tunnel and a Cat Hammock Window Set.
The information throughout the disk is surprisingly specific. Under Voyageur, if you click on Costa Cruises and then on Amore, you'll learn about a romantic cruise. Look at a bedroom setting in a catalog and then click on whatever part of it interests you - canopy, bed, quilt - and you'll get details of price, size, etc. on that item.
Also with a click of the mouse, you can fill in orders, keep a list of your orders and print them out at the end. Saving orders will use up space, though, the technical support people said. (Yes, tech-support workers were readily available!)
For this Mac CD-ROM, you need 4 megabytes of RAM and a machine with Correct Time installed (so you can view the movies).
To order the disk, call (800)561-3114. If you're interested in getting your company and its products on the disk, call (800)663-3472.
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