INTERNET NOT DESIGNED FOR SHOPPING

EVANSTON, Ill., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In every report so far from consumer marketers using the Internet's World Wide Web it has been a failure as far as home shopping goes. The reason for this is very basic according to Maxwell Sroge, president of one of the leading catalog consulting firms in the country.

Sroge who founded the Evanston, Illinois-based catalog consultancy in 1966 has served such clients as Spiegel, Wards, Sears, Fingerhut, Macy's, May Company, Federated and Brookstone over the years.

"The problem," according to Sroge, "is that many of the Internet web sites are being designed by software engineers and not by retailers. Engineers," he says, "approach things logically on an orderly proscribed basis. That's fine for an engineering process," he adds, "but consumer shopping is a random and emotional experience. A woman, for example, has an idea she wants to buy shoes. She goes into a store like Nordstroms and encounters cosmetic displays. She stops, sniffs some fragrances and might buy some face cream. Then it's past costume jewelry, hand bags and casual apparel, with a stop here and there. Finally she scouts the shoe department, looks at various displays, picks up a shoe or two and then might approach a sales person. In the end she might leave the store with or without shoes, but most of the time with items she never planned to buy that day."

Maxwell Sroge says, "Internet web sites are designed as though they were blueprints to build the Empire State Building. First click on shoes, then click on type of shoe, then click on color, then click on price, then click to order. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's more like a Prussian army routine than it is merchandising," he adds.

What's the answer? Sroge maintains it is to change the whole approach to one that imitates what a customer does when they look through a catalog or enter a mall or store. "Let the customer browse through the site. Give her an overview of what you're featuring and add some showmanship, entertainment and personalities, then let the customer choose where she wants to stop ... visit and buy. Surprise her occasionally, and above all make it easy for her to change her mind."

Sroge added that all of his clients are talking about the Internet and that ultimately it will become an important force in home shopping, but that there's a long way to go to make it acceptable to today's consumer.

Maxwell Sroge Company, headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, has played a key role in developing catalog businesses for such companies as Starbucks, Zales, Armstrong World Industries, Sears, Home Shopping Network, Spiegels, General Foods, IBM, Mars, and Philips among others. The firm has won over fifteen international awards for its catalog work, including the most prestigious Gold Mail Box of the Direct Marketing Association.

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/CONTACT: Maxwell Sroge of Maxwell Sroge Company, 847-866-1890, or Fax, 847-866-1899/

CO: Maxwell Sroge Company ST: Illinois IN: REA CPR SU:

TC-CH -- CLW016 -- 8944 02/21/96 11:47 EST