The Online Catalog Browser is Here?

So I started thinking about other options businesses have instead of selling through paper catalogs. I tried to google online catalogs, where I struck gold (that was quick). Google has a catalog database, called what else, but Google Catalogs. 

I clicked through, and along with most google searches, found a very clean site – a catalog search bar and about a dozen catalog catagories. I typed L.L Bean in the search bar. Lo and behold, I saw a catalog that looks exactly like the paper catalog. You can scroll page by page or jump sections.

They leave you with a number for the website where you can order. I wonder if L.L Bean still has that navy blue sweater with little white herringbow, er diagonal thingies. Look at that, they do!

But when I call, L.L Bean tells me that haven’t stocked that sweater for years, and it wasn’t even in style when they did stock it. Ouch. Then I jump back to the google catalog page. The catalog is from 2003!

Ugh. Not over the…I’m over the sweater. I’m ugh-ing over the fact that Google didn’t maintain the catalog database. So I jumped on the L.L. Bean site, and there, finally you’ll find the same paper catalog as a pdf, updated, and easy to use. 

Great! But what about the rest? My thought is that searching catalogs online wasn’t in back then, but now I think the public is ready. Just google google pr and let them know you want it back.

If you google "direct mail", google will ask, “Did you mean junk mail?”

-Sanjiv