Three merchants offer their insights on establishing virtual catalogs.

By Noelle Buoncristiano

No doubt you’ve seen these virtual catalogs. They look almost exactly like actual catalog pages, but they have some interesting features. For example, site visitors can zoom in on a picture, turn a page as if viewing a print catalog, rotate a picture, etc.

According to the etailing group’s “Shop the Catalog” report, three providers compete for the business of turning print catalogs into virtual versions: RichFX, Scene7 and DS Retail. Costs for this service vary depending, for example, on the degree of customization of the tool and your own in-house development resources.