Three merchants offer their insights on establishing virtual catalogs.

By Noelle Buoncristiano

CS: What are the disadvantages?

Lukin: It requires a fair amount of bandwidth on the user’s end for optimal experience. However, the majority of our users are on broadband connections, so this issue has had minimal impact on us.

CS: Any results to share?

Lukin: When we first implemented the online catalog, we conducted an A/B test using our Web analytics software to determine the application’s success. The test results demonstrated that both average order value and conversion rates significantly increased for users that had online catalog access.