From Print Catalog to Web Catalog
Web Commerce Today, Issue 23, June 15, 1999
Traditional catalog companies are being forced to sell on the Web to survive. But many of them have a similar problem: their full product information is buried in a page-oriented program such as Adobe PageMaker or QuarkXPress. At best, inventory database probably include only SKU, name, and price. While the good people at Adobe and Quark Corp. tell you that it's possible to make webpages from PageMaker (ver. 6.5+) and Quark documents (using a third party extension), that's really no answer at all for those needing a catalog.
| Print Catalog --> Web Catalog |
PROCESS A
This is because:
- Print pages and webpages are very different media, and layout that works very well in print often doesn't work at all on webpages.
- To e-commerce enable the products in such a ill-advised web catalog, you still need elements of a product database, and keeping it updated over the long term will require time-consuming, error-prone manual operations each time a change is made.
- When maintenance is tedious it tends to go undone, which means you have less flexibility in marketing, and therefore fewer opportunities for sales.
And if you decide to create print and web catalogs independently, you're stuck with twice the work: maintaining two documents up-to-date instead of one.
Product Database
The best solution is to move the main data source from a page-layout oriented system (such as PageMaker or Quark) to a product database, and populate both the print catalog and the web catalog from the same database which is always kept up-to-date.
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This way the Web catalog can easily be always current, and every time the print catalog is reprinted, its information is also up-to-date.
Database Conversion Pain
The most painful part of this conversion for many companies is the initial step of getting the information out of PageMaker or Quark into database format in the first place.
The good news is that you can find a product that can assist in the process. Flow DataBridge (http://www.flowsystems.com/solutions/databridge.htm) by Flow Systems, Inc. lets you automate the process of recovering product information from existing catalog pages in Quark or PageMaker format and porting that information into a database. The bad news, however, is that it is only sold with Flow Publisher as part of a very expensive package.
There are two other ways to get the data out of Quark and PageMaker:
- Dump the entire file, page-by-page to ASCII text and then try to organize it into a tab-delimited data file, OR
- Copy and paste each element of each page into a spreadsheet or database program.
Both of these solutions are tedious.
The Penalty of Inaction
The alternative, though, is even worse -- company bankruptcy. I know that sounds harsh, but Web shoppers make up a significant slice of those who already shop by catalog. If they find more information or easier ordering on the Web, they're apt to switch loyalties and be lost as repeat print catalog customers forever. Perhaps print only catalogers can limp along with a steadily diminishing group of customers, but without those who prefer Web shopping, there may not be enough to live on, not to mention the missed opportunity of a truly global market. You need to move to a database-driven system that will feed both print and web catalogs.
An Emerging Path
There's no easy way around the pain of setting up a full product database from scratch. Several tools, however, allow you to export data from a database into page layout-oriented programs such as Quark and PageMaker:
Xdata from Em Software (http://www.emsoftware.com/), is a database publishing extension for Quark. You set up a prototype in Quark to define the fields, using markers for each field so you can place them into your layout in the order you want them to come in, and with the appropriate style. Conditional statements can be written into the prototype, such as "IF the category field changes, THEN insert a heading." Xdata for the Mac or Windows is $300.00. You can purchase Xdata with Xtags and Xcatalog in a package ($700). This enables you to link a Quark document to the parent database. Then, if the product price in the database changes, for example, it is automatically updated in the Quark document. Once the basic text and photo are brought into Quark, the graphic artist's personal touch can transform them from the rather wooden prototype format into attractive print pages. Nearly all store-building programs allow data imports, thus taking care of the Web catalog part of the solution. Xdata is available from ThePowerXChange in Colorado, (800) 940-8737 (http://www.thepowerxchange.com).
Galley Master XD, $399.00, is a similar product designed for PageMaker. It is available from The PowerXChange as well as from GalleyMaster Software, Inc. (http://www.galleymaster.com/gmxdfaq.html)
Flow Publisher from Flow Systems, Inc. (http://www.flowsystems.com/) is a much more elegant high-end system that brings together several components: These include a full enterprise-level product database and a database maintenance tool. Databridge pulls data out of Quark and PageMaker documents and parses it into the database. Several publishing gateways round out the package -- for print, web, proofing, CDs, and data. One of these, Flow Systems PageBuilder, works as a Quark extension to present catalog layout to Layout Specialist in a palette. The system costs $200,000 to $250,000.
Further Reading:
(McGraw-Hill, 1998; Paperback, 253 pages plus CD). Review by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, in Web Commerce Today, October 15, 1998. Purchase book through Amazon.com
"The Evolution of Catalog Production: A Sequential Publishing Workflow," Flow Systems, Inc. http://www.flowsystems.com/topics/workflow.htm
Mel Duvall, "Info Storage System Spells Relief," Inter@ctive Week, September 18, 1998. Describes use of Flow Publisher and DataBridge in Boise Cascade Office Products online store. http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/printhigh/91498/intra914.html