Hello Sym78,
The closest alternative for the print catalog search tool you have in
mind is Google Catalogs.
http://catalogs.google.com/
Google Catalogs
?Google has put together a sophisticated system that scans print
catalogs into a JPEG format and then runs an optical character
recognition (OCR) program over the JPEG image to convert it into a Web
page. The scanned information is saved to a searchable database.
When searchers enter a search term that matches text in your catalog,
Google's catalog search results page displays actual pages from your
catalog. Visitors see a small version of the page with the search
terms highlighted in yellow. They can then click on the small image to
view the entire page.?
Net Mechanic
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol5/promo_no18.htm
How does catalog search work?
?Google scans printed copies of the catalogs and automatically
converts the text portion to a format that can be searched. Google
then uses the same sophisticated algorithms that power our web search
to enable search over the catalog content and ensure that the most
relevant catalog pages are presented first in your results. The
scanning and character recognition processes are not perfect, so you
may notice occasional errors in page numbers or encounter pages that
are hard to read. We apologize for these problems and are working to
fix them in later versions of this service?
Google Catalogs
http://catalogs.google.com/googlecatalogs/help.html
?Shoppers can search for products ranging from toys and electronics to
apparel, calling up print-catalog images the size of Post-It notes. By
clicking an image, consumers can view full pages from the retailer's
catalog and browse page by page or by typing in a page number.?
Cnet News
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-277198.html?legacy=cnet
Here is a list of all the Apparel & Accessories catalogs that are
available. Additional catalogs are always being added.
http://catalogs.google.com/catalogs?category=/Apparel+%26+Accessories
There are currently 341 apparel catalogs available.
http://catalogs.google.com/catalogs?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&category=/Apparel+%26+Accessories/Apparel
Here's a results page from Google catalog search in the apparel &
accessories section for the search term: capris. Click on the small
catalog images to view the actual pages from the scanned catalogs. You
may also browse page by page.
http://catalogs.google.com/catalogs?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=capris&btnG=Search&meta=category%3DApparel%2520%2526%2520Accessories%252fApparel
Here's a results page for the search terms ?Capris? ?colors? in the
apparel catalog section:
http://catalogs.google.com/catalogs?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=capris+colors&btnG=Search&meta=category%3DApparel%2520%2526%2520Accessories%252fApparel
Here?s another example for search results for ?sundress?
http://catalogs.google.com/catalogs?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=sundress&btnG=Search&meta=
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Another option for online price comparison is Froogle.
Froogle is another service that makes it easy to find information
about products for sale online. It allows you to specify price ranges.
http://froogle.google.com/
?By focusing entirely on product search, Froogle applies the power of
Google's search technology to a very specific task: locating stores
that sell the item you want to find and pointing you directly to the
place where you can make a purchase.?
To use Froogle:
?Type in the name of the item you want to find and click on "Froogle
Search." Almost instantly, you'll see photos of relevant products and
links to the stores that sell them.
?You can change how your results are displayed by providing more
information about what you want to find. For example, entering a price
range and then sorting by price (from high to low or from low to high)
will organize your results in a more useful way.?
?You can narrow your results by category using the 'Search within'
feature. For example, a search on "tape" shows categories for both
adhesive tape and computer data storage devices. By clicking on the
appropriate category link, you'll see only the results for the product
you're looking to buy.?
Froogle:
http://froogle.google.com/froogle/about.html
Learn more here:
http://froogle.google.com/froogle/tour/index.html?promo=help
Here's a results page for brown capris at Froogle.
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-18,GGLD:en&q=brown+capris
Here are the same results sorted by price: low to high.
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-18,GGLD:en&q=brown+capris&scoring=p
Search terms used:
Google catalog search
Print catalog search
Froogle
I hope the information provided is helpful!
Best regards,
Bobbie7 |
Clarification of Answer by
bobbie7-ga
on
29 Sep 2005 15:29 PDT
Hello again Sym78,
Catalog City would be another option.
"Scanning catalog pages onto a website is not new. CatalogCity.com has
been doing it since 1997. Bruce Sellers, vice president of sales and
marketing for the site, said that when a consumer looks at a catalog,
that creates the demand for products. Oftentimes, that demand goes out
with the recycling. That's where CatalogCity.com comes in. "Our whole
strategy is to re-host the content of individual merchants on
CatalogCity.com," Sellers said."
Wired News: Dec. 18, 2001
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,49187,00.html
Catalog City
http://www.catalogcity.com/
List of catalogs
http://www.catalogcity.com/amos/cc/main/catalog_az/ccsyn/1
http://www.catalogcity.com/amos/cc/main/catalog_az/act/-/ccsyn/1
Clothing & Accessories
http://www.catalogcity.com/op/sprod-0_0_0_32838
I hope this helps!
Best regards,
Bobbie7
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