Best way to create a catalog ordering like experience?
The company that I am is old school and deals with old school type customers that still like to flip through a catalog to order. The main thing with this is there can be updates that need to be made every month, so reprinting or physically hand writing in…
The company that I am is old school and deals with old school type customers that still like to flip through a catalog to order. The main thing with this is there can be updates that need to be made every month, so reprinting or physically hand writing in changes. I'm trying to figure out a way to somewhat digitize this process. I can create a pdf catalog , but haven't figured out if there's a way to make it interactive and you can click on a button to add the item. Alternatively, I can create a website, but scrolling through items on a single page versus flipping through pages in a catalog has a different feel for the customers from what I've been told. Any ideas?
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I hadn't heard or seen that before, so I'll have to look in to it.
Thanks for the input. I have considered adding a barcode to the catalog to streamline that a bit, but the main thing would be they wouldn't be able to do that on their own.
Yeah, that makes sense. If customers can't scan or enter it themselves, a barcode mostly helps your team after the order comes in, not the customer at the ordering step. In that case I'd keep the catalog simple for them and use either item codes they can type into one form, or a very lightweight order sheet where they just mark quantity next to each item. The goal is basically to preserve the catalog experience without making them learn a new workflow.
Have you considered making it a flipbook instead of a traditional website? It keeps the familiar “catalog” experience that older customers are used to, but you can update it digitally without reprinting.
If your customers still think in pages instead of product grids, I would not fight that habit — I would keep the catalog feel, but make the ordering step structured behind it. A practical middle ground is: keep the printable / flip-through PDF or digital catalog give every item a clear item code have one simple order form or intake form where they enter item codes + quantities route that into one sheet or system so nobody has to retype handwritten notes later That usually works better than trying to force older customers into a full ecommerce browsing experience they do not actually want. If updates happen monthly, the biggest win is making sure pricing, item changes, and customer order details live in one source of truth so the catalog and the order process do not drift apart. Even a lightweight setup can save a lot of back-and-forth if the form feeds directly into your records instead of someone manually copying every request. So I would preserve the familiar catalog experience for the customer, but digitize the intake and recordkeeping part behind the scenes. That tends to be where the real admin time disappears.
you could do a woocommerce site in catalog mode (hides cart/checkout, just shows products with inquiry buttons). pair it with a plugin like flipbook or page flip pdf to embed the actual catalog as a flipbook if they really want that page-turning feel. monthly updates are just product edits, way easier than reprinting.