From: Ron Martell [rmartell@prevueusa.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 10:12 AM
To:

Subject: Internet a Powerful Advertising Vehicle Article

I agree 100% with Steve Gardner that the Internet can be a fantastic
advertising tool for the furniture industry.  In addition to his comments,
the Internet is also the first interactive media where the consumer can
select what advertising (information) they wish to view.  However, when
consumers use the Internet to shop for furniture, they want detailed product
information and providing that information will be the largest challenge
furniture retailers face in using the new media effectively.

Most furniture retailers offer many products from multiple suppliers, the
products change frequently and many of the products can be customized.  In
addition, until recently, there has been no furniture industry standard for
electronic product catalogs.  As a result, it is very difficult and
expensive for retailers to display the products they sell on their web
sites.  For example, Furniture Land South has invested a lot of time and
money to create and maintain the data for over 15,000 products that
consumers can now view on their web site.

The solution to this challenge is the new industry standard for electronic
product catalogs recently approved by the Furniture Industry Data Exchange
(FIDX) Committee.  Conformance with that standard, which can be obtained at
www.FIDX.org, will assure two things.  First, product information will be in
an electronic, not paper, format which eliminates time consuming, error
prone and expensive manual data entry and second, the data format is
consistent such that one software program can read the catalogs published by
all manufacturers.  In addition, standard electronic catalogs can also be
used to load retail management system databases, print tear sheets, price
lists and hang tags on demand and provide collateral for print and TV
advertising - benefits other industries have enjoyed for many years.

The challenge we now face is getting furniture manufacturers to publish
electronic product catalogs that conform to the new standard.  When they
understand the benefits, I believe they will conform to the standard and
anything Furniture Today can do to educate them will certainly help
accelerate that process.

Kind regards,
Ron Martell - Micro*D, Inc.
FIDX Steering Committee Chairman