Pindar attacks catalogue commerce niche
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For companies that sell a wide range of goods or services online, organising and maintaining a web-based catalogue containing accurate and informative product data is a real challenge. For those having to also produce a traditional, paper-based catalogue, the task of publishing product data to two mediums can appear relentless. Paul O'Sullivan, CEO of Pindar Systems, claims that his company has the answer to both.
For companies that sell a wide range of goods or services online, organising and maintaining a web-based catalogue containing accurate and informative product data is a real challenge. For those having to also produce a traditional, paper-based catalogue, the task of publishing product data to two mediums can appear relentless.
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Paul O'Sullivan, CEO of Pindar Systems, claims that his company has the answer to both. Spun out from UK printing company GA Pindar in February 2001, Pindar Systems' foundations in print technology – bolstered by more recent experience in 'e-catalogues' – gives it a unique competitive advantage over its Internet-based rivals.
Unlike many of its competitors, Pindar's 'catalog commerce server', Agility, enables users to create and manage product catalogues that, once prepared, may be incorporated into a website, integrated into business-to-business commerce applications via XML, or professionally printed using QuarkXpress format. Agility (a Java application server-based upgrade to the company's original client/server product, Catalog Management System) creates more "responsive" catalogues that match the differing requirements of these various channels, claims O'Sullivan.
Pindar's hybrid print/web approach has attracted several large retailers, including office supplies companies Guilbert of France and the US's Office Depot.
The company's management is clearly aware of the challenge it faces. The market for catalogue management packages in the UK has been a disappointing hunting ground for several homegrown companies; start-up Zygon, for example, failed to gain much momentum in 2001, despite signing a partnership with desktop publishing market leader Quark to add print functionality to its software.
Pindar, as a relatively small and niche technology provider, needs to align its offerings with more general ecommerce software, and even work with other catalogue software vendors seeking to provide print as well as web-based capabilities.
