WH Smith business supply wing puts catalogue on-line

Office stationery catalogue WH Smith Business Supplies is to publish its Niceday catalogue on Tel-Me, an on-line electronic business information service run by Phone-Link.

It allows subscribers to order business equipment and stationery directly from WH Smith Business Supplies at the touch of a button. Phone-Link claims this is the first use of the Tel-Me service for direct trading.

The on-line catalogue will use digitised photographs to ease (and encourage) product selection.

The service will be constantly updated, which WH Smith claims gives it the edge over CD-Rom-based catalogues.

To date, Tel-Me’s main use has been the provision of business information.

Users can select hotels from the Automobile Association, find out train times from British Rail, view AA Roadwatch information and find and print out company background details from CCH and Infocheck. Users can also get instant news from the Press Association and up-to-the-minute weather reports.