Do you remember the old slogan of "let your fingers do the
walking"? Now it is the computer mouse that can do the walking
so that we can window shop all we want in the web sites of large
companies that have stores in Seguin. This is but a sample.
Grocery shopping is not a favorite thing to do, but the HEB web
site is the one that truly amazed me. I did not expect to find
in it cleaning tips, recipes, tips on how to become an expert
at grilling, nor did I expect to find colorful pictures of all
kinds of party trays, from party nibbler trays to European dessert
trays. There is a grocery list for meal planning, and even the
detail of the Chinese kitchen menu with its prices. As if that
were not enough, there are lists of prices for all the photo-lab
services available. I was very surprised at the creativity of
those who planned the web site. It is entertaining and pleasant.
It almost made me feel like grocery shopping can be fun.
Another big company with a store in Seguin is Blockbuster. The
Blockbuster web site is a massive site with its own search engine.
I looked up some classical music, Carmina Burana, and was very surprised to get 5
pages worth of listings of different versions of this piece.
The web site offers videos, music of all types, games and books.
Other companies with Seguin stores include JCPenney, Little Caesar's,
Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Hastings, and Wal Mart. This is
what I found when I looked up their web sites:
The JCPenney's site is catalog oriented. The categories are much
like the regular catalog, With Mother's Day coming up, the push
is for Mother Day gifts. It has a section for gift ideas. Items
from the catalog are described in detail, sizes and prices are
given, as well as shipping weight.
The Little Caesar's web site nearest to Seguin is the site in
College Station. The site announces that it will soon offer on-line
ordering.
The Domino's Pizza site has a store locator, the Seguin store
can be found there. The various offerings are detailed.
The Pizza Hut site has large appetizing pictures of many varieties
of pizza. My mouth truly watered after looking at these pictures.
The creators of the site want that effect, of course.
The Hastings site is organized like the sections of the store:
children, books, videos, etc. I did not go in the detail of
it. I did see though that the new releases are announced and
that the site advises you to listen to the music at Hastings radio
stations before you purchase the music.
The Wal Mart site is like a huge super center, where you can find
almost anything you might need for day to day living. In the
site, you can find description and price of whatever you fancy.
Smaller local companies have the same opportunity as big companies.
I was very surprised to find the site for the resale boutique
The Clothes Tree, complete with photos of the inside of the store,
as well as consignment information.
The Internet is the great equalizer. Companies with as few as
only one person can have Internet presence and reach many customers
who are actually interested in their offerings. In this sense,
the web is like a huge collection of interactive publicity magazines
posted by large and small companies. Internet users visiting the
web sites can do business directly. As a communication facilitator,
the Internet is similar to the 800 numbers that companies make
available.
There are many companies in Seguin which have Internet presence
and are "open" for business. Not all of these companies
are stores where you shop for items and pay at the cash register.
In the next article you will read about the web sites of big
employers such as SMI and Motorola, and other local companies,
big and small. If your Seguin area company has a web site, and
you would like for it to be mentioned in this column, please e-mail
me the URL address, so that I do not unintentionally omit it.
http://www.hebgrocery.com/mealplanners/cooktips/index.htm
http://www.blockbuster.com/bbmusic/m.tcl/about/howto/
http://www.jcpenney.com/jshopping/jcpenney/bbranch/mom/index.htm
http://www.waonline.com/littlecaesars.htm
http://www.dominos.com/info/distribution.html
http://www.hastingsent.com/index.html
http://www.theclothestree.com/segshop.htm
Gloria R. Rivera
riverag@connecti.com
riverag@seguin.net
http://www.seguin.net/corp/swd/
http://www.seguin.net
303-4764, 303-5526
Gloria Rivera, coordinator of the Internet Beat column, is, -with Jerry Weers and Alton Hierholzer,- one of the three sponsors of the Seguin Internet Club, as well as one of the three principals of Seguin.Net and Seguin Web Design, sponsors of the web site of the Seguin Internet Club. Gloria Rivera is also associated with Hierholzer Engineering and Engineering Power Solutions; she is the SHS Choir accompanist and teaches piano privately.
This Saturday, May 10, there will be a regular monthly meeting
of the Seguin Internet Club at the usual place, Century 21 D&D
at 10 am. Internet users are welcome to attend. There are no
membership dues. If able to attend, please bring information
to share with club members.
For more information about the Seguin Internet Club contact Jerry
Weers, weersjt@texas.net; Gloria Rivera; or Alton Hierholzer,
altonh@connecti.com, 303-9260; or visit the club site at http://lonestar.texas.net/~weersjt/club/home.html.
This article and all articles published in this Internet Beat
column since June 1996 are posted in the Internet at the club
site. The web sites mentioned in this article and several previous
articles, can be accessed directly from the club site through
a simple click of the mouse. If interested in submitting articles
for publication, contact Gloria Rivera to receive the guidelines.