The Concept of a Mediating Electronic Product Catalog

32 Introduction The emergence of the Information Highway – in its current form Internet – opened up a vast potential for new electronic forms of commerce. Especially, the ability to quickly, inexpensively, and easily disseminate information regarding products and services has motivated many companies to offer their products using this medium. Electronic Product Catalogs (EPC) are basic means to achieve this. By offering a multimedial representation of product information as well as retrieval, classification, and ordering services EPC are the supplier’s interactive interface to potential customers.