Usually these kind of changes are done in stages, especially when there is a database involved, and that database probably precedes the Internet. I'm no apologist for Walthers, but I can understand that they were an established company well before the Internet. Like Candy, I use their printed catalog to identify what I need. I do not use them to buy engines, cars, track, or control systems. I have alternate avenues for scenery materials and styrenes. I haven't bought a building kit (except for a few "craftsman" kits) for thirty years. I'm looking for brass channel, piano wire, trusses, etc., so my "Market-of-One" with Walthers is pretty small.
Their database is still running on DOS. :ru-tongue: I was going to do ordering for the store online but it required a modem.
You naughty person - if everyone does that they'll go the way of the LHS And why not? Who needs more than 640k memory? (As NOT said by Mr W. Gates )
Most of Walther's business is still wholesale. So no, if someone looks the product up in the catalog and then buys it somewhere else, they won't be hurting Walthers, because Walthers sold the product to that other store.
I think their website is the least of their shortcomings! For a model RR manufacturer of their size and influence they're pretty backward about everything that's not HO scale.
