| PRESS RELEASE: CRUTCHFIELD CORP. WINS HIGHEST INDUSTRY AWARD FOR ITS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CATALOG AND WEBSITE | |
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For Immediate Release
CRUTCHFIELD CORP. WINS HIGHEST INDUSTRY AWARD FOR ITS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CATALOG AND WEBSITE CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, June 17, 2002 — Crutchfield Corp., the leading catalog and online retailer of consumer electronics for home and car, has won the highest recognition in its industry for the quality, design, and usefulness of its catalog and website. CATALOG AGE magazine, an independent trade publication that monitors the catalog and Internet retail industry, presented Crutchfield with a Silver Award for the company's Winter-Spring 2002 car stereo and home audio/video catalog. The Silver Award was the highest honor presented in the high-tech product field this year, and Crutchfield was the sole recipient of a Silver Award. Crutchfield also received a Gold Award for its website in the field of Consumer Hard Goods during CATALOG AGE's 3rd Annual I.Merchant Awards last week. "It is a tremendous tribute to Crutchfield's creative, operations and merchandising staffs that we have not only won these prestigious awards this year but have won them in previous years. Also, it is very gratifying to know how highly industry experts and customers alike regard our fine company," said Bill Crutchfield, company founder and CEO. The awards, announced June 12 in Chicago, are selected by a panel of impartial peer executives and are considered to be the most prestigious in the industry. They encompass not only the quality and design of websites and catalogs, but business factors such as sales, customer service, merchandising, and overall marketing strength. In the last nine years, Crutchfield has won the CATALOG AGE Gold Award for catalog publishing excellence three times and the Silver Award five times. The Gold Award for the website came in competition against some of the best and most recognizable business names in the country. The Crutchfield website (www.crutchfield.com) was cited for its clear navigation and design, and its extensive educational content on home and car electronics. The Info Center on the website recently was revamped to include the latest information on buying and using home and car audio and video. "We really design our website for the customer's needs, and it's gratifying to see that our peers in the industry recognize the value of that," said Lawrence D. Becker, director of Internet publishing for Crutchfield. "It's all part of the heavy emphasis we place on customer service." The full-color catalog was cited for its extensive product information, layout, writing, and sales response. Since its introduction in 1974, the Crutchfield catalog has been a respected authority about car and home entertainment products. Approximately 7 million of the award-winning Spring catalogs were mailed. Founded in 1974, Crutchfield Corporation is the nation's largest direct integrated marketer (catalog, call center, and Internet) of consumer electronics products. It offers a convenient, full-service shopping destination to buyers of car and home audio/video products. Providing a superior level of customer service, Crutchfield is noted for its high integrity, product expertise, and technical support. Mailed to approximately 7 million households, Crutchfield's catalogs include comprehensive explanations of product and technology intended to help consumers make informed buying decisions. Crutchfield was the first vendor-authorized audio/video retailer on the Internet, launching its web site (www.crutchfield.com) in the summer of 1995. Crutchfield has served over 3 million customers since the company began. ### |
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