The business model of Consumers Distributing has been described as “Internet shopping before the Internet”. Consumers Distributing aimed to reduce costs for customers by stocking merchandise in a warehouse-type stocking system instead of displaying them in a costly showroom. Customers made their selections from a catalogue, filled out a form listing the items they wanted, then waited for stock staff to retrieve the items from the warehouse. There were two main catalogue launches per year, with seasonal mini-catalogues issued more frequently to highlight certain items. The entire line changed twice a year with few exceptions. New items were introduced only with a new catalogue. A few specialty lines, such as batteries, film and some jewellery lines on counter racks, and were not found in the catalogue. Photo processing was another service available in many stores. Consumers Distributing was one of the first to implement real-time stock checking and prepayment for products available at other branches and the main warehouse. These initiatives, including the superstore expansion, costly free delivery, and costly new inventory management software, overextended the company.