Brand recognition is a springboard - Company Business and Marketing

Communications News, July, 2000 by Jay Seaton

New e-commerce site offers cross-promotional capabilities to retailer.

Viewers can't turn on the television or radio today without being hammered with images and slogans from all of the emerging dot.com companies trying to carve a space out for themselves in the crowded e-commerce market. Regardless of how much noise they make, most are lacking an important component--brand recognition. This is what gives companies like Dress Barn, which has built a loyal customer base through its brick-and-mortar retail stores, a competitive advantage as it takes its business online.

Brand recognition is only half the battle, however. The other half is actually getting online. Building and launching an e-commerce site can be tricky if the company's information technology staff does not have the time or expertise to create and manage the site. That is why Dress Barn is partnering with NaviSite, a provider of outsourced Web-hosting and application services, to support its new e-commerce site.

Dress Barn is one of the largest specialty women's clothing retail chains in the U.S., with sales in excess of $600 million and 674 stores in 43 states. After launching a mail-order business last year, Dress Barn decided the next logical step was to create an e-commerce site to give customers another option for ordering catalog items. With a management information-systems department that had little e-commerce experience and that was already stretched thin, the company decided the best approach was to outsource this important venture.

"We decided we needed to learn how to crawl before we could walk," says Chris Correia, Web-site tech specialist at Dress Barn. "This is a new venture for us, and we wanted to partner with someone who has expertise and resources in this area. We looked at numerous companies and kept coming back to NaviSite. The Dress Barn prides itself on customer service and so does NaviSite, making it a good match. NaviSite is also on the leading edge of technology, so as they grow we will be able to grow with them."

The company chose NaviSite to host its Web site and provide an e-commerce platform. NaviSite's combination of hardware, software and 24x7 system monitoring frees Dress Barn's information systems staff from managing the site. It also delivers high availability around the clock to ensure its e-commerce site runs smoothly.

The e-commerce solution includes Compaq ProLiant servers, Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition, Oracle SQL servers, Windows NT 4.0 and a virtual private network to provide secure remote access between NaviSite and Dress Barn. All hardware and software is located in NaviSite's data center, where a staff of network engineers maintains and monitors the network, while carefully watching Web site and application performance.

Dress Barn's current Web site, which it launched in March, receives between 1,200 and 1,500 hits a day with minimal advertising. The existing site, which the company is currently updating, provides corporate information and includes a small e-commerce capability that allows customers to purchase gift certificates. After seeing the success of that site, and receiving customer feedback requesting shopping capabilities via the Internet, Dress Barn decided to add this third option to its existing distribution channels.

In addition to offering customers more choices, the site gives Dress Barn cross-promotional capabilities. If customers see an item in the store but would like it in a different color, sales associates can direct them to the catalog or Web site where they have more color options. Customers will also be able to order online from Dress Barn's catalog and return merchandise purchased online to any retail store.

"E-commerce is opening up an additional distribution channel for us. Because we already have brand recognition through our stores, we think we'll have an advantage over many of the dot.com companies," Correia says.

www.navisite.com Circle 266 for more information from NaviSite

Seaton is vice president of marketing at NaviSite, Inc.,Andover, MA.