Housewares interest rises online - Home Goods & Housewares - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Jan 6, 2003

New opportunities are cropping up on the Web in housewares sales as a wider range of consumers set up an expanding array of gift registries.

Particularly as applied to segments with strong gift-giving potential, such as small electrics and home decor, the registries are heavy with appliances.

Wedding and shower registries remain important. According to the NPD Group, 48% of engaged couples who have Internet access use the Web to gather wedding planning information. Weddings have a big impact on housewares purchasing, with 54% of Internet users likely to purchase housewares online as wedding or bridal shower gifts, the company's research indicated. Further, 50% of engaged couples with Internet access plan to or have already registered online.

With the failure of so many retail Internet enterprises, the luster long ago went out of the online business, yet, clearly, opportunities continue to exist.

The key to Internet success is the integration of a digital business strategy into a company's traditional operations, said Christian S. M. Dussart, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, Sloan senior lecturer and co-director of Sloan's Digital Business Strategy program. In part, this is necessary to protect previous investments, but also important is the need to provide consumers with familiarity as they explore online purchasing and flexibility to meet their various shopping preferences.

"They can already go to the book store and have a cup of coffee while they pickup the book they just ordered online," he said. "That's the kind of evolution we already see."