Expo Design Web site not yet fully committed to commerce - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Nov 5, 2001 by Debbie Howell

ATLANTA -- The Home Depot's recent launch of a separate e-commerce site for Expo Design Center is the latest example of shifting retailer attitudes toward use of the Internet as a marketing tool rather than a selling mechanism.

As the upscale home-improvement showroom concept expands into more major markets beyond its current 11-state base, potential new customers can get acquainted with the format's products and services through the site at www.expo.com. The focus right now is information about Expo and its offerings, with only 200 select products currently for sale online.

"It's designed to drive traffic into the stores and give people that may not have one in their area yet a small taste of Expo," said Expo spokeswoman Melissa Watkins.

Watkins said Home Depot planned all along to launch a separate site for Expo. The company began testing e-commerce late last year through Home Depot's own site, www.homedepot.com, and expanded this program nationally in April. With 20,000 different products sold online currently at Home Depot's site, the retailer had gained enough experience to add Expo to the mix.

"We're just kind of stepping our toe into the pool to see what our customers want out of the site," Watkins said. "We'll use it as a tool and see how far it takes us."

Initial response to the site, which launched at the end of September, has been encouraging. While Watkins said she could not reveal specifics about site traffic or sales, she did say the site was drawing significant interest. "It seems as though there's a great deal of interest in Expo and what we have to offer. Of those people coming to our site, they spend a lot of time on our site and go through all the pages," she said.

The site provides basic information about Expo, its services and a store locator feature. The online shop is broken into the eight showrooms that are the signature of Expo. As of late last month, items weren't available in every category, and most of the products offered were smaller, easy-to-ship items.

A survey of the site in late October showed products available under 5-out-of-8 showroom headings. Under kitchens, the site featured nine different faucets, ranging in price from $169 to $498, while nine types of lamps costing between $95 and $295 could be ordered under lighting and fans. The most expensive item on the site, under area rugs, was a $1,998 Nourison rug, with the bulk of products lower in price than the wider range found in an Expo store.

Based on customer response, the product selection eventually will be expanded. Watkins said all items are currently shipped via UPS from an Expo store in Plano, Texas, a strategy different from Home Depot's local store fulfillment model with its broader offerings at www.homedepot.com.

Expo's closest competitor online is the Web site of The Great Indoors, which Sears debuted in March with 10,000 items. Sears also is using the site primarily as a marketing tool to build awareness of its 3-year-old concept that will roll out to 40 major markets over the next several years.

There is no link from www.sears.com to www.thegreatindoors.com, however. sears purposely wanted to strike a unique identity for its new retail brand.

The Expo concept, meanwhile, has grown to 40 stores in 11 states since its launch by Home Depot in 1991. The company's long-range plan is to grow the format to at least 200 units by 2005 in the nation's top metropolitan markets.

Home Depot made its boldest expansion of the concept this year, with plans to add 18 new units :by fiscal yearend in January. Last month, Expo Launched in the new markets if St. Louis and Kansas City, Kan., and now has saturated the Chicago metro market with Four units. Next spring will mark the first "urban" Chicago unit in Lincoln Park, with a slightly different mix geared toward the urban lifestyle.

Though the Expo format has been a constant evolution, Watkins said the basic prototype hasn't varied much with the latest units, which average 95,000 sq. ft.