E-commerce companies tout positive returns

Discount Store News, Feb 9, 1998

NEW YORK -- Electronic commerce was a hot topic at NRF this year, and retailers attending the related conference sessions were given more reasons to get involved in the category with such e-tailers as iQVC, 1-800 Flowers and BarnesandNoble.com offering up details of their programs, costs, challenges and successes.

In two separate conference sessions, retailers were urged to get involved in Internet commerce quickly and thoroughly. Web sites that serve only as billboards are inadequate, they were told.

"Integration is so important," emphasized Donna Iucoiano, director of interactive marketing for 1-800-Flowers Inc. Web sites shouldn't just be a long commercial, but truly informative and useful to the consumer, she said.

The "brochure-ware" approach should be gone from the Internet, said Kevin Rowe, executive vp, Eagle River Interactive, referring to the one-sided sites of retailers in the early-to-mid phases of interactive marketing.

Rowe predicted that the near future will bring a better alignment in the interactive industries between the creative and technical teams. To be sure, none of this will come easily or cheaply to retailers jumping on the e-commerce bandwagon. But retailers whose companies are already involved said they are, indeed, reaping rewards both financially and in terms of increased customer interest.

"This is not a get-rich-quick-overnight activity," Iucoiano said. "It takes a great deal of patience and support."

1-800-Flowers responds to on-line inquiries within two hours and fills 40% of its orders the same day and 60% the next. Access to customers on line has also afforded marketing opportunities beyond the regular channels. 1-800-Flowers offers promotions on line and conducts surveys that reveal invaluable information about customers, said Iucoiano.

Jacquelyn Bivins, president of Kaleidoscope Communications, suggested retailers use their Web site to help product development.

And for those still holding on to the belief that companies on the Internet are losing millions, the success stories are beginning to prove them wrong.

Susan Boster, director of marketing at BarnesandNoble.com, predicted her company's on-line business will serve 200 million people by 2001 and pump up the off-line book market, which already generates about $28 billion each year.

Stuart Spiegal, vp and gmm at iQVC, told attendees at a crowded super session that the company's Web traffic goes beyond what the TV channel has been able to accomplish in terms of impulse buys. On-line shoppers are averaging two purchases per transaction and 20% are new customers to QVC, he said.

Sears has managed to grow its business on line by building on its strong brand equity, but has found that its on-line customers closely mirror that of its stores, with Craftsman tools being the strongest draw.