Assignment #3

Wal-mart

Wal-mart has more retail locations than probably any other store in the world, yet they still use their website to sell goods to customers and to expand their product offerings. The strategy that Wal-mart seems to apply to their website vs store product selection is that the stores stock items that have high demand and quick turnover, whereas their website will have not only those products, but it will also have a wider selection of goods that tend to be large in size and higher in price . For example, on the website you have a much wider selection of furniture, exercise equipment, Hot tubs, baby gear, toys, etc. A lot of these items such as hot tubs would not be practical to stock in their stores because of their size and the fact that there would be a limited amount of sales at each store, so it is more advantageous to them to use that retail space for a product that appeals to more people and will turn over faster. However, it is economically viable for them to have these items on their website because it reaches a much larger audience than any individual store and they can ship the products to wherever the customer is located.
One thing that Wal-mart does extremely well is distribution of their products and they have figured out how to incorporate that with their website offerings through site-to-store shipping. With their site-to-store shipping you can purchase an item online and opt to have it shipped to the local retail location of your choice. You are then notified upon arrival of your purchase and you can go pick it up at the store, all without being charged for shipping. This is an advantage to Wal-mart because it removes the barrier of shipping costs for consumers that are not able or willing to pay the extra charge and it provides a reason why the consumer has to enter their store and may lead to additional sales while that customer is in their store. I believe this feature to be a win win situation for the customer and Wal-mart.


Ann Taylor

Another retailer that has successfully utilized their website to expand their product offerings to their customers is Ann Taylor. Ann Taylor has two different store chains, Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor LOFT and both have expanded their product lines differently on their websites.
Ann Taylor is known for their classic design and good quality. On the Ann Taylor website the company has managed to expand their business by including a limited selection of classic wedding and special event dresses that complement their typical product mix well. This is something that they probably wouldn't be able to do through their retail stores since it would be a large commitment of floor space for a subset of their customers and it would be replacing clothing that would appeal to most or all of their customers. However, by placing the option on their website it is something that they can offer all year without giving up any retail space. The expansion is also good because it is expanding into an area that usually commands a higher price than regular clothing and so should be a highly profitable expansion of their line.

Visit Ann Taylor Weddings & Events:
http://www.anntaylor.com/catalog/department.jsp?N=1200029&categoryId=3942&loc=TN

Ann Taylor LOFT is geared more towards a younger customer base than Ann Taylor and it is more weekend wear type of clothes, where as Ann Taylor offers more work appropriate clothing including suits. Ann Taylor LOFT expanded their product line by venturing into the maternity wear market. I think that this is a sensible expansion for their product line because their main customer base is women that are in their late 20's to early 40's, which includes the typical range of when women will have children. Their maternity clothing line isn't a far departure from their normal clothing line, so many of the outfits are ones that they already had designed, but just required some modifications to the design to accommodate a pregnant woman.

The only downside that I find for the customer in both the Ann Taylor wedding & events line and the Ann Taylor LOFT maternity line is that a lot of the clothing is noted as online exclusive, which means that it cannot be returned to a retail store location, returns need to be processed via mail. I think that stipulation can be a real turn off to some customers, especially in the special event or maternity markets due to there being a higher chance that the garment won't fit properly. There is a big difference between ordering a tank top online or ordering your wedding dress online! It has to fit perfectly or the customer will hate it (and tell all of her friends the story).

Visit Ann Taylor LOFT Maternity:

http://www.anntaylorloft.com/catalog/category.jsp?N=1200041&pCategoryId=3363&categoryId=639&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_639&loc=mp1a&gridSize=sm&showAll=true


Harrods

Harrods is one of, if not the, most famous department stores world-wide; but there truly is only one real Harrods department store and that is London. For Harrods, having a website serves multiple functions two of the most important are providing tourist information (yes it's a BIG tourist destination) and selling their products to customers across the globe. Having a website allows Harrods to provide products to their customers in 40 different countries, instead of being limited to just the local London area. This expansion of their reach is obviously very beneficial to them since they are well known around the world, so some demand was already present in these markets prior to their creation of a website. While there are a lot of products available on their site, there are still some that you can only get in the store; those tend to be the more exclusive items that are designed for the rich and famous crowd. For example, if you look at their store guide on their website you will see that on the fifth floor they actually have an entire section dedicated to bulletproof clothing that they describe as being "tough enough to withstand fire from automatic weapons" and "unobtrusive enough to be worn at parties."

http://www.harrods.com/harrodsstore/