E-tailing

E-tailing is about marketing and selling goods over the internet. There were hordes of people following suite by launching Online Portals for their business. The flaw was that none of the prospective buyers knew about these .com addresses. It is all about how the owners blend the .com/website with the back end or the brick and mortar operations of the business.


A few examples on how the businesses adapted the concept and leveraged e-commerce to generate phenomenal growth for them.

Office Depot (www.officedepot.com):- They had an online portal where they had replicated their regular catalog on the internet. For e.g. if some one is looking for a specific Heavy Duty Stapler the person didn't know where to look for in that catalog. It used to take five clicks to reach the product of one's choice which was very cumbersome. The prevailing problem was that the catalog wasn't interactive. Now they have a form where one can search their product by color, size, capacity and other attributes.

Land's End (www.landsend.com):- This is a portal where one can create a 3 D image of himself/herself online so as to see the look the display clothing available across can give him/her. This enables online selection and purchasing of clothes.

Matsushita (www.panasonic.com):- The challenge at their hand was to tie up their online portal with the inventory so that the buyers would know how soon the request of their supply will be met.

This is how e-commerce can do wonders but only if it is effectively used else it is bound to become a liability to the owner.

E-Tailing is emerging as an attractive alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar retailing. The chances are that they will compliment each other while they exist.