This is Sci7’s review of and comments on an article published titled: An approach to sustainable “fashion” e-retail: A five-stage evolutionary strategy for “Clicks-and-Mortar” and “Pure-Play” enterprises to be published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.
The term “Clicks and Mortar”, refers to those organisation with both an online and physical presence while “Pure-Play” is used to describe organisations selling their products online only. There is an appreciation in the well written paper of the fact that the environment of online sales in the sector is undergoing change. The current situation is one where many smaller retailers have information only sites which do not offer customers the ability to make online purchases. The fact that the larger players have not yet made use of all the opportunities in terms of efficiency that online selling affords them is also noted as something which enables smaller enterprises to compete online, something which is expected to change over time.
The major point made by this paper is that just because it has taken many years historically for sites to develop from informational to trading entities extrapolating that to the future would not be reasonable, as the barriers to online trading become lower and it becomes easier and cheaper to set up an ecommerce website. A company’s first online presence is more likely to be able to handle sales from the time of launch. To an extent the case studies contradict the cited models suggesting that it can take many years for sites to develop profitability, the case studies being profitable either from the outset or within two months, having established websites in 1995 and 1998. The fact that the models were aimed at larger enterprises than those selected as case studies were described. The reasons why a larger organisation should take longer to reach a point of profitability with its online activities than a smaller one is not discussed.
An excellent table showing the steps taken by both companies in the establishment of their online businesses is included in the paper, while starting off in 2006 in a quite different environment to 1995 it still makes interesting reading. Both sites used in the case study appreciated the importance of the user’s perception of the site, particularly in terms of appearing trustworthy to potential customers. This was achieved by seeking coverage on TV and in national newspapers. Functionality of the website was also paramount, and not “flashy” design, there is an appreciation that the best way to add value is to make it faster and simpler for the user to complete their transaction.
Market research conducted by one of the case study organisations on their own customers revealed that their online and “physical” customers were different and the two elements of the business were not in direct competition.
Two case studies are discussed by the paper, LingerieUK (Link redirects to “Shop closed for refurbishment” notice at the time of writing!) and Lady Bwear, which runs its online business from a range of domains including www.ladybwear.com and www.catsuitcorner.com. Information on the companies was derived from interviews during which directors and owners of these organisations shared their experiences with the researchers. Lady BWear is reported to be planning to launch one new website every six months to 2006, this perhaps reflects a view based on some eight years online trading experience that it is easier to get users of a new site than it is to add users to an existing one.
While affiliates get a brief mention in the paper their importance to fashion retail online is not mentioned, this may be a consequence of the narrowness of the sample used for this research - only two rather similar companies both with about the same amount of experience online. Only one of the companies uses affiliates in a limited way (60 affiliates). This limitation in the paper is commendably acknowledged in the concluding paragraph. Overall this is an excellent discussion of the experience of two companies, and the separation of the stages of their experience into five stages is interesting and helps navigate the stories presented. What is lacking however is a discussion of how these stages would apply to a business starting up or expanding its online activities today. Experience and knowledge are given as the limiting factors which govern progress from one stage to the next, however a number of the points introduced in the fifth and final stage could well be easily and inexpensively followed at the outset by a company wishing to learn from the experiences of the case studies presented.
The 5-step plan calls for waiting until 3-5 years into the plan before introducing:
- Customer / service focused organization
- Integrated marketing on/offline.
- Maintain website in line with technological and marketplace developments.
Consider what not doing any of the above from the outset would mean.
Due to way in which the five step plan us presented should I believe be seen not as a model template for launching an specialised ecommerce retail business, but simply as a historical note from which much can be learnt.
Overall the article understandably lacks hard data on traffic, orders, profitability, online marketing strategy etc. for both this and its general content it is more of a “magazine” article, albeit well referenced one, than a research paper, though this does not mean that it is not considered of value.
Sci7 would be happy to discuss the online marketing opportunities available to consumer focused retail businesses based on its in-house experience encompassing the full breadth of internet technologies but focusing on organic search engine optimisation, interactivity, blogging and data feeds. Advice can be provided at all levels, and modifications can be made in conjunction with existing web teams.
DOI link to original paper: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2005.08.018.
Tags: Ecommerce,lingerie,Marketing,SEO,Consumer.
The authors of the work discussed here were Catherine J. Ashworth, Ruth A. Schmidt, Elke A. Pioch and Alan Hallsworth all of the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School in the UK.