DD/ALL - pretty cool article, courtesy of adavid @ MF.
CYBERWORLD MEETS REAL WORLD
By Don Peppers
Circuit City, one of the country's leading retailers of brand-
name consumer electronics, launched its new online
E-Superstore ( circuitcity.com ) last week. But
before you ask, "So, what's new?" think about this:
Circuit City has taken the revolutionary step of integrating
all of its 550 brick-and-mortar outlets completely with its
Web site. Now not only can you order your computer or TV
from home, you can also pick it up at the nearest store -
bypassing shipping and delivery costs to boot! This is the
company's first e-commerce venture and it's designed to
use the power of the Web to leverage both the Circuit City
brand and its existing network of brick-and-mortar stores.
The move to integrate the cyberworld and real world is one
we've often advocated. It's a great way to build customer
loyalty: not only is Circuit City offering online convenience
to its customers, it's saving them money. What if Barnes &
Noble had taken this route? It may well have turned out
that barnesandnoble.com would have become the
monstrous online force Amazon.com is today with its 10.7
million customers.
Now Circuit City shoppers can access extensive product
information and conduct side-by-side price and feature
comparisons, all while shopping at home. And, if there's
ever a problem with a product, it can be returned to any
Circuit City store. Once registered on the site, customers
can have all their billing, shipping and favorite store
location preferences stored online. They can also receive
email announcements about products and sales. And, if
they order something via the Web but it turns out that on
that day the retail outlet would have been cheaper, Circuit
City will adjust the pricing automatically to fit the retail
price.
The muscle behind this site belongs to BroadVision
( broadvision.com ), which was able to integrate
all Circuit City stores in seven months. BroadVision One-
to-One Enterprise is the Web application server that dishes
up site content, and BroadVision One-to-One Commerce is
the component that enables transactions.
Brick-and-mortar stores haven't had an easy time
translating offline sales to the Web, but real-world
integration will play a big role in the future. With more
businesses jumping on the e-commerce bandwagon, it's
becoming increasingly apparent that those businesses that
want to stay a step ahead of the competition are going to
have to do more than just become a dot com. |
