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Livewire: It's Beginning To Look Like E-Christmas
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A friend who works at a local gift shop went in
early on Halloween morning to help put out Christmas merchandise.
For retailers, it's never soon enough to start promoting Christmas, whether
the rest of us are ready for it or not.
This year, the same can be said of online retailers.
Convinced that more shoppers than ever will be trolling the Web's electronic
aisles for gifts this holiday season, online retailers got an early start.
Between bumping up their technology firepower, adding customer service
representatives, and developing ad campaigns, they've been as busy as
Santa's elves on Dec. 24.
Net industry analysts aren't dousing retailers' enthusiasm. In August, a
Harris Interactive survey of 5,800 Net users found that 33 percent planned
to make purchases online this Christmas, compared with only 8 percent last
year.
It was still summer when some started tweaking the technology side of their
businesses, bulking up electronic-commerce systems and Web servers so the
expected crush of customers won't take down their sites.
Many are improving customer-service features too. The latest fad is having
live operators standing by to talk to Web shoppers while they browse. Lands'
End (http://www.landsend.com), for example, staffed its Web store with live
customer-service reps earlier this fall. The old-line cataloger, which last
Christmas debuted a virtual model that women can use to pick outfits that
flatter their figures, rolled out another new gimmick in time for this
holiday
shopping season. The "Shop With a Friend" feature allows people logging on
from different locations to simultaneously click through pages on the
company's Web site, which is about as close to strolling through the mall
with a friend as you can get online.
Holiday promotions are everywhere you look.
Earlier this fall, Neiman Marcus (http://www.neimanmarcus.com) used the
Internet for the first time to promote its massive Christmas catalog, called
"The Book." In mid-September, the upscale retailer Webcast a party it holds
every year to unveil The Book, and gave away a $4,500 shopping spree to
shoppers who signed up on a related Web site.
Promotions don't stop there. Expect retailers to offer discounts and free
shipping to get people to buy. Apparel retailer J. Crew
(http://www.jcrew.com), for one, is offering $20 off purchases of more than
$80, plus free shipping.
Online grocers are getting into the act. HomeGrocer.com
(http://www.homegrocer.com), the Kirkland, Wash., start-up online grocery
business, will run some kind of holiday promotion, though executives still
are deciding exactly what. This Halloween, HomeGrocer.com gave its Seattle
area customers a miniature pumpkin with each order that they could take to a
local pumpkin patch to redeem for a larger one.
The closer it gets to Dec. 25, the more advertisements you'll see from .com
merchants. Flush with venture-capital cash, merchants are spending millions
on consumer advertising campaigns that will hit newspapers, magazines,
radio, TV, billboards and Web sites. One, eToys (http://www.etoys.com), the
online toy store, is already airing commercials on network television,
though none as much as hint at Christmas. In one of these soft-sell brand
awareness spots, a father watches the delight on his young son's face as
they ride through a car wash. Back at home, he logs onto eToys to buy the
boy a toy car wash to play with.
In a twist, some online retailers will use print catalogs to bring Christmas
shoppers to their sites. eStyle (http://www.estyle.com), a Los Angeles
online retailer that launched its babystyle (http://www.babystyle.com)
division last month, will mail prospective customers a print catalog
featuring a selection of gift items available on the site. The company also
will send out print and e-mail flyers.
"The baby business isn't seasonal but gifts are," said Laurie McCartney, the
company's founder. "So we've been gearing up for gifts, not just for babies
but for kids, moms and dads, too. We have gift baskets, gifts under $50,
gifts
for babies who have everything, and a guy's guide to gift-giving."
Web portals are decking themselves out as e-shopping centers. InfoSeek
launched its Holiday Gift Guide (http://www.shop.go.com/holiday/) Tuesday.
Expect all the major portals to follow suit.
People can expect to be bombarded by come-ons from dozens of Web start-ups
offering to help make shopping easier. Some of these companies, such as
DealTime (http://www.dealtime.com) help shoppers locate hard-to-find
items by searching through other retailers, online auctions and Net-based
classified ads. Others, such as Productopia (http://www.productopia.com) and
the subscription-based online version of Consumer Reports
(http://www.consumerreports.com), help people research features or prices
before they buy items as varied as vacuum cleaners and SUVs.
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