Connecting with customers

By Ken Ryan

The industry has come a long way from the handwritten receipt. Consider the changes taking place at retailers who have adopted Web 2.0-type applications.

Tool King and ToolKing.com together embrace the latest technology to drive its online sales. "We're remaking ToolKing.com into an online destination with relevant content and not just a site that sells tools," said president Donald Cohen.

To appeal to bargain-minded tool shoppers, Tool King added TooliDay.com, a site that offers deals on specially selected tools or accessories. Cohen said the company was putting too much emphasis on new customer acquisition. “Now we’re focused on customer retention, and we’ve narrowed our merchandising categories and made the site much more interactive,” he said.

Do it Best has been working with an outside firm to refine it search optimization to draw more traffic to its Web site, with the ultimate goal of directing them to member stores across the country. "We want to get relevant traffic, we want to be more of a destination and not just for browsing," said Bill Zielke, VP marketing and international development at Do it Best. "If we can get customers to find the local store and they, in turn, build that relationship -- this is what we want."

To that end, Do it Best has been enhancing its Web site with more graphics that, for example, would allow a user to rotate certain products 360 degrees. It has also added Google's Gpay and PayPal for customers who are reluctant to use their credit cards for online purchases. Perhaps the most successful e-commerce program for Do it Best is their Ship-to-Store service. "Some like [Ship-to-Store] for the safety of it, some for the savings, and some for the education of the product when they get to the retail store," he said. "Some can buy related items when they get there. It's really brought traffic into the physical stores, and our goal is to do as much e-commerce through our members."

For the past 10 years Sears has been reinventing its company around an online strategy designed to make Sears.com the "go-to" site for all consumers' needs. In the past 15 months Sears.com has entered into several partnerships or acquisitions to grow its online business. The latest came March 9 when it acquired the assets of Delvar.com, a social search-engine company based in Israel, to expand its global online strategy. Sears called the acquisition "a great opportunity" to expand its online strategy "as we work to build more meaningful relationships with our customers and improve our customer experiences."

In a letter to shareholders, Sears Holdings chairman Edward Lampert said the retailer has made “meaningful strides” in the area of e-commerce. He cited several initiatives including the launch of ServiceLive in January 2009. ServiceLive.com is an online marketplace where homeowners and businesses can name their price for a wide variety of services, improvements and repairs. “We still have a long way to go in terms of building lasting relationships with our customers, and we have many more initiatives underway that continue to build on this one,” Lampert wrote.