From Fur Trade To Cyber Trade, Hudson Bay Goes Again
Ray Van Eng (06/17/96)
The Hudson Bay company may become the first Canadian department store to
go online at the IBM Online Mall, World Avenue.
For the Canadian retail giant, this latest venture into cyberspace is just another milestone in the company's 326 years history. Cyberspace is the latest frontier to be explored by this venerable Canadian firm who started setting fur trade post to conduct business with native Indians in the 17th century.
The new web store which is scheduled to open this fall in time for the Christmas season will initially carries about 300-400 items will be sold online. There will also be a Bridal Registry, a Travel Agency, a historical showcase of the company's heritage and pointers to current retail stores.
However, the web store will strive to be different from its real-world retail counterparts, a network of 400 the Bay and Zellers across Canada. According to CEO George Kosich ``Many of the early sites on the internet struggled to develop electronic versions of existing retail formats. We believe it has the potential to be much more. We are going to...create a shopping environment that offers customers a valuable and exciting retail experience,''
The Hudson Bay company is the largest retail department stores in Canada and claims to be the oldest continually operating commercial enterprise in the world.
In the initial announcement made recently, only one other retailer, Express, a lady's apparel shop has confirmed to be joining the IBM Online Mall World Avenue. IBM hopes to attract about 20 retailers to the new cyber mall. Traditional retailers and large consumer favorite chain stores are targeted customers.
The World Avenue will be build on the NetCommerce system, a merchant web server which IBM has announced earlier this year. For the vendor, the underlying technology offers the ability to track customer browsing and buying behaviors. Report on consumer usage patterns at a merchant's site would allow intelligent decisions to be made immediately to respond to shifting market conditions.
Micro-marketing techniques are also made possible by the NetCommerce technology. For example, secondary selling of accessories and gift items can be generated on-the-fly to stimulate individual buyer's interest, thereby increasing sales. Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) protocol for safe credit card transactions round out the technology picture.
IBM is reputed to be charging a $30,000 setup fee for merchants with 300 items, a monthly maintenance expense of $2,500 and a 5% cut on sales which is said to be the lowest in the retail electronic commerce industry.
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