Shopping Centers Today -> September 2002
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GLOBAL LOCALS
Smaller merchants, such as independent bookstores competing with
their chain store counterparts, see the Web as a great equalizer.
One company, Made in the Hudson Valley (
www.madeinthehudsonvalley.com),
is utilizing the Internet to sell the products of artisans, farmers,
specialty food producers and others in 11 counties in the region
along New York’s Hudson River. The site offers more than 200
products, ranging from homemade foie gras to pieces of art, and
from honey to furniture. “Our aim is to advance greater awareness
of the Hudson region itself,” the company’s founder and
president, Leslie Gordon, told
SCT. The firm handles orders
and payments, she said, while shipping is left to the merchants.
The two-year-old company also plans to publish a catalog this fall.
MEMBERS ONLY
Getting into Planet LuLu’s twice-monthly, invitation-only private
sales in the fashion district of Los Angeles can be tough, and the
clothing samples store is trying to make its recently launched Web
site (
www.planetlulu.com)
appear equally exclusive. LuLu Shop Online is open only about one
week per month, and you need to be on the guest list to get an entry
password. Getting that password takes only about one minute, as it
turns out, but nabbing one of the bargains could be a lot harder —
there are only about 3,000 items in stock from 30 designers, while
the company says it recorded 90,000 hits within an hour of launching
the site in June.
ONLINE SHOPLIFTING
Retailers once hoped that having Web sites would open their stores
to customers around the world. But global shoplifting has forced
some retailers to stop taking orders from certain countries. After
experiencing a high level of credit card fraud, Buy.com has shut
off Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics, China, Indonesia
and the Koreas, noted
The New York Times. CD Universe has
also scaled back its overseas business. Other problems include thefts
during shipping and high import duties imposed by countries such
as Iran to discourage buying books, music and other items deemed
subversive.
FAKING OUT THE FRAUDSTERS
To thwart hackers, Citibank has launched an online shopping security
program that generates fake credit card numbers for customers making
online or telephone transactions. These numbers are then matched
by the issuing bank to real ones. Others offering similar services
include Discover Financial Services and MBNA Corp. Citibank’s
customers can download the program off the Internet.
WEB-BASED ROOM DESIGN
The Home Depot has launched a new Web site tool to make things easier
for do-it-yourselfers redesigning their kitchens and bathrooms,
a task that customarily requires many visits to the hardware store.
The site (
www.homedepot.com/designcenter)
allows them to “enter” up to 75 rooms, choose various
elements from each, then print out a shopping list of their selections
to take to the store. “What they wanted was to create a design
tool that would enable customers to visualize what they needed before
going to the store,” said Sheila Dahlgren, vice president of
marketing at San Rafael, Calif.-based Scene7, which designed the
system. “Customers are using it.”
ON THE JOB SHOPPING
More consumers than ever (22 percent today versus 12 percent in
1999) are making their online purchases at work, according to a
survey by the Consumer Electronics Association. These shoppers cite
convenience and connection speed as the primary advantages. Furthermore,
66 percent of them overall report they are “very satisfied”
with their online shopping experiences. Their employers are no doubt
less so.
