A Fulfilling Holiday

“If you buy 50 percent more than you need, that’s a lot of money tied up in merchandise,” says Hensler.

Before leaving the warehouse, watches are inspected for scratches, a new battery is put in, and the watch is set to the time zone to which it is being shipped.

Because of the disastrous fallout of the 1999 holiday, with many companies being fined for not delivering on promises, most dot-coms turned to third-party fulfillment houses and returned to focus on core competencies. Ashford is one of the few dot-coms that kept its fulfillment in-house.