Case Study: E-commerce Blooms at Bloomingdale’s By Mail

But Bloomingdale’s soon discovered that the quick-order feature didn’t generate much revenue, and it didn’t satisfy the merchant’s need for a low-cost shopping channel that would offer more options to customers.

So in late 2002, Bloomingdale’s contracted CrossMedia Services, a Chicago-based provider of online catalog promotional services, to add virtual catalogs to its Web site. “The virtual catalogs enabled more options for customers and generated up to $500,000 in demand, versus $700 using just the catalog quick-order form,” says Silver.