Migrating Merchandising from Catalog to Dot-com

PROFILING: 86 percent of the sites evaluated had “My Account” features for customers to store and access personal information essential for true one-to-one marketing. Among catalogers online, Harry and David does an exceptional job in this area, and includes leveraging past purchases as reminders. On the Internet, profiling also includes an array of interactive tools (44 percent), such as quizzes, configurators, calculators, and fit and sizing systems. In the apparel category —where more than half of the estimated $8 billion in returns are generated because of sizing issues—e-catalogers such as Lands’ End anticipate that their investments in these new technologies will result in substantial ROI.