Linking Internet sales

By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 1/21/2002 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

The linkage of buying online and picking up merchandise in the stores "worked well. It was a big, big win for us," said Dennis Honan, vp, general manager, Sears online.

Sears was able to use its retail supply chain distribution from its existing distribution centers, Honan explained. "And there were no significant negatives. There will be some tweaking in marketing to learn what we need in dedicated and integrated marketing."

At the NRF session, "Internet and multi-channel retailing strategic priorities," Honan emphasized that "our online customer already is a Sears customer — but is slightly more affluent and younger online than in the stores."

For many Sears customers, Honan related, "a huge number use the Internet to do research; many come to the site already wanting to buy, but want more information."