1-800-FLOWERS.COM needed to replace multiple siloed e-commerce systems with a unified platform to better enable synergies between its 14 gifting brands and increase business agility. It implemented IBM WebSphere Commerce for two gift food brands as a proof of concept. Using the knowledge gained, it will transition most other brands to the new platform over the coming year to enable more rapid creation of retail websites, facilitate cross-selling between brands, and provide a consistent customer experience across all brands.

1. Smart Work in Retail – Customer Stories

2. Smart Work in Retail – Customer Stories

3. Smart Work in Retail – Customer Stories
Smart Work for a Smarter Planet
The world has become highly instrumented, interconnected and intelligent: from our food
and water, to our energy, homes and transportation, to our cities and governments and, of
course, our businesses and places of work.
The workplace may be smarter, but it is also more challenging because of increasingly
rapid and unpredictable change. Everything from swings in markets, to increasing global
competition to new consumer expectations and more are changing at a furious pace.
To keep up, we work harder. But to win, we must work smarter.
Smart work embraces, even takes advantage of, change by creating a more agile,
collaborative and connected business environment. It can make your business more
profitable and productive. While it makes the world a better place to live and work.
Some organizations are showing the way. In this book, you’ll see how our customers
from around the world, in the retail industry, are connecting people and processes to:
Optimize business performance
Use technology to meet business needs quickly
Maximize people's effectiveness working together
To learn more about Smart Work, visit ibm.com/smartwork. Additional case studies are
available at ibm.com/smartwork/success. We would love to have your organization as a
client reference. To become an IBM client reference, visit ibm.com/ibm/clientreference.

4. Smart Work in Retail – Customer Stories

5. Smart Work in Retail – Customer Stories
Table of Contents
I-800-FLOWERS.COM, United States.....................................................................................7
1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC needed to replace multiple, diverse, siloed e-commerce systems
with a unified technology platform.
Bazaar Voice, United States .....................................................................................................11
Bazaarvoice needed a vehicle to help its own software solution to increase online sales and
create innovative tools to facilitate online commerce.
Gewandhaus Gruber, Germany ..............................................................................................13
Gewandhaus Gruber wanted to better understand and reward its existing customers, while
attracting new ones. It sought a cutting-edge loyalty offering that would help it increase revenue
and differentiate itself from its competitors.
Hartman Rauta Oy, Finland....................................................................................................15
The company wanted to take advantage of a number of new updates and improvements available
in the latest version of Lotus Notes software, including new features that would improve mobile
data security. In addition, Hartman wanted to implement a virtual group working environment to
support improved communication and collaboration.
Hess, United States....................................................................................................................17
Hess Corporation needed a new inventory solution that would automate processes and keep data
up to date.
Isuzu Australia, Limited, Australia.........................................................................................19
Isuzu Australia Limited needed a solution to improve the speed and accuracy of communications
between head office and the dealerships as well as facilitate increased collaboration with
business partners.
Major Retailer, United States ..................................................................................................23
Major Retailer wanted to determine whether its hybrid inventory strategy with some stock
keeping units (SKUs) was appropriate for its business.
Max Bahr, Germany.................................................................................................................25
Max Bahr wanted to meet its customer demand for any of 40,000 products in over 80 outlets with
low replenishment and storage costs.
METRO Group, Germany.......................................................................................................27
METRO Group’s retail store meat tracking system was entirely manual, a time-consuming and
error-prone process. METRO Group needed to gain a better grasp of the inventory management
of its meat products, while working to improve customer food safety.
Moosejaw, United States ..........................................................................................................29
To thrive in the highly competitive market for outdoor adventure gear, Moosejaw
Mountaineering needed to create a customer experience that would engage a customer
community whose appetite for extreme sports is matched by a hunger for communication and
collaboration.
i

6. Smart Work in Retail – Customer Stories
Table of Contents
Sears Canada, Canada..............................................................................................................33
Sears Canada wanted to deliver on business objectives and reduce development cost through
code reuse to eliminate coding and recoding of the same integration, and speed the exchange of
information with business partners to improve business agility to be competitive in today’s
economy.
South American Retailer, Brazil .............................................................................................37
South American Retailer needed to enable an enterprise-wide sales information portal with
dramatically improving productivity and information access while eliminating millions of printed
pages annually.
Spotlight Proprietary Group, Australia .................................................................................39
Spotlight Proprietary Group wanted to have a strong and flexible IT Infrastructure with
sufficient strategic dimension or vision.
Yansha, China ...........................................................................................................................55
Yansha needed to increase its competitiveness against both local retailers and new foreign
competitors in an increasingly deregulated Chinese retail industry through the adoption of new
business processes, automation and business intelligence.
ii

7. Building a Smarter Planet
1-800-FLOWERS.COM: Creating an
e-commerce platform for the future
Overview
■ Business Challenge
To better enable synergies
between its 14 gifting brands,
create greater business agility,
and reach its goal of becoming
one of the Top 10 among
Internet Retailer Top 500 com-
panies, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM,
INC. needed to replace multi-
ple, diverse, siloed e-commerce
systems with a unified technol-
ogy platform. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC. is the “ The platform will
■ Solution world’s largest florist and gift shop, with
1-800-FLOWERS.COM teamed
enable the individual
revenues approaching US$1 billion. The
with IBM to implement company is marked by its large-scale
brands to do things
IBM WebSphere® Commerce vision and forward thinking, positioning they would never
for two of its gift food brands as itself at the leading edge of trends with have been able to
an initial proof of concept innovative marketing such as “green” cost-justify before. It’s
for the platform. The site, initiatives that reward responsible con-
thepopcornfactory.com has
going to give us
sumer behavior. For example, its
seen a consistent rise in conver- BloomNet® brand will, in exchange for
unprecedented agility.”
sion since its November launch. a customer forgoing a BloomNet Florist — Steve Bozzo, CIO,
Using knowledge gained from paper directory, plant trees as part of a 1-800-FLOWERS.COM
this first rollout, the company reforestation campaign. It is also intro-
will take a greater role in transi- ducing environmental responsibility as a
tioning most of its other brands theme across all of its businesses, with
to the new platform over the awareness campaigns on social net-
coming year. working Web sites.
■ Key Benefits
— Enables more rapid creation The company has a thorough under-
and deployment of retail standing of the “gifting” market space in
Web sites which it operates, and sees great
— Facilitates cross-selling potential for synergy by offering multiple
between brands
Page 7 of 60

8. Making the most of brand synergy through shared technology
specialty brands. The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM strategy has been to grow three
Business Benefits
ways: organic growth, internal business development and strategic acquisitions.
● Enables more rapid creation and Today, it has 14 brands that sell everything from popcorn to gift baskets to gour-
deployment of retail Web sites,
met food and children’s gifts.
allowing 1-800-FLOWERS.COM to try
out new offerings with very little
investment and risk The strategy has given 1-800-FLOWERS.COM a broad and diverse portfolio, but it
● Facilitates cross-selling between
also created a business challenge. To fully realize the benefits of its multibrand
brands by unifying the underlying strategy, they must be unified behind the scenes, but as is usually the case, each
technology new acquisition brought with it a different set of business processes and technol-
● Provides the potential for information ogy, resulting in a large number of siloed operations that were difficult to integrate.
sharing across business units, opening
up the possibility for more effective
To promote brand synergy, the company has undertaken “Fresh Digital™,” an
marketing to customers
enterprise-wide transformation initiative. “Unifying lines of business is a better
● Ensures a consistent look and feel
approach to retail,” says Steve Bozzo, CIO at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. “By sharing
across the company
resources, systems and services, we accomplish a number of things. We become
● Provides a rich, differentiated customer
a more dynamic and agile enterprise because we’re breaking down internal
experience
barriers—which will also help us develop new business intelligence. We’ll be able to
● Reduces maintenance and leverage resources and services of all kinds across the brands, from information to
development costs
IT to shipping to warehousing, which will let us work smarter. And by consolidating,
sharing and implementing more efficient technologies as well as implementing
measures like sustainable packaging and reducing our reliance on paper catalogs,
we’ll be able to reduce our environmental footprint, which puts credibility behind
our green marketing efforts.”
Build versus buy
The first step on the consolidation path was to give the individual brands a com-
mon e-commerce platform. The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM brand itself uses a robust
e-commerce system that was developed entirely in-house and which continues to
“ Tearing the walls
serve the company very well, with a demonstrated ability to handle even the heavi-
down will enable us to est holiday volumes. It became clear, however, that using this platform to support
go to market much all of the other brands was not the best use of the company’s resources. Rolling
more effectively. We’ll out the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM platform to its other brands would require replicat-
have a lot more shared ing it over and over and it was simply not the most efficient way forward.
information, and that
“We’re very happy with our core platform. Its performance proves we have the abil-
will allow us to cross- ity to create really strong e-commerce solutions, but fundamentally we’re not a
sell much better.” software company—we’re a gifting company,” says Steve Bozzo. “It made more
— Steve Bozzo sense for us to find a best-of-breed e-commerce platform and work with it as
Page 8 of 60

9. opposed to spending a lot of time and energy creating our own. Also, by going
Solution Components
with an industry leader, we’re leveraging its research and development dollars
instead of using ours to reinvent the wheel as well as reducing the size and envi- Software
ronmental impact of our infrastructure.” ● IBM WebSphere Commerce
● IBM WebSphere Message Broker
The company chose IBM WebSphere Commerce, in part because of the flexible
● IBM WebSphere MQ
and efficient way in which it functions behind the scenes. “With WebSphere
Hardware
Commerce, basically you’ve got a single Web site that handles all of the transac-
tions,” says Bozzo. “This central engine supports as many customer-facing Web ● IBM Power Systems
stores as you like, and it’s easy to add new ones or roll out new features across Services
brands.”
● IBM Global Business Services
● IBM Global Financing
The platform, running on IBM Power Systems™ hardware, also has to integrate
seamlessly with the company’s existing systems. The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM
platform will remain in place, and most of the other brands will be migrated to the
new WebSphere Commerce-based system over the coming year. In the interim,
everything needs to continue functioning transparently. To accomplish this, the
service-oriented architecture solution includes IBM WebSphere Message Broker
and IBM WebSphere MQ, which form an enterprise service bus that ties the legacy
Smarter Solutions for Retail
systems together.
To realize its vision of synergy among its
14 brands and meet ambitious growth
The initial rollout supports two of the company’s gift food brands, and took a total
goals, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC.—the
of only seven months with the help of IBM Global Business Services. “We went world’s largest florist and gift shop—is
from Web 0.5 to Web 2.0 in only a few months; we could not have done that with- deploying a single e-commerce platform.
out IBM,” Bozzo says. Knowledge transfer and lessons learned during the initial The solution, based on IBM WebSphere
Commerce, is designed to replace
rollout will help 1-800-FLOWERS.COM to take a greater role in launching the
multiple siloed systems. The new
remaining gift food brands. In this way, the company will be well prepared to launch platform adds flexibility and agility,
future brand storefronts entirely on its own. making it significantly easier to launch
new Web commerce brands—allowing
the company to try new business
IBM was chosen mostly because of the capabilities of WebSphere Commerce and
strategies with little risk. In addition,
the expertise of IBM Global Business Services, but Bozzo emphasizes another the shared platform facilitates cross-
important consideration: IBM Global Financing. “Because of the uncertainty we’re selling and information sharing
seeing in the macro economy these days, making it easier to make the investment across the enterprise, which helps
1-800-FLOWERS.COM gain maximum
was a key decision driver for us. IBM was able to give us what we needed in that
benefit from its many business units.
area.”
Page 9 of 60

10. Supporting a visionary business strategy © Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
IBM Corporation
The ultimate goal of the company’s overall Fresh Digital™ initiative is to eliminate all
1 New Orchard Rd.
of the barriers between business units, enabling the full sharing and leveraging of Armonk, NY 10504
U.S.A.
information across the entire enterprise and throughout its back-end systems.
Produced in the United States of America
“Over the long term, our customers will be able shop any of our brands, and we’ll January 2009
be able to ship from a unified location. That’s a much more streamlined, efficient All Rights Reserved
and smarter model,” Bozzo says. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Power Systems
and WebSphere are trademarks or registered
trademarks of International Business
The implementation of WebSphere Commerce is a critical first step—the benefits of Machines Corporation in the United States,
other countries, or both. If these and other
shared services that it offers will trickle down throughout the organization over time IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first
and enable new ways of going to market. “Tearing the walls down will enable us to occurrence in this information with a trademark
symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S.
go to market more effectively. We’ll have a lot more shared information about buy- registered or common law trademarks owned
ing patterns and customer profiles and that will allow us to cross-sell much better,” by IBM at the time this information was
published. Such trademarks may also be
says Bozzo. “Also, we’ll be able to try new ideas with little risk. With the new registered or common law trademarks in other
platform, we can launch an entirely new brand fairly easily, because all of the countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is
available on the Web at “Copyright and
e-commerce technology is already there.” trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/
copytrade.shtml
Other company, product or service names may
The most significant impact of the platform, however, will be in the competitiveness
be trademarks or service marks of others.
it brings to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM by allowing the company to leverage best prac- This case study illustrates how one
tices across the entire business. “The platform will enable the individual brands to IBM customer uses IBM products. There
is no guarantee of comparable results.
do things they would never have been able to cost-justify before,” Bozzo says. “It’s
References in this publication to IBM products
going to give us unprecedented agility. We’ll be able to re-merchandise our Web or services do not imply that IBM intends to
make them available in all countries in which
stores on the fly in response to competitive offers. That will make us much more
IBM operates.
relevant to the customer, which is critical. Customer expectations continue to
ratchet up, and this new platform is positioning us to meet them going forward.
We’ll have an immediacy and responsiveness that will give us a real competitive
advantage.”
For more information
To learn more about how IBM can help transform your business, please contact
your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner.
Visit us at: ibm.com/retail
ODC03103-USEN-00
Page 10 of 60

11. Case Study QuickView
Industry: Retail
Bazaarvoice social commerce solutions boost sales at online
retail sites powered by IBM WebSphere Commerce
Bazaarvoice is a pioneer in developing technology and services
that encourage and harness online word-of-mouth marketing
and boost e-commerce. Working with IBM, Bazaarvoice chose
IBM WebSphere® Commerce as a superior platform for its
social commerce solutions.
Challenge
In the offline world, word of mouth is a powerful force, and perhaps
the most trusted form of advertising. Bazaarvoice, an IBM Advanced
Over view Business Partner that participates in IBM PartnerWorld® Industry
Networks and is optimized in the retail industry, saw the potential for
Bazaarvoice, Inc.
word-of-mouth marketing to increase online sales and created
Austin, Texas
innovative tools to facilitate this capability.
www.bazaarvoice.com
Products Solution
• IBM WebSphere Commerce Bazaarvoice core products -- Ratings & Reviews™, Ask & Answer™,
and Bazaarvoice Stories™ -- provide capabilities that are critical to
differentiating retailers and driving sales. The tools, respectively, help
enable customers to rate products and write reviews, ask questions and
get answers directly from other consumers, and share user experiences.
“Joining PartnerWorld Industry They can also seamlessly feed data to IBM DB2® databases.
Networks and using the
Bazaarvoice solutions, which are hosted, managed and monitored,
exceptional resources that provide advanced analytics. They work with any e-commerce platform,
IBM can bring to a partner including IBM WebSphere Commerce, a next-generation solution for
e-commerce needs which is the preferred foundation for the
lets us take our business
applications for multi-channel retailers.
to a whole new level. Our
relationship with IBM is making “WebSphere Commerce provides a whole set of possibilities that
simply wouldn’t be possible with other e-commerce platforms that
Bazaarvoice grow faster and
lack WebSphere’s multi-channel capabilities,” said Brant Barton, vice
in more robust ways than we president, business development, Bazaarvoice.
would have otherwise seen.”
Brant Barton,
vice president, Benefits
business development,
Bazaarvoice Bazaarvoice social commerce solutions running on IBM WebSphere
Commerce:
• Increase online sales and reduce return rates
• Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Improve search ranking and drive qualified leads
• Provide better understanding of customer wants and needs
Page 11 of 60

12. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2007
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
U.S.A.
Produced in the
United States of America
12-07
All Rights Reserved
International Business Machines Corporation, the IBM
logo, DB2, PartnerWorld, and WebSphere are trademarks
or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation in the United
States, other countries, or both.
Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States, other countries, or both.
Other company product or service names may be
trademarks or service marks of others.
The information contained in this documentation is
provided for information purposes only. While efforts were
made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the
information contained in this documentation, it is provided
“as is” without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied.
In addition, this information is based on IBM’s current
product plans and strategy, which are subject to change
by IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for
any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise
related to, this documentation or any other documentation.
Nothing contained in this documentation is intended to,
nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or
representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or
altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license
agreement governing the use of IBM software.
Page 12 of 60

13. Innovation that matters
Gewandhaus Gruber increases customer loyalty and sales revenue by
using cutting-edge IBM and IBM Business Partner technology.
Overview Gewandhaus Gruber is a clothing retailer with a 350-year history of
dressmaking and retailing. It currently has eight branch stores, two
Gewandhaus Gruber
Erding, Germany outlets and a sports shop where it sells both traditional Bavarian clothing
www.gewandhaus-gruber.de and formal dresses of other brands.
Industry
• Retail Challenge
Employees Gewandhaus Gruber is a successful mid-level to high-end clothing merchant in
• 1,000 Germany. Wanting to better understand and reward its existing customers while
attracting new ones, the company decided to implement a customer loyalty
Products
• IBM Anyplace Kiosk program. But traditional card-based loyalty solutions were predictable and could
• IBM DB2® for Linux® be expensive to maintain. Instead, the retailer sought a cutting-edge loyalty offering
IBM Business Partner that would help it increase revenue and differentiate itself from its competitors.
• it-werke Technology GmbH
Solution
Using a combination of IBM and IBM Business Partner technology, the retailer
launched the first fingerprint identification–based loyalty program and payment
method in Germany. The solution allows the client’s loyalty club members to quickly
“The system is unusual and
and conveniently pay for items via a fingerprint scanner that also tracks purchases
distinctive…it has a number
and that rewards members through loyalty incentives. Further, it provides Gewandhaus
of practical advantages…
Gruber with in-depth sales reports that provide decision makers and marketers with
particularly in terms of lower
valuable insight into the way customers spend their money.
operational costs. With no
need to print cards, post Benefits
them, manage them and • Earned d2.6 million —15 percent — of annual revenue in just six months
replace them when lost, the through approximately 4,500 club members
savings are considerable.” • Saved d100,000 in operational costs over a comparable card-based
— Svenja Wittrowski, project leader, loyalty program
Gewandhaus Gruber
• Increased revenue by 4% and improved customer satisfaction
Page 13 of 60

14. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2008
IBM Corporation
1 New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504
U.S.A.
Produced in the United States of America
September 2008
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com and DB2 are trademarks
or registered trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other
countries, or both. If these and other IBM trade-
marked terms are marked on their first occurrence in
this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™),
these symbols indicate U.S. registered or com-
mon law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this
information was published. Such trademarks may
also be registered or common law trademarks in
other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is
available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark
information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
Other company, product and service names may
be trademarks or service marks of others.
The information contained in this documentation
is provided for informational purposes only. While
efforts were made to verify the completeness
and accuracy of the information contained in this
documentation, it is provided “as is” without war-
ranty of any kind, express or implied. In addition,
this information is based on IBM’s current product
plans and strategy, which are subject to change by
IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for
any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise
related to, this documentation or any other docu-
mentation. Nothing contained in this documentation
is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating
any warranties or representations from IBM (or its
suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and
conditions of the applicable license agreement
governing the use of IBM software.
This document illustrates how one organization
uses IBM products. Many factors have contributed
to the results and benefits described; IBM does not
guarantee comparable results elsewhere.
References in this publication to IBM products or
services do not imply that IBM intends to make them
available in all countries in which IBM operates.
REC03001-USEN-00
Page 14 of 60

15. Case Study QuickView
Hardware retailer increases mobile messaging security and flexibility
while improving integration with IBM Lotus
Hartman Rauta Oy operates a number of hardware and do-it-yourself
Overview
(DIY) stores for private consumers and the construction industry.
Hartman Rauta Oy The company’s retail stores focus on providing products for leisure
Vaasa, Finland
activities as well as interior decoration and construction.
www.hartman.fi
Industry Challenge
• Retail Hartman Rauta Oy (Hartman) had been using IBM Lotus Notes V7 software
hosted on an IBM System i5 server as it legacy e-mail and messaging platform,
Employees
and was satisfied with the existing system. However, the company wanted to take
• 1,000-5,000
advantage of a number of new updates and improvements available in the latest
Products version of Lotus Notes software, including new features that would improve mobile
• IBM Lotus Mobile Connect
® ®
data security. In addition, Hartman wanted to implement a virtual group working
• IBM Lotus Quickr ™ environment to support improved communication and collaboration.
• IBM Lotus Notes V8.5
®
Solution
• IBM Lotus Notes Traveler V8.5
Hartman worked with IBM to upgrade its e-mail and messaging platform to
• IBM System i5®
IBM Lotus Notes V8.5 software. The upgrade allowed the company to replace
its legacy Intellisync software with IBM Lotus Notes Traveler V8.5 software,
offering quick access to e-mail and attachments, calendar, address book,
journal and to-do list for Lotus Notes mobile users. Hartman also implemented
IBM Lotus Mobile Connect V8.5 software, helping to increase mobile security
“IBM Lotus software for the company’s virtual private network connections. Hartman implemented
provides the tools we IBM Lotus Quickr V8.5 team collaboration software to create a shared work-
need to leverage mobile space that helps groups work together on projects and easily share everyday
content such as documents and rich media.
productivity—without
sacrificing security.” Benefits
—Jari Pienkuukka, Director, Logistics • Increased security and flexibility of mobile connections
and ICT, Hartman Rauta Oy
• Improved integration between the Lotus Notes platform and the company’s
mobile Symbian operating system–based handhelds
• The Domino Attachment and Object Service built into Lotus Notes V8.5 helps
save storage capacity by minimizing duplicate file attachments
Page 15 of 60

16. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
IBM Software Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
Produced in the United States
August 2009
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Lotus, Lotus
Notes, Quickr and System i5 are trademarks of
International Business Machines Corporation,
registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. A
current list of IBM trademarks is available on the
Web at “Copyright and trademark information”
at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
Other company, product or service names may be
trademarks or service marks of others. The informa-
tion contained in this documentation is provided
for informational purposes only. While efforts were
made to verify the completeness and accuracy of
the information contained in this documentation, it is
provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express
or implied. In addition, this information is based on
IBM’s current product plans and strategy, which are
subject to change by IBM without notice. IBM shall
not be responsible for any damages arising out of the
use of, or otherwise related to, this documentation
or any other documentation. Nothing contained in
this documentation is intended to, nor shall have the
effect of, creating any warranties or representations
from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the
terms and conditions of the applicable license agree-
ment governing the use of IBM software.
LOC14140-USEN-00
Page 16 of 60

17. Case Study QuickView
Hess Corporation maximizes its profitability with real-time pricing
updates thanks to an SOA built using IBM software.
Overview Hess Corporation engages in the exploration, production and refinement of
crude oil and natural gas. Operating more than 1,350 retail gas stations in
Hess Corporation
Woodbridge, New Jersey, USA 14 eastern U.S. states, the organization also offers energy-related utilities
www.hess.com services to commercial and retail customers.
Industry
• Chemicals & Petroleum Challenge
• Retail Locked in stiff competition, Hess Corporation’s retail gas station business relied on
Products smooth supply chain operation to minimize costs and maintain high profit margins.
• IBM Lotus Expeditor
But the organization’s manual product pricing and inventory processes frustrated
• IBM WebSphere Process
Server these goals by consuming employee resources and leaving the organization open to
IBM Business Partner errors. Even worse, these manual processes led to delays that frequently resulted in
• Openstream Inc. data that was out of date before it had been entered into the company’s database.
Hess Corporation needed a new inventory solution that would automate processes
and keep data up to date.
Solution
IBM delivered an IBM Retail Integration Framework solution (built using IBM Lotus®
Expeditor software) that leverages a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to provide
Hess Corporation with real-time insight into the inventory levels of its retail gas
“With the Openstream and stations. Using personal digital assistants (PDAs) and software from IBM Business
IBM solution, it is so much Partner Openstream Inc., the client’s staff can scan station inventory and upload
easier to track inventory that data to a local database. This information is then distributed to the client’s
across our 870 stores. It headquarters using Lotus Expeditor and IBM WebSphere ® Process Server
streamlines our inventory software via the SOA. The solution also enables Hess Corporation to update
processes while providing pricing information across its entire enterprise at one time, removing manual steps.
us with the peace of mind Benefits
of knowing that the data is • Maximizes profitability by supporting real-time price change updates
actually correct.”
• Reduces inventory-tracking errors and duplicate orders by eliminating
— Hess Corporation
manual processes
• Streamlines order and inventory processes with an SOA, improving
employee productivity
Page 17 of 60

18. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2008
IBM Corporation
Software Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
U.S.A.
Produced in the United States of America
04-08
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, Lotus and WebSphere are
trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation in the United States, other countries,
or both.
Other company, product and service names may
be trademarks or service marks of others.
The information contained in this documentation
is provided for informational purposes only. While
efforts were made to verify the completeness and
accuracy of the information contained in this docu-
mentation, it is provided “as is” without warranty of
any kind, express or implied. In addition, this infor-
mation is based on IBM’s current product plans and
strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without
notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any dam-
ages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related
to, this documentation or any other documentation.
Nothing contained in this documentation is intended
to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warran-
ties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or
licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the
applicable license agreement governing the use of
IBM software.
WSC14034-USEN-00
Page 18 of 60

19. IBM Australia
Isuzu Australia takes the road to
collaboration success with IBM®
WebSphere and Lotus technologies
Overview
Problem
Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) has
a large national dealer network
which is the driving force behind
the business. The company needed
a solution to improve the speed
and accuracy of communications
between head office and the
dealerships as well as facilitate
increased collaboration with
business partners.
Solution
IAL chose to implement IBM
WebSphere® Portal linked to other
collaboration tools including Lotus®
Sametime®, Lotus Quickr™, Portal
Document Manager (PDM) and
About Isuzu Australia Limited expensive and time-consuming, it was
Web Content Management.
Isuzu Australia Limited is a wholly- also vulnerable to errors. Dealers were
Benefits owned subsidiary of Isuzu Motors responsible for the internal distribution
Communications both internally and Limited (Japan), and is responsible for of the various materials, resulting in
externally with dealers and partners the marketing, distribution and support frequent failure to reach the appropriate
have been radically improved.
of Isuzu Trucks in Australia. With just dealer recipients. In addition to this any
Information is now hosted centrally
65 employees in Australia, IAL depends errors or update to materials meant a
on a web-based portal, allowing all
largely on its national dealer network repeat of the above process, and again
parties to access real time, up to
of over 1000 dealership staff to drive there was no immediate confirmation of
date information at any time.
its business and maintain its market receipt and use by dealers of the up to
leading position. date information.
Looking towards the latest technology It was evident to IAL that both internal
The Isuzu Truck national dealer and external communications could
network is the retail end of the be improved through utilisation of new
distribution channel for Isuzu technologies. Aninka Morhall, Staff
Trucks sold in Australia, hence the Operations Manager at Isuzu Australia’s
requirement for access to the latest Head Office, in Port Melbourne, was
materials and information from IAL tasked with sourcing an online portal
head office. In 2005 the company and content management solution
(IAL) was distributing all information to to supercede the existing manual
dealers manually in printed format via processes.
surface mail. Not only was this system
Page 19 of 60

20. Selection of a portal IAL also elected to expand its Collaboration pays off
Morhall evaluated solutions from a collaboration capabilities by adding The implementation of the WebSphere
number of leading vendors, but settled Lotus Sametime instant messaging, Portal enhanced by Lotus collaboration
on IBM WebSphere Portal along with Lotus Quickr for team based project tools has totally transformed the
Workplace Web Content Management management and Portal Document communication processes between
(WCM). Commenting on IAL’s reasons Manager (PDM) to create a central Isuzu and its dealer network. Today
for selecting IBM technology Morhall repository for documents. “These all materials are hosted on the
said, “We chose WebSphere Portal additional systems were implemented portal and dealers simply have to
and WCM because this solution was to enable teams to collaborate around log on to instantly access the latest
more capable of meeting our needs specific projects and documents and to information. The result has meant
than the other offerings in the market, cut down on sharing of documents as vastly improved, more accurate and
in particular in terms of its scalability. email attachments” Morhall commented. timely communications with IAL’s
We were also interested in all of the dealer network enhancing most areas
The portal and collaboration tools were
extra collaborative components. of their business operations, and even
rolled out to staff and 1000+ dealership
As a long time Lotus Notes user ®
increasing their ability to sell more
staff, with access controlled by a
we knew these systems would effectively. The dealers can also log onto
complex security structure allowing the
integrate seamlessly with our existing Sametime instant messaging through
right people to see the right content at
technology platforms.” a web interface, enabling them to
the right time. The systems were quickly
communicate with head office contacts
adopted by the majority of users and
in real time and quickly trouble-shoot
today are used companywide.
any current queries.
Internal communication within IAL has
also improved. Staff can now publish
information themselves, expediting
access to important information. Instant
messaging has also meant employees
rely less on email and more business
decisions can be made in real time. The
“We chose WebSphere Portal and WCM discipline of using a central document
because this solution was more capable of repository hosted online means fewer
meeting our needs than the other offerings documents are shared as attachments
and users can be more confident they
in the market, in particular in terms of its
are accessing the most recent version.
scalability. We were also interested in all of
the extra collaborative components. As a long
time Lotus Notes user we knew these systems
would integrate seamlessly with our existing
technology platforms.”
- Aninka Morhall, Staff Operations Manager, Isuzu Australia
Page 20 of 60

21. Morhall explained, “Now our company Continuing the journey Leading Communication for the Truck
announcements are no longer sent The implementation of WebSphere Market leader
by email – people know they have to Portal and Lotus collaboration tools As Australian truck market leader for
log into the portal if they want to be has given IAL a taste for more 19 consecutive years (20 by the end
kept up to date. Anyone can publish technology and the productivity gains of 2008), Isuzu Australia recognises
information, it’s simply reviewed for it can deliver. Morhall is currently rolling that maintaining this enviable record
appropriateness, and then it is posted out the use of wiki technology which is dependent on providing leading
immediately. All our business policies is available in Quickr, “We are going products and services. IAL is also
and procedures are hosted on the to start using wiki technology in Lotus committed to demonstrating leadership
portal as well.” Quickr to further improve information in all areas of its operations, and by
sharing – that’s our latest exciting selecting IBM WebSphere Portal and
Since the portal went live in 2006
project here.” Morhall is also looking at Lotus Software technologies to provide
Isuzu has realised substantial
incorporating IBM’s Workplace learning leading communications between
business benefits. The company has
management system into the portal IAL and its dealer network its market
enjoyed cost reductions since it no
to further extend knowledge sharing leadership is more easily maintained.
longer has to print materials for the
and collaboration based e-learning
dealer network and distribute them
throughout the organisation.
through the mail. Cost aside, Isuzu
now distributes information to its
dealers instantaneously, confident
in the knowledge that dealers are
always just a click away from the “Now our company announcements are no
latest information. This has reduced longer sent by email – people know they have
errors across the entire dealer
to log into the portal if they want to be kept
network.
up to date. Anyone can publish information, it’s
Armed with the latest technology simply reviewed for appropriateness, and then it is
tools, collaboration and knowledge
posted immediately. All our business policies and
sharing has increased – for example
teams can discuss a particular
procedures are hosted on the portal as well.”
document over a web meeting, or
- Aninka Morhall, Staff Operations Manager, Isuzu Australia
individuals can access the real-time
status of a project, task or milestone
simply by logging into the portal.
Page 21 of 60

22. For more information
Please call 132 426 in Australia or
0800 801 800 in New Zealand.
© Copyright IBM Australia Limited 2008
ACN 79 000 024 733. © Copyright IBM
Corporation 2008. All Rights Reserved
IBM Australia Limited
IBM Centre
Level 13, 601 Pacific Highway
St Leonards NSW 2065
08/08
IBM, the IBM logo, Websphere, Lotus, Sametime,
Quickr and Lotus Notes are trademarks or
registered trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation in the United States, other
countries or both.
Intel, the Intel Inside Logo and Pentium are
registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its
subsidiaries in the United States or other countries.
Other company, product and service names may
be trademarks or service marks of others.
Important Privacy Information: If you would like
to request access to or correction of your details
or if you or your organisation would prefer not to
receive further information on IBM products, please
advise us on: 132 426 (Australia) or 0800 801 800
(New Zealand).
This customer story is based on information
provided by AusRegistry and illustrates how one
organisation uses IBM products. Many factors have
contributed to the results and benefits described.
IBM does not guarantee comparable results
elsewhere.
Designed by the IBM Grafxlab.
GL_10081
Page 22 of 60

23. IBM Case Study
IBM
Major retailer
Evaluating inventory strategies
Overview
 Objective:
A retailer with billions in annual sales
had seven distribution centers (DCs)
to serve its stores. The retailer was
growing rapidly through acquisitions
and organic growth. This produced a
hybrid inventory strategy with some
stock-keeping units (SKUs) stored at
all the DCs and others at only a few
centralized locations. The
assignment of SKUs was largely
based on the practices of the
acquired companies. The retailer
wanted to determine whether its
inventory strategy was appropriate
for its business. scenarios were developed for each Best of both inventory strategies
strategy. The retailer was able to Using the centralized strategy, the
 Solution: reallocate nearly 25 percent of its retailer is able to reduce its inventory
The decentralized strategy had SKUs between the two strategies, levels through risk-pooling and more
suppliers drop products at the DCs, with a projected reduction in accurate forecasts. Furthermore, the
while the centralized strategy had transportation and inventory holding larger volume at the central locations
products go to central DCs and then costs of more than U.S.$1.5 million. means more frequent shipments
to other DCs. The latter system from suppliers, which results in lower
resulted in transportation costs of  Benefits: inventory levels. But this strategy incurs
nearly U.S.$5 million a year between • Lower transportation costs additional transportation costs be tween
the central and store-facing DCs. • More accurate inventory analysis central and store-facing DCs, as well as
Using IBM® ILOG Inventory Analyst, • Improved distribution extra handling costs as products have
the inventory planning solution from to flow between DCs and then on to the
LogicTools (now IBM ILOG), stores.
Page 23 of 60

24. IBM
Each inventory strategy was evaluated group together. Also, sensitivity analysis
with IBM ILOG Inventory Analyst. The was conducted to determine how the
®
factors modelled included product strategy would change if inventory
costs, inventory holding costs, demand, holding costs were changed.
forecast error, service levels, supplier
lead times and reliability, receiving Benefits © Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
frequency, and transportation times and By comparing IBM ILOG Inventory IBM Corporation
costs. A total cost for each SKU was Analyst’s recommendations with the Software Group
Route 100
determined for each strategy, and the current distribution system, the retailer Somers, New York 10589
resulting costs compared. This helped was able to identify SKUs as candidates U.S.A.
determine which SKUs to assign to each for transition between the centralized Produced in the United States of America
inventory strategy, and the projected and decentralized inventory strategies. December 2009
savings from doing so. Nearly 25 percent of the SKUs fell All Rights Reserved
into this category. By making these
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks
For operational reasons, some product changes, the retailer projected savings or registered trademarks of International
categories could not use a hybrid of over U.S.$1.5 million per year, mainly Business Machines Corporation in the United
States, other countries, or both. If these and other
strategy, and an aggregated decision from reductions in transportation and IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first
was made for these categories by inventory holding costs. occurrence in this information with a trademark
symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S.
considering all the products in the registered or common law trademarks owned by
Based on extensive analysis of the IBM at the time this information was published.
Such trademarks may also be regis-tered or
results from the IBM ILOG Inventory common law trademarks in other countries. A
Analyst model, the customer was able current list of IBM trademarks is available on the
Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at
to save millions of dollars annually ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
in distribution costs, as well as
Other product, company or service names may
significantly reduce inventory. This be trademarks or service marks of others.
gave the customer more visibility into
This case study is an example of how one
the downstream supply chain, thereby customer uses IBM products. There is no
increasing manufacturing flexibility guarantee of comparable results.
and further reducing raw material References in this publication to IBM products
inventories. In addition, the length of and services do not imply that IBM intends to
make them available in all countries in which IBM
the cash-flow cycle was reduced by operates.
50 percent through direct shipping to
customers.
Products and services used
Software
IBM® ILOG Inventory Analyst
Recyclable, please recycle. WSC14123-USEN-01
Page 24 of 60

25. IBM Global Business Services
Max Bahr Case Study
Supply Chain
Management
“Do-it-yourself” retailer uses IBM solution to automate
replenishment and help ensure high shelf availability
A change in business focus in the stores; 70 percent arrive directly
Overview
Max Bahr Holzhandlung GmbH, a from suppliers. A second warehouse is
pioneer since 1879 in Germany’s scheduled to begin operations this year.
Challenge
highly competitive do-it-yourself (DIY)
Meet customer demand for any of
market, was at a crossroads. After Max Bahr employs approximately 4,500
40,000 products in over 80 outlets with
going through a busy period of opening employees, all of whom are dedicated
low replenishment and storage costs
up new stores during the 1990s, the to one objective: providing superior
DIY retailer wanted to refocus its on-floor consultation and service to
Why become an On Demand business
energy on driving up sales per square every customer, whether layperson or
To help drive up sales per square
meter of existing floor space. That professional. The company strives to
meter of existing floor space, Max
meant ensuring high shelf availability offer premium goods and services at
Bahr needed an approach that would
for every item Max Bahr carries. DIY the lowest possible prices.
provide the highest product availability
stores typically carry few substitutable
levels for customers, while optimizing
products, and customers have a high To help implement its revised business
inventory and storage costs
propensity to buy when they are in the plan, Max Bahr needed an automated,
store. centralized replenishment system that
Solution
could provide the highest customer
IBM Dynamic Inventory Optimization
With revenues of 816 million euros in service levels, while optimizing
Solution, a comprehensive offering
2005, Max Bahr operates more than inventory and storage costs. “We were
that helps companies determine
80 home and garden centers around making replenishment decisions locally
optimal inventory levels based on cost
the Federal Republic of Germany, at each store,” says Anja Schöning,
constraints, forecasts, demand patterns
as well as an e-commerce Web site. project manager at Max Bahr. “Planners
and service level requirements
Its inventory of some 40,000 items, would look at the store’s point-of-
some of which carry the Max Bahr sale (POS) data and manually place
Key Benefits
brand, are sourced globally and cover replenishment orders.” Each store has
- Customer service levels of 99 percent
everything the “do-it-yourselfer” needs a POS system that runs on an IBM
or higher
for the home and garden, including eServerTM iSeries™ server. However,
- Over 90 percent of replenishment
wallpaper, carpets, wood, electrical not all stores had very good and
proposals turn into orders without
equipment, tools, DIY manuals, garden experienced planners — often resulting
any review
furniture and a huge assortment of in poor availability and high opportunity
- Improved demand forecasting, fewer
plants and flowers. A central warehouse costs. Moreover, it was expensive
planners and lower replenishment
replenishes 30 percent of the products employing so many planners.
costs
Page 25 of 60

26. Answering the challenge Nightly replenishment runs © Copyright IBM Corporation 2006
In 2003, after considering a number Today, the Dynamic Inventory IBM Global Services
Route 100
of alternatives, Max Bahr turned to Optimization Solution performs
Somers, NY 10589
IBM, which proposed the IBM Dynamic eighty to ninety percent of Max Bahr’s U.S.A.
Inventory Optimization Solution. After inventory replenishment. There is no
Printed in the United States of America
a one-month requirements study, the ERP system involved.
12-06
IBM team began incorporating the All Rights Reserved
business rules needed by the solution Shortly after midnight, the stores
IBM, the IBM logo, eServer and iSeries are
to forecast demand, calculate safety transfer POS data — approximately trademarks or registered trademarks of Inter-
stock, batch sizes and reorder points, 15–20 million transactions — to a national Business Machines Corporation in the
and compute replenishment order central database and add them to a United States, other countries or both.
proposals for the entire inventory. rolling repository that contains a two- Other company, product and service names
year history of every product in every may be trademarks or service marks of others.
“We wanted IBM to build in as much store. Using this transaction dataset, References in this publication to IBM products
business logic as possible, so that the Dynamic Inventory Optimization or services do not imply that IBM intends to
replenishment orders could be sent to Solution performs a two-echelon make them available in all countries in which
the warehouse and to suppliers without analysis, looking first at the outlets IBM operates.
ever being reviewed by a planner,” and then at the central warehouse This document is based on information pro-
explains Schöning. That required to generate forecasts and order vided by Max Bahr and illustrates how one
writing client-specific modules that proposals. Each of the approximate 85 organization uses IBM products. Many factors
have contributed to the results and benefits
considered variables such as maximum runs of the solution takes around one
described; IBM does not guarantee compa-
shelf or bin space for an item, minute, constituting up to four million rable results elsewhere.
upcoming promotions, supplier lead replenishment decisions. The entire
times, free shipping on orders above a process is completed by seven o’clock
certain amount, product assortments in the morning, before the planners
and odd lots. arrive at work. Any replenishment
issues found by the solution go on For more information
an exception report to be manually The IBM Dynamic Inventory Optimization
“The [solution] has become one of resolved. Solution is part of the IBM Center for
the most important business tools we The results from the Max Bahr-IBM
Business Optimization’s solution portfolio,
which includes solutions in the areas of
have for positively impacting sales collaboration are impressive. Customer risk management, marketing investment,
service levels at the stores have
and keeping us competitive.” reached an average of 99 percent or
pricing and supply chain management.
The center brings together IBM’s industry
more. What’s more, over 90 percent of and process expertise, hardware and
— Anja Schöning, project manager,
the order proposals are automatically business performance software, and the
Max Bahr turned into actual orders to suppliers company’s deep computing and advanced
without any review by, what is now, analytics capabilities to tackle the most
only a handful of planners in the difficult challenges facing business and
“The capabilities and flexibility of company. government.
the Dynamic Inventory Optimization
Solution allowed us to respond quickly “The Dynamic Inventory Optimization To learn more about IBM Global Business
and effectively to Max Bahr,” says Solution has become one of the most Services, contact your IBM sales
Richard Boedi, an IBM researcher on important business tools we have for representative, or visit:
the team. “Within months of starting positively impacting sales and keeping
the project, we were managing us competitive,” concludes Schöning. ibm.com/bcs
inventory at four outlets and with one
major supplier.”
To learn more about the IBM Dynamic
Inventory Optimization Solution and the
IBM Center for Business Optimization,
contact your IBM representative or visit:
ibm.com/services/cbo
BCC00102-USEN-01
Page 26 of 60

27. Let’s build a smarter planet
METRO Group tracks meat products from
production to point of sale.
Overview In Germany, there have been several incidences of moldy meat being
sold by different meat wholesalers. Although this had not been a problem
METRO Group
Düsseldorf, Germany for METRO Group, customers were aware of fresh meat problems at
www.metrogroup.de other retailers.
Industry
• Retail Challenge
Products METRO Group’s retail store meat tracking system was entirely manual. Expiration
• IBM Global Business Services date monitoring was done visually, a time-consuming and error-prone process.
• IBM InfoSphere™ With 800 to 1,000 meat trays inside the self-service counter of a single store at
Traceability Server
any given time, METRO Group needed to gain a better grasp of the inventory
management of its meat products, while working to improve customer food safety.
Solution
Working with IBM Global Business Services in a first-of-a-kind project, METRO
Group used IBM InfoSphere™ Traceability Server software as the backbone
of its new meat-tracking solution. Meat trays are tagged with radio frequency
“METRO Group now has identification tags. Each meat tray is visible during its complete in-store life-
cycle, from packaging to point of sale.
unprecedented transparency
in its in-store meat processes Readers throughout the lifecycle of the meat tray continuously update the inventory
of the real,- Future Store management system. Data is stored by the IBM InfoSphere Traceability Server
in Tönisvorst.” software, enabling improved inventory management and helping ensure product
— Dr. Gerd Wolfram, Head of CIO-Office,
and consumer safety. IBM Global Business Services provided process consulting,
METRO AG dashboards and the architecture for the solution, as well as customization.
Benefits
• Improves inventory management with demand-driven forecasting, reducing
overstocks and write-offs
• Increases consumer safety by sending system alerts for expired or nearly
expired products, which can then be removed from inventory
• Is easily scalable and reusable, thanks to standardized interfaces, enabling
METRO Group to deploy track-and-trace solutions in other sales lines as well
Page 27 of 60

28. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
IBM Corporation
1 New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504
U.S.A.
Produced in the United States of America
November 2009
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, and Smarter Planet are
trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions
worldwide. Other product and service names
might be trademarks of IBM or other companies.
A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the
Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at
ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
The information contained in this documentation
is provided for informational purposes only. While
efforts were made to verify the completeness and
accuracy of the information contained in this docu-
mentation, it is provided “as is” without warranty of
any kind, express or implied. In addition, this infor-
mation is based on IBM’s current product plans and
strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without
notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any dam-
ages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related
to, this documentation or any other documentation.
Nothing contained in this documentation is intended
to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warran-
ties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or
licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the
applicable license agreement governing the use of
IBM software.
This document illustrates how one organization
uses IBM products and services. Many factors
have contributed to the results and benefits
described; IBM does not guarantee comparable
results elsewhere.
References in this publication to IBM products or
services do not imply that IBM intends to make them
available in all countries in which IBM operates.
GBC03030-USEN-00
Page 28 of 60

29. Let’s build a smarter planet
Moosejaw Mountaineering reaches
new heights of customer engagement
through social commerce.
Overview
n The Need
To thrive in the highly competitive
market for outdoor adventure
gear, Moosejaw Mountaineering
needed to create a customer
experience that would engage
a customer community whose
appetite for extreme sports is
matched by a hunger for commu-
nication and collaboration.
n The Solution Based in Madison Heights, Michigan, Moosejaw Mountaineering, Inc. is one of the nation’s leading
outdoor-adventure retailers. With seven retail locations employing 250 in Michigan and Chicago, the
Moosejaw sought to make its site
company’s online retail, Moosejaw.com, was rated a top 50 Web site according to Internet Retailer.
the go-to destination for young, hip
high school and college students n Key Benefits Online commerce has changed a
and for hard-core outdoor enthusi- • Increased revenue from an lot in the decade since it entered
asts by embedding rich community expected increase in conversion into the cultural mainstream. Driven
features into its online commerce rate (based on an initial increase by relentlessly rising customer
experience, thus becoming one of to 50 percent) expectations, sites have become
the first outdoor-adventure retail- • Expected increase in customer loy- easier to use, merchandising has
ers to make multichannel “social alty and word-of-mouth expansion improved and, to put it simply, com-
commerce” the cornerstone of its through a more engaging and col- panies have gotten better at online
growth strategy. laborative online retail experience commerce because they’ve come
• Ability to deliver seamless to understand its many nuances.
messaging, programs and In spite of these changes, however,
customer experience across the essential character of online
all channels retail – namely, the extension of tradi-
• Expected increase in customer tional retail practices to the Internet
satisfaction through richer, more channel – has remained largely
informative pre-purchase support unchanged. So, too, have some basic
(e.g., customer ratings) and long-held assumptions about the
way consumers buy and what they
are looking for from an online retailer.
Page 29 of 60