Question:
You are a new member of the marketing organization for a 10-year-old, rapidly growing retailer with $2.7 billion in annual sales and 85 stores located in half a dozen southern states. You were hired away from Macy's with a nice salary increase and were promised an opportunity to influence the e-commerce plans of your new employer. The retailer has been a somewhat reluctant participant in B2C e-commerce with its own Web site since 2006. "Everybody else is doing it so I guess we should too" has been the firm's attitude. Results have been disappointing, with the little additional sales generated barely offsetting the cost to outsource the Web hosting of the site. The Web site is currently viewed as another link in the company's multichannel marketing approach. You are convinced that e-commerce could play a much bigger role in your firm's future and have asked for a few minutes with the VP of Marketing to present your ideas. What would you say?