The rules for big ticket e-commerce differ from first wave, ecommerce 1.0 practices. More often than not, big-ticket ecommerce problems occur when retailers apply first wave e-commerce solutions to second wave challenges.
E-commerce 1.0 = E-commerce Island: A common mistake occurs at the outset of many big ticket e-commerce efforts – big ticket retailers organize their e-commerce business as an ‘island’, isolated within a department or wholly outsourced. A departmentalized approach, isolated from a company’s overall retail operations, is typical of (and may work for) simple ”first wave” e-commerce categories, but the local, multichannel complexity of big ticket e-commerce makes this structure at best ineffective, and more likely detrimental to the chain.
Big Ticket E-commerce = Embedded E-commerce Strategy: Launch your e-commerce operation as a coordinated, multichannel commerce effort, ideally with the head of e-commerce having a seat at the management table. This structure allows e-commerce to become what it should be in big ticket categories– a force multiplier for chain-wide initiatives – and optimizes e-commerce results.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
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