Apparel & Accessories
Bringing merchandise and the store to online shoppers

Apparel & Accessories 6pm.com Abercrombie.com AE.com Anthropologie.com BrooksBrothers.com CafePress.com Coach.com DavidsBridal.com Gap Guess Jeans JCrew.com Karmaloop.com Kohls.com Nike.com NineWest.com PacSun.com Patagonia.com Rampage.com Skechers.com Swell.com Timberland.com Undergear.com VeraBradley.com Vivre.com WorkingPerson.com

When it comes to categories of products sold, apparel & accessories is the biggest kid on the Internet retailing block. E-retailers in this category account for 80 of the top 500 retail web sites, according to the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

The category, however, also has one of the biggest hurdles on the web: merchandise that shoppers really like to feel, hold and try on, actions impossible to achieve via an Internet connection.

But that's not stopping the apparel & accessories e-retailers named to the Hot 100 from using web tools and technologies to come as close as possible to helping shoppers "feel" merchandise and have an online experience similar to one they would have in a store.

Coach.com, for example, has introduced Try It Online, a site feature designed to help dampen worries shoppers have when purchasing a handbag online. Shoppers can use the Try It Online feature to see where the bag falls on their body. They enter their height, and the web site displays a model of similar height wearing the handbag.

Compared with handbags, shoes present a much bigger challenge to e-retailers looking to reassure shoppers buying online. 6pm.com lets customers soothe each other's concerns. The site offers a Fit Survey, where shoe buyers say such things as whether their shoes "felt true to size," "felt true to width" or provided "moderate arch support." Shoppers can review the survey results when considering a shoe purchase.

At Gap.com, a Quick Look web tool enables shoppers to magnify any part of a product image by mousing over it, giving shoppers as close a look as they could get in a store. "It lets people know what it would be like if they were actually holding it in their hands," says Scott Kincaid, a consultant at Usability Sciences Corp.

Other Internet retailers are not just focused on giving shoppers the feel of merchandise, they're also making online shoppers feel more like they're in a store.

JCrew.com, for instance, boasts a personal shopper program that brings shoppers and retail associates together online. And Swell.com encourages conversation about surfing via e-mail that unites customers and Swell staff.

Time to shop

When serving the price-sensitive buyers, the most important thing is to "help customers find what they are looking for at the best value," explains Lisa Vagge, project manager. That's why San Francisco-based 6pm.com has worked hard on developing filters and sorting features so customers can closely describe what they are looking for and find shoes that closely resemble that description at the best price.

"We've spent a lot of time listening to what our customers want and we are trying to help them quickly find what they are looking for at the best value," Vagge says.

Others notice it. "The navigation is excellent," says Mark Lee, founder of Charlottesville, Va.-based The Mark Lee Group. "You can get to the product you want with minimal clicks. The site is clean with great photographs and product detail."

Lee likes a feature called "Fit Survey" that shows what percent of survey respondents believed this shoe "felt true to size," and how many thought the shoe "felt true to width" and provided "moderate arch support."

Since being acquired by Zappos.com this summer, 6pm.com has not given up its attention to helping customers find a good deal on shoes as it has further expanded its selection of value-priced shoes, Vagge says.

And while Zappos has gotten some cost efficiency by moving 6pm.com to the Zappos platform, the company continues to run the two online shoe stores as separate sites, with Zappos emphasizing high-end service and 6pm positioned as the more price-sensitive site.

One feature at 6pm that has gotten a lot of attention allows customers to match shoes and handbags online. However, it could be in for revision. "That feature is in flux right now," says Vagge. "We think it is a feature that our customers want, but we are still experimenting with the best way to present the matches." Back to top

Strike up the brand

At AbercrombieKids.com, a companion site for the younger set, visitors can watch a movie on ski racing, starring an athlete who could be, and perhaps is, one of Abercrombie's preternaturally beautiful models. Kids can also download wallpapers and screensavers to make their computers look like a G-rated A&F catalog. And, of course, they can buy clothes, though building brand loyalty is the primary goal on the kids site. As with Abercrombie.com, the home page is a large black-and-white glamour shot of one of the catalog models, though fully clothed (unlike the bare-chested hunks at the older kids' site).

At both sites, the overall black-and-white theme stands out, and makes colors pop on the merchandise. Interested parties can visit "A&F New Faces" to see more of those gorgeous black-and-white model shots, where the Abercrombie clothes seem almost an afterthought. Both sites also provide an 800-number where brand loyalists can report incidents of A&F counterfeiting.

"Abercrombie.com clearly focuses on branding," says Craig Smith, founder of consulting firm Trinity Insight. "The home page offers no promotion or in-store messaging," just the large model shot. Smith admires the Flash-based "Get This Look" feature on the primary category pages (which allows shoppers to select a "look" and buy all the pieces on a single page) and the sliding-tool feature that lets customers quickly see products in large image sizes rather than a standard product grid. Dynamic color swatches make it easy to see the full range of choices, and a drop-down shopping bag saves the hassle of going back and forth. Back to top

'It's a mall world'

"This web site does a great job of selling its lifestyle and the look," says Lee Diercks, managing director of Hillsborough, N.J.-based Clear Thinking Group, a con­sulting group.

And by selling this image, American Eagle can increase the number of items customers put in their shopping carts with each order, Diercks says. "If your customers want to buy the look, rather than just buy a product, they are more likely to buy multiple items in order to get that look."

In keeping with the young, hip image, one of AE.com's unique features is a series of entertainment videos that are offered at the shopping site, as well as on YouTube, Facebeook , MySpace and in stores. These videos are clearly marketed for a demographic group that likes to hang out at the mall, whether that mall be physical or virtual.

The videos are a combination of American Eagle original content and of videos contributed by consumers in several genres, including music, comedy, drama and reality programming. The program was kicked off in late summer with "It's a Mall World," a 12-episode series directed by Milo Ventimiglia of NBC-TV's "Heroes." The episodes feature the lives of two record store employees, a greeter at an American Eagle store and two other mall employees.

Other featured programs include videos and songs from the group The Hourly Radio, as well as a video entitled "Class of '08," which allows site visitors to get to know this year's graduating class.

A second feature that Diercks thinks is innovative is the site's Wish List. While Wish Lists are common with sites that sell housewares and luxury items, Diercks says it is more unique among apparel sites. Back to top

A sensual experience

"The assortment is more tactile than other brands—it's a richer experience with more facets," says Michal Robinson, general manager at Anthopologie, based in Trenton, S.C. "We have carried that through the catalog, and that's something we like to carry forward on the web."

Enhancements to the web site Anthropologie.com this year deliver on that effort better than ever. A site redesign streamlines navigation and affords an enhanced online replication of the brand's look and feel, aided by features such as larger images, on-page zoom and earlier price visibility. This year's move to a new e-commerce platform supports the increased visual and merchandising functionality with faster site performance and improved stability.

"For a company that does not rely on traditional advertising, the web site is the main source of visibility outside of our bricks-and-mortar stores," Robinson says.

Anthropologie this year has moved to strengthen the consistency between its web, store and catalog operations with a greater focus on cross-channel merchandising, creative and marketing efforts. And its striving to bring an ever-richer experience to its online customers will continue next year with plans for a downloadable desktop application that will bypass browser constraints to offer shoppers an even more compelling and interactive visual experience.

"The site represents the brand well," comments Lauren Freedman, president of The E-Tailing Group Inc., who cites such aspects as alternative views that let shoppers see items of apparel not only hung on mannequins in a presentation style that has become part of the brand's distinctive look, but also on models for added visual information. "The soul of the brand is really delivered with the site's products and imagery." Back to top

Conservative elegance

Take the text on each page of the web site, which is written in a font that looks like it came off an engraved invitation, and not from an online retail site. "We had the font created especially for us," says Jarid Lukin, e-commerce manager. "We wanted something unique because we believe there is no other company like us."

Many such details contribute to the overall feel of the site. "The font choice, photos and copy is very consistent with the brand," says Mark Lee, founder of consulting firm The Mark Lee Group. "The copy reinforces the luxury image with words like 'classic,' 'heritage,' 'rich' and 'elegant.' Even the preferred customer event notice on the home page is as traditional and understated as a wedding invitation."

BrooksBrothers.com backs up the classic elegance with state-of-the art product enhancements, such as those found in its customized shirt section. Customers can create the shirt they want by selecting the fabric, fit style, collar cuff and monograms. Then they can view what they have created before hitting the purchase button.

"We've had a 41% increase in our customized shirt sales with this feature," Lukin says. "And it has cut down on the number of returns."

Lee notes that the build-a-shirt page is "fun," but more important it allows customers to choose among the options without having to start over.

The build-a-shirt feature is so popular that store sales associates now invite customers, while they are in the store, to go to the web site and view their customized shirts before placing an order. "Our web site is more than a sales vehicle," Lukin says. "It is an opportunity to educate customers about clothing as well as create a consistent and seamless link in our multi-channel strategy."

Way beyond mugs

"Our concept is really user-generated commerce," says Jill Ambrose, chief marketing officer of the Foster City, Calif.-based company.

At CafePress, consumers upload original designs for printing on products ranging from t-shirts to posters. CafePress provides either a free online shop or a fee-based shop with added features, produces on demand items ordered by shoppers, and handles shipping and payment transactions, retaining a portion of each sale. It also uses its production capacities to print and package books and CDs of original content uploaded by its members.

With 130 million products for sale at the site, CafePress invested this year in technology to speed up shopper access to the catalog. It now ranks consistently among Gomez Inc.'s top 10 retail sites in response rate and availability.

Modifications to the shopping cart and product pages this year have lifted conversions by 15%, Ambrose says. And in an innovative take on online gift certificates, CafePress in November launched a Gift This Cart feature that uses e-mail to deliver a shopping cart containing images of products selected by the gift giver, which the recipient can click on to redeem or to swap out for something else.

CafePress has built a robust online community of about 5 million buyers and sellers. The E-tailing Group president Lauren Freedman likens it to eBay, with community-supporting features such as newsletters and forums that leverage the presence of both buyers and sellers in the same environment to swap ideas that help promote sales. And for the seekers of unusual products, Freedman adds, "A really broad assortment makes this a destination." Back to top

Fast follower

That's what happened at New York-based Coach Inc. when it began allowing customers to order handbags and other fashion accessories online and then pick them up at a nearby Coach store. The feature has been successful at increasing Coach sales and, possibly more important, at integrating Coach's web sales with its physical operations.

"In-store pickup has been used by companies like BestBuy and Circuit City, but we're the first in our space to try this and it quickly has become very successful at meeting the needs of customers who want instant gratification or want to avoid paying shipping costs," says David Duplantis, Coach senior vice president of retail merchandising.

"The store pickup is a nice feature and is well integrated into the site," says Mark Lee, founder of Charlottesville, Va.-based consulting firm The Mark Lee Group. For urban and suburban shoppers desperate to get their Coach product right away, there's a "find this item" button that locates stores within 50 miles that have the item, Lee notes.

This feature is one of many ways Coach goes the extra mile to satisfy a clientele used to high-end service.

In November, the chain implemented another application of a web sales tactic common outside its industry—a gift registry. Like retailers of household goods items, Coach believes its customers want to let their friends and family know what they would like to receive. Using the registry, customers list special occasions and select items they like. When items are purchased, they go off the list to avoid duplicates.

Coach is also known for its "try it online" feature for handbags. The customer chooses a handbag, then notes if she is tall, short or in-between. A model will then appear holding the handbag so the customer knows where the bag falls on their body, Duplantis explains. Back to top

Visualizing the big day

Selling something online as emotionally charged as a wedding gown can't be easy. But DavidsBridal.com has found ways to use technology that gives customers more information than they can get in a store.

Take the "dress your wedding" feature. Brides can view online their proposed gown, bridesmaids' dresses and colors, the groom's wear and that of his attendants. Brides can even visualize their proposed wedding party against various backgrounds—such as beaches, parks or traditional reception halls.

"The brides can visualize the entire look of their wedding before their wedding day," says Carol Steinberg, vice president of e-commerce.

On the site, a bride can see what a gown would look like with various options, such as sash style or color and the types of sleeves and trains. Once she selects a dress, she can go into a store for a fitting or order selected styles online.

While most brides prefer to place the order in a store, an increasing number are ordering online. Enough that David's Bridal, a multi-channel retailer based in Conshohocken, Pa., this year introduced a line of bridal dresses available exclusively online. The site plans to introduce a line of online-only bridesmaids and party dresses later this year and expand the online selection to include prom dresses in 2008.

This year, the chain made its site more interactive by allowing brides to submit bridal stories via text, pictures and videos. These features will extend to prom goers in 2008, Steinberg says.

So much extra content "reinforces the sense of authority" that David's Bridal projects, says Mark Lee, founder of Charlottesville, Va.-based consulting firm The Mark Lee Group. Additionally, Lee says, the use of partners, such as travel sites for honeymoon planning, "is a clever way to keep people coming back to the site during the many months of event planning." Back to top

10 and counting

"We've been taking advantage of advances in web technology to provide better usability and a more engaging customer experience," says Will Hunsinger, vice president of the online unit of San Francisco-based Gap Inc. "We want to make it very usable so customers can look at our apparel with our editorial point of view of how to put it together, but also quickly and easily get it into the bag and purchase it."

The home page features Editors' Looks—eight distinct styles for young women, each featuring several items that go together, such as jeans, shirt, sweater, scarf and shoes. An arrow on the right slides the next style into view, letting the shopper flip through as though thumbing through a fashion magazine.

Product pages have been redesigned so that rolling over a color swatch changes the color of the garment being viewed. Each page also displays colors and sizes available, price, fabric, and product care information. "This gives the customer everything they need to make a product decision," Hunsinger says.

Other notable site features are Quick Look, which magnifies each part of an image as the user mouses over it, and a shopping bag that displays each item that's added without the shopper leaving the product page. Gap.com also added site search this year, a feature many sites have had for some time.

One fan of Gap.com is Scott Kincaid, vice president of usability practices at consulting firm Usability Sciences Corp. The ability to magnify color swatches for each garment with Quick Look provides a real feel for the material, he says. "It lets people know what it would be like if they were actually holding it in their hands" Kincaid says.

One complaint: clicking on the Quick Look text that pops up when mousing over an image produced more information on the item but not the magnifying glass effect; that came from clicking on the item itself. Not everyone will get that, Kincaid says. Back to top

No question, it's the look

Guess? has added more product images in the past few months, as many as six per item, responding to customer requests, Nicholas says. And since late in 2006 it has switched to photos of models, instead of mannequins, to provide a better sense of fit.

"In the business we're in, fashion forward, sexy, runway-inspired apparel, the fit would obviously be very important," Nicholas says. He says the additional images and use of models has reduced return rates and increased customer satisfaction, based on on-site customer surveys.

While Guess? is happy to sell items online, the Los Angeles-based company recognizes many customers will want to try on an item like a brass-buttoned Whitney Rocker Coat before paying $158 for it. Thus, a key goal of its web sites is to drive customers to the company's 365 stores in North America, branded Marciano, Guess, G by Guess and Guess Factory.

Nicholas says 82% of visitors to Guess.com have made at least one purchase in a company store in the past year, versus 34% who have bought online. "Those statistics are pretty telling that we're doing a good job of what we're trying to do, showcase the latest fashion and drive online visitors to the stores for the full brand experience," he says.

"Guess.com is definitely a high-fashion site," says Chris Vicente, senior retail practice manager at consulting firm BearingPoint, although he found it somewhat slow to load. He asked a female colleague to check out the site, and she felt the alternative views of jeans gave her a good idea of which product would fit her best. "But," Vicente adds, "she did say she wanted to go to the store to verify the fit. So if that's one of their missions, to drive traffic to the store, mission accomplished." Back to top

Reinforcing the brand

Since its web site was launched in 1996, J. Crew has worked to give shoppers the same experience online. In the past year, JCrew.com has been updated with new features and more segmented shopping areas. The web site, which receives more than 71 million visits each year, has new categories such as "Crew Cuts," which feature clothes and accessories for children ages 2 through 10. All major product categories also now have bigger graphics and enhanced zoom-in tools.

To promote multi-channel retailing, J. Crew updated JCrew.com with a personal shopper program. Shoppers can use JCrew.com to schedule an appointment with a personal shopper at a convenient store or work with the personal shopper to locate the right merchandise online or in the catalog. "If a shopper comes into our stores, she expects to find what our brand stands for: quality apparel that's contemporary," says J. Crew senior vice president of direct merchandising Trish Donnelly. "By adding more rich media, content and merchandising categories, we are extending the same branding experience to the web."

J. Crew is a big believer in database marketing to drive direct sales. The retailer maintains almost 23 million names of customers who receive catalogs and opt-in e-mail on upcoming promotions. Better online branding in conjunction with targeted direct marketing is paying off: Each year more than 2.5 million households from its customer database return to make a purchase online at JCrew.com or from the catalog or stores.

E-commerce analysts like the site's sophisticated look, but find that some new features take away from shopping. "The web site certainly supports their brand, but they can make the personal shopper program more prominent and cut back on the opening videos," says Shari Altman, president of consulting firm Altman Dedicated Direct. Back to top

Social street

The linchpin of the strategy is streetwear, which Karmaloop made its primary inventory about a year ago. An outgrowth of youth culture, streetwear defines a lifestyle of music, dance, street sports, innovation, needs and desires that is reflected in social networking sites such as MySpace.com.

"Streetwear is about a lifestyle as well as fashion and that prompted us to look beyond retail strategies and create a destination site where customers can shop, but also blog, learn about the latest art, music, concerts, films, events, gadgets and read and see interviews with pop cultural icons and fashion designers," says Giovannah Chiu, lifestyle marketing director for Boston-based Karmaloop LLC. "It all ties into the products we sell and is a way to streamline and speed the spread of information about Karmaloop."

As part of its social networking marketing strategy Karmaloop created a Karmaloop Rep program which enables customers to earn discounts on future purchases by promoting Karamaloop on social networking sites, such as TagWorld, Hi5 and Bebo, or personal blogs. Karmaloop reps include links on these sites to items in the Karmaloop catalog they like or personally wear. The program, which is populated with about 10,000 representatives, generates about 15% of web sales.

"The rep program is an excellent community centric marketing plan that encourages rapid fans of the store to spread the word about Karmaloop in exchange for points toward free merchandise," says Maris Daugherty, Chicago-based senior consultant for J.C. Williams Group. "Plus they make it easy by supplying tools like a personalized widget, banners, and flyers for use on My Space, Facebook and other heavily trafficked social networking sites. It is a strategy that capitalizes on the power of the empowered consumer."

It also brings the power of social networking to e-retailing. Back to top

Meeting its market

Having made a serious investment in better web technology and doubled the size of its Internet fulfillment center, Kohl's now views e-commerce in a more serious light. Web sales could reach $300 million in 2007, an increase of 76% over $170 million in 2006, Kohl's CEO Larry Montgomery recently told Wall Street analysts.

The new Kohls.com debuted in March with enhanced shopping applications from Allurent Inc. and features a cleaner layout and bigger graphics. Kohl's also enhanced site search, which enables customers to search by size, color, brand and price, and added more rich media, including zoom.

"We saw what other chain retailers were doing with the Internet," says Kohl's senior vice president of e-commerce Mike Molitor. "We decided we were going to become more competitive."

Kohl's is making other site improvements such as an improved gift shop that features a gift-wrapping service and personalized registry. "We continue to develop site functionality each year to improve presentation and create a better shopping experience," Molitor says.

By the holidays, Kohls.com will carry about the same number of SKUs as a typical Kohl's store, an important initiative as Kohl's seeks out more multi-channel opportunities in merchandising areas such as fine jewelry, women's apparel and handbags. Other enhancements include the introduction of two microsites that feature designer products from Vera Wang and the Food Network.

E-commerce analysts are noticing the turnaround. "It's clear that Kohl's is beginning to understand what their customers want in a web site," says Shari Altman, president of consulting firm Altman Dedicated Direct. "The bottom navigation on the home page breaks the store down into the areas a shopper would be most interested in." Back to top

Living up to the swoosh

Framed by a black background, handsome central images rotate every few seconds, and products and text drop into view, bouncing a little as they settle in. Mousing over smaller bottom-edge images pops up the graphic along with links to sub-categories. The NikeiD, an online sneaker customization feature introduced way back in 1999, allows customers to choose the color of every piece of a shoe, including the swoosh.

"It's spot on from what you'd expect from Nike," says Scott Kincaid, vice president of usability practices at online consulting firm Usability Sciences Corp. "The graphics are great. It has a very sophisticated feel that I'm sure is what customers expect from Nike."

"We're Nike and we try to be as innovative as we can, and provide an industry-leading experience," says Chris Shimojima, vice president of global digital commerce for Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike.

An example of how the web site reinforces the brand is Nike+, a shoe launched in spring 2006 in cooperation with Apple Inc. that contains a chip that lets runners keep track of their time, pace, distance, even calories burned, and get feedback through their iPod nano music player as they run.

At Nikeplus.com, runners can share their results with others and issue and accept challenges. "It's part of something bigger in terms of engagement and deepening the dialogue with customers," Shimojima says. "It's a brand relationship driving experience."

The site also stands out for a left side navigation bar that provides a series of sub-categories that roll up as the customer makes a selection, revealing more ways to narrow a search.

Kincaid is concerned that all the filtering options are not visible from the start, and that some visitors might not recognize the down arrows that indicate more options to come. "We're not 100% satisfied with the navigation," Shimojima says. "We'll continue to improve." Back to top

The shoe fits

Features new with the summer's site redesign include across the top navigation bar on the home page, the Lookbook, Scene & Seen and Designing Nine. The Lookbook is a lifestyle merchandising concept that shows head-to-toe apparel looks for the season, incorporating both shoes, which are NineWest's heritage, and a broader selection of apparel, most recently a denim collection, which is available both on the site and at Jones' department store partners.

Scene & Seen provides customers with an editorial perspective on what fashion and women's media have picked as favorite looks of the season from NineWest, while Designing Nine offers the inside scoop on the latest buzz in fashion as well as a peek into the design process and what inspires it.

"It hearkens back to the idea of accessibility and allows our customer to feel like she is a part of the process," says Ron Offir, president of e-commerce at Bristol, Pa.-based Jones Apparel Group Inc, which owns NineWest. The redesign builds on that notion with the addition of a reviews feature that gives customers a voice on the site.

Beyond the new features that better expose the brand, this year's redesign also aligns the look of the web site with the look of NineWest stores. "Our stores are very modern and clean-looking. They allow the product to be the hero. We did the same with our site," Offir says.

Lauren Freedman, president of The E-Tailing Group, says the redesign succeeds with features such as Scene & Seen bringing the brand to life and flash imagery conveying a sense of excitement. She also calls out the My Closet area, a wish list, which encourages shoppers to "admit your cravings" and fill it with favorites. "That really speaks to their customer, who is a shoe fan," she says. Back to top

Building a community

The web site added several features in 2007, all aimed at building a sense of community among visitors and shoppers. "New content is part of our strong focus on expanding community, both on and offsite," says Stacy Clark, senior director of e-commerce and online marketing.

On PacSun.com there are new blogs and expanded style selections. The site has added mobile functionality that can send alerts about sales, new styles and special events several times a month to shoppers who have opted to receive the wireless alerts.

PacSun.com also has established pages on social networking sites such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com and video sharing site YouTube.com.

The company created a MySpace profile to be close to its consumer base, Clark says. "We are looking for ways to connect with our customers where they spend lot of time. On MySpace, we can feed them content where they hang out," she says.

PacSun.com also has begun sponsoring amateur surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders. Young athletes can apply online at PacSunTeam.com and get exposure to sponsors for their offline activities, in addition to interacting with their peers.

PacSun.com community members get discount cards for stores and the web site and are assigned missions, such as competing in a local sporting event and reporting back with the results, Clark says.

In addition to the new content, PacSun deployed content delivery technology from Akamai Technologies Inc. in 2007. The goal was to improve the user experience by reducing download time and page uptime. So far, the technology upgrade has decreased page download time by more than 50%, Clark says. Back to top

Having a dialogue

One feature shows where products are made, what materials are used and their environmental impact. Shoppers selecting a men's rain shell jacket, for example, see a world map showing the base material is made in Japan, then shipped to Vietnam where it's sewn before heading to the U.S. for distribution.

Each stage is explained with still images, audio or videos using Flash technology developed by The Royal Order of Experience Design, a Chicago-based web design company.

The Footprint Chronicles includes a frank explanation of the upsides and downsides of materials used in a garment. The rain shell includes a chemical that's persistent in the environment, but while potentially harmful, the substance is the best available and most eco-friendly among those that repel water.

That revelation has generated pointed discussion on Patagonia.com's blog, called The Cleanest Line. Also unveiled in 2007, the blog is accessible on the site's home page and is open to Patagonia employees. It provides a forum for discussing the company's products, outdoor activities and environmental issues, says Bill Boland, Patagonia.com's creative director.

In a more direct effort to increase sales, Patagonia.com launched a feature in late October that directs shoppers to alternate sources for out-of-stock products. If a product is unavailable, shoppers find a toll-free number in an area on the site, which they can call and find agents who will try to locate the product at a store. Below the toll-free number are logos of partner stores that have the requested item in stock. Clicking the logo takes the shopper to that product on the partner's site.

All the site improvements have one goal in mind. "We want to help Patagonia customers get our products," Bolden says. "The customer is the focus of our site design." Back to top

Chic shopping

If a customer who wants a certain green silk party dress, size 9, finds her color and measurement out of stock, she can click a pop-up window to request an e-mail about when it or a similar product will arrive to her specifications. The pop-up is already printed with a photo as well as the name, color and size of the desired product; the shopper just enters her name and e-mail address and hits "send."

The "Tell Me When It's In Stock" feature has not only helped to engage shoppers and increase sales, but also to capture the purchasing intentions of customers who otherwise might have left, says director of operations Francheska Anderson. "Before, we could always see when shoppers clicked items, but now we also know what items they really wanted to buy," she says.

The "Tell Me" window is just the latest in innovative shopping features that Rampage has launched in recent years. Having mostly exited the retail chain business—it has closed nearly all of the more than 50 Rampage stores it once operated in major metropolitan shopping districts—it has come to rely mostly on Rampage.com to interact with its customers.

Shoppers can mix and match items in a virtual outfit builder, for example, by dragging images from Rampage.com's entire product line into a fitting room, then dragging them into a staging area to create partial or complete outfits. Shoppers can save the finished outfits, which can include shoes and purses as well as blouses, sweaters, pants, skirts or dresses, for future reference and e-mail them to friends.

"Competing in the hyper-fickle young women's fashion industry, Rampage has employed technology that not only differentiates it but that also demonstrate a profound knowledge of its demographic," says Steve Rowen, analyst with research and advisory firm RSR Research. Back to top

Running to meet needs

Shoppers logging onto the home page of Skechers.com experience an uncluttered design that makes it easy and fast to locate the desired category. Once on a category page, which show 20 products per page, shoppers can see the color options available in thumbnail descriptions of the product, which further speeds the purchasing decision.

Shoppers delving deeper into the site also experience high-speed downloads of Skechers television commercials and a trailer for the upcoming movie Bratz, to which Skechers has marketing tie-ins.

"Page loads are amazingly fast and offer a wealth of product options at a glance," says Maris Daugherty, Chicago-based senior consultant for J.C. Williams Group. "Having color options appear at the category level page instead of at the product detail page level makes browsing even faster. This site is optimized for the on site searcher with very little suggestive selling."

The left hand navigation bar on the home page allows for a more streamlined search process. Shoppers can search by gender, for instance. Clicking on any of the categories allows shoppers to search by such criteria as New Arrivals, Best Sellers or style. "It really streamlines the browsing process without making the shopper feel like they are missing anything," adds Daugherty.

The site also capitalizes on the popularity of the Skechers brand through a loyalty program called Club SKK in which members receive e-mails with exclusive shoe news and offers based on their preferences. Members also receive free shipping.

"Skechers does a great job of capitalizing on the loyalty of its brand, while welcoming new customers at the same time," says Lanae Paaverud, a board member of the Internet Merchants Association, a Wellington, Fla.-based non-profit trade association for e-commerce companies. Back to top

Cool site, dude

With a mission statement to offer the "raddest products" available, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based Swell knows who its customers are and what they want. Its clothing line goes beyond water wear to include jackets, sweats, polo shirts and even complete outfits that fit with a surfer image. Its "Shop By Outfit" section, for example, puts clothing pieces together to create image-based outfits that range from "flirty birdie" to "glamizon" to "fashion school dropout."

The product offering is extensive, going beyond the usual surfboards and traction equipment to include books, magazines, posters and waterproof watches and cameras.

Staying with its commitment to serve its surfer customer, the site also invites customers to call or e-mail questions about surfing.

This is clearly a company that wants to know all about its customers. Last year, it announced its choice of Taurus Software's Ecomedate to improve its customer intelligence. The software creates a single database for customer reports and analysis for Swell employees to use when advising customers on purchases.

All this in keeping with a site that is focused on loyal customers who are committed to a common lifestyle and the products that go with it.

"This is an easy-to-use site, with good navigation and a solid mix of product," says Lee Diercks, managing director of consulting firm Clear Thinking Group. "The site also does a good job of presenting and enhancing the products from the vendors that it represents."

That said, Diercks would like to see fewer product shots and more lifestyle photos. "It shows mostly apparel and, at the end of the day, what they are really doing is selling apparel. Still, from a company like this, I would have expected to see more lifestyle photos—more pictures of people riding the waves or hanging out on the beach than what you get." Back to top

Building an image

Make no mistake: Timberland wants to grow product sales. Their plan includes expanding U.S. sales and reaching international markets, says Troy Brown, senior director of e-commerce and general manager.

On the home front, Timberland.com rolled out a gift guide feature that enables visitors to view top-selling footwear styles and see a shoe or boot "unwrap" and "wrap" onscreen. But the company is about more than manufacturing and selling outdoor gear, Brown says. It's about taking a position as an eco-friendly business.

To help spread the word, Timber­land this year rolled out its first catalogs, one for the back-to-school season and one for holiday shopping. The catalogs promoted the company's expanding array of products, including apparel and accessories such as hats and purses. More important, they promote Timberland's image, Brown says.

"The catalog helps drive business to stores and to the web site," Brown says. "But we didn't start the catalog to be a money-maker; it's a brand-builder."

The catalogs also represent a step forward in Timberland's budding multi-channel marketing strategy, for the first time tying in print, television advertising and e-commerce via Timberland.com.

Much of Timberland's e-commerce focus has been on the rollout of Timberland's United Kingdom web site in October, the company's first foray into international waters. Although the U.K. site had to be built from scratch, it won't be the last foreign outpost, Brown says. "The U.K. site gives us a platform for expansion."

The U.K. version was in the planning stages for months, but the build stage took only from June 1 to Oct. 1 and was crafted on an e-commerce platform from Demandware. The UK site has a different appearance from the U.S. site and will serve as a model for the domestic site's redesign sometime in 2008. Back to top

A model site

Based in Hanover, Pa., Undergear is part of Hanover Direct, a family of catalog and Internet brands that includes International Male, The Company Store, Domestications, Scandia Downs and Silhouettes. Undergear is the fourth largest in the family. However, it's the only one that has a cult following in Yahoo Groups, thanks to the myriad muscled male models.

The redesign team added rich media features, including the ability to zoom in on images and see color renderings. And the team added an Ajax-enabled shopping bag that, all on its own, reduced cart abandonment by 8 percentage points, says Robin Baskin, Hanover Direct's vice president of electronic commerce.

Another addition is a "lifestyle" section, which includes: Fashion Insider, filled with tips and trends; Urban Hot, a spotlight on nightlife in different cities; and A Model Life, mini-profiles of Undergear models.

Undergear understands much of its business is based on brand loyalty and replenishment, and markets accordingly, says Sucharita Mulpuru, principal analyst at Forrester Research. "Once you know your size and brand, you don't have to touch the product to be loyal to it," she says. A members club provides free shipping from Undergear and International Male for $30 per year.

In 2008, Baskin hopes to expand the use of rich media on Undergear.com by introducing photography that doesn't appear in the print catalog. "For the catalog, we normally wouldn't take shots of the back of an item, but on the web it's expected," she says. She also wishes to bulk up the lifestyle section and expand inventory.

Now, at year's end, the enhanced Undergear.com is leading the way for the rest of the family: Hanover Direct plans to transition its other sites to Undergear.com's internally-developed e-commerce platform. Back to top

Aligning with retailers

That challenge plays out, for instance, in search engine results. Many of those retailers are competing to capture the business when a customer types in "Vera Bradley" in a search engine. The manufacturer doesn't want to take business away from its top sales vehicles by getting higher placement for itself on results than the retailers. "We approach search engine marketing conservatively. We participate, but selectively," says Andy Carpenter, relationship marketing director.

One way Vera Bradley has included retailers in its e-commerce operations is that each time a customer buys a product from the Vera Bradley web site, she is asked to list her "favorite Vera Bradley store." That store gets a point per dollar spent. Retailers can redeem these points for product discounts or special cabinetry to display product.

"We are helping retail stores get over their fears that e-commerce will take sales away from their stores by helping them reinvest in the improvement of the display of our brand in their stores," Carpenter says.

Vera Bradley also launched in November a program whereby store customers who want a product the store does not carry can use in-store terminals to order from VeraBradley.com. The participating store gets credit for the sale.

VeraBradley also works closely with its retailers on its e-mail campaigns, putting information about upcoming sales and special promotions about each customer's favorite store in the marketing materials sent out by Vera Bradley.

VeraBradley.com launched another new feature in July with help from Scene7. This allows customers to click to see products' fabric up close, an important feature to the sale of quilted cotton handbags with unique designs. "You can see the detail in the fabric in a vibrant way so that you can really judge the color and pattern," Carpenter says. Back to top

The soft sell

But Vivre.com believes its customers—women with average incomes of over $300,000 annually—don't want the hard sale. They want to be inspired.

"We want to be a lifestyles resource guide for our customers," explains David Manela, vice president of development for New York City-based Vivre.com. "We're more like a magazine that blends together information about style with product information."

That's not to say Vivre is not successful in selling products from its site. The average purchase is around $600, Manela says, and the average order contains about 2.5 items. But Vivre sells things a bit differently from most online retailers. "Our site is for women who want to be inspired, not those who simply come to replenish their wardrobe," says Manela.

The hope is that as women read about the latest in luxury fashion and other items, they will just click on an item they are reading about and initiate a purchase. "If you want to look at 75 handbags of the same brand, you don't come to Vivre. If you want to find something special, this is where you go," Manela says.

Still, Vivre is able to represent 100 to 150 luxury brands representing 2,000 to 3,000 products. With its emphasis on the latest things, 20% to 30% of the products change every couple of months, Manela says.

"This is a site that is filled with content. It obviously works hard to ensure that Vivre is an authoritative source for fashion information," says Mark Lee, founder of Charlottesville, Va.-based consulting firm The Mark Lee Group. "This authority is strongly supported by glowing endorsements from big names like Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors and Town & Country magazine."

But with so much emphasis on inspiration, the site might be lacking in the basics of e-commerce. Lee notes navigation is "far from intuitive" and adds "I don't think there's enough detailed information about the products."

Person at work

Most of these features are untypical of most retailers, let alone apparel retailers, which is why they go a long way in playing well with the target customer. "This is a great lifestyle site that knows who the customer is and what is important to them," says Maris Daugherty, Chicago-based senior consultant for J.C. Williams Group. "The site constantly reinforces the value proposition in price, quality and commitment to a good experience."

Those qualities are reflected in the detailed product pages that are populated with robust, multi-view thumbnail images of the product that enlarge when moused over. Highly detailed product descriptions tell how the item aids job performance.

"The effort put into the product detail pages with robust images and thorough, compelling copy is something more typical of a consumer electronics site, but is virtually absent on apparel sites," says Daugherty.

When it comes to servicing the customer, WorkingPerson.com's mission statement is to have its service agents treat customers as they expect to be treated. Live chat buttons are available on each product page, as well as a survey about the quality of the site's service. Customer comments are also available. "This is one of the better sites with regards to servicing and taking care of the customer," says Brian Barry, senior consultant with Richmond, Va.-based F. Curtis Barry & Co.

Shoppers can also access the site in Spanish, German, Italian, and French, which provides the foundation for international expansion, making it possible for WorkingPerson.com to live up to its motto of being dedicated to the needs of working people everywhere. Back to top