Hudson`s Bay will expand store-based web selling

Hudson`s Bay Co., Canada`s largest retailer, is pleased with the initial results of a test of using web-enabled store systems to sell appliances at its Zellers discount chain and will probably roll out the program to other Zellers stores in markets where Hudson`s Bay does not have a Bay store, David Alves, general manager, merchandising and marketing for HBC.com, Hudson`s Bay`s web operation, tells Internet Retailer. Hudson`s Bay has sold appliances through the Bay stores; Zellers does not sell appliances. "The test showed us that there are no barriers in the customer`s mind to buying appliances from a mass marketer," Alves says. The stores will stock four or five samples. Customers can order those samples or other models through a web-connected terminal in the electronics section of the store.