Innovation is a key to success, but it gets harder as a company grows. “It’s harder to be innovative as we get big,” Bill Bass, vice president and general manager of Sears Customer Direct and senior vice president of Lands’ End, said as part the panel Moving the Site Experience Beyond the Basics—Marrying Innovation and ROI. Other panelists were Janet Estes, director of Internet merchandising for Macys.com and Jon Nordmark, CEO of eBags Inc. It was moderated by Lauren Freedman, president of consultants The E-Tailing Group Inc.
Freedman asked the panelists to identify the three most innovative initiatives that each retailer undertook. At Macy’s, Estes identified search and merchandising technology that included a best-seller page and a compare page. The comparison initiative resulted in a fivefold increase in conversion rates. She also cited a mix and match function for swimwear, which resulted in a 300% increase in sales from he year before; and improved images, including changeable color swatches. Changeable color swatches resulted in more sales at full price, she said, explaining that products are usually displayed in black, and because people can’t visualize the product in another color, the black ones sell out and the other colors go on the discount rack. With color swapping, the colors sell more evenly.
At eBags, Nordmark cited a compare function, with results similar to Macy’s, a color swapping function and the creation of microsites for airlines’ lost-luggage-replacement programs.
Lands’ End is generally considered a leader in online innovation and Bass cited a series of firsts for Lands’ End, including My Virtual Model in 1998 and live chat in 1999. One key lesson from My Virtual Model, Bass said, was not to wait for perfection. Describing the first My Virtual Model characterizations as something out of South Park, Bass said he implemented despite skepticism from some staff who felt the look was not refined enough for an apparel site. Customers took to it right from the start, he said, with uses of My Virtual Model technology converting at a higher rate and spending more. “If you wait for it to be perfect, it’ll never happen,” Bass said.
Bass noted that innovation has moved to Sears now, which bought Lands’ End two years ago. “The web site is now 40% of sales at Lands’ End, so there are a lot of people who want to make sure you don’t screw up and a lot of people who want to help you,” he said. “And you can’t innovate with a lot of people.” The proportion of web sales for Sears is much smaller, he added, with less risk, making Sears “a great innovation petrie dish,” he said.
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