The web helps regional chain Boscov’s build a bigger national base

For a regional department store chain, Boscov’s keeps on using the web and e-commerce to build a national business.

In 2006, web sales grew by about 25% to around $25 million for Boscov’s Department Stores LLC, No. 266 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

More important for Boscov’s, a regional chain that operates about 60 department stores that anchor malls mainly in Pennsylvania and five other mid-Atlantic states, the web is helping to build a national presence. “We were not a national name, but we now ship 50% of our online orders beyond our traditional marketing area,” says director of e-commerce Marvin Shapanka.

In 2007 Boscov’s will expand its online inventory to about 40,000 items by using more drop shipping arrangements. “We will do more with apparel, domestics and dinnerware,” he says.

Boscov’s, which uses an IBM WebSphere platform to power its e-commerce channel, has been selling online since 2000.