Circuit City leverages its multi-channel presence

Half of the customers who buy merchandise at Circuitcity.com pick it up at a Circuit City store, George Barr, director of Internet merchandising, told the National Retail Federation Annual Convention today. Even when Circuit City offers free shipping, as it did during the holidays, 30% of customers pick up the items at a store. Customers like to have control over the process and many like the notion of having the goods right away and on their own schedule. "People don't want to wait for UPS," Barr said. "Store pickup has been a winning application from the start." Circuit City launched its web site in July 1999. Barr also told the NRF convention that Circuit City is deploying web-enabled kiosks in stores and store sales personnel encourage customers to use the kiosks when an item is not available in the store.