Potpourri Group setting sights on increased e-commerce
Direct marketer Potpourri Group Inc. is in the process of upgrading its commitment to e-commerce with improved site navigation and search, and extending its affiliate program across all 12 e-commerce businesses, including TheStitchery.com, Expressions.com and NorthStyle.com.
Potpourri Group will continue its extensive e-commerce planning and financial analysis this fiscal year and the next, Mike Masse, vice president, e-commerce, tells Internet Retailer. Masse joined the company in November and was brought in to help create more online business and build an e-commerce marketing and technology team.
The company is in the process of shifting its sales emphasis away from its catalog roots and including more e-commerce, Masse says. “In the past we have kind of ignored e-commerce,” he says. “Certainly there are e-commerce sites that do a lot of business but they have been for ordering in support of the catalogs.”
Some of items on Masse’s “To-do” list include assessing technology and site usability, hiring staff, developing search engine marketing campaigns, reviewing what competitors are doing and identifying where the company wants e-commerce to be in six to 10 months. “We are at the baseline starting point,” he says.
One goal is to improve conversion rates and that includes reviewing the online checkout process. “In three to six months we will see significant changes in those areas,” Masse says. “Then we’ll branch into marketing and slowly phase in improvements in navigation and search.”
Only BackintheSaddle.com has an affiliate program today, but Potpourri, No. 145 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, wants all 12 of its web sites to have one in three to six months, Masse says.
The company’s biggest e-commerce expansion challenge? “It’s staff,” Masse says. “We have 12 titles and three people on the team, so we need to staff up first.”
Masse will speak at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 9-12 in Chicago in a session titled Marketing: Making the right choices to achieve ROI.
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