Web is top new-customer source for multi-channel Replacements Ltd.

The web is on track to become the leading source of new customers for its current fiscal year at china and crystal merchant Replacements Ltd., the Greensboro, N.C.-based company tells Internet Retailer. Last year, 198,671 new customers came to the company via the Internet, about 25% of the more than 800,00 new customers added to Replacements’ customer database, says Jack Whitley, vice president of sales and marketing. Print advertising, long a mainstay of customer acquisition for the 20-year old firm, accounted for about 51,000 of last year’s new customers, while the rest came through acquisition of customer lists from other companies, affiliate programs and other channels.

"The customers coming to us through the web will be even larger as a percentage for fiscal 2001,” Whitley says. Replacements’ fiscal year ended Sept. 30. “We’re on pace for that to be the number one source for adding new customers to our database."

Replacements, one of the world’s largest retailers of old and new china, crystal, silver and collectibles, sells through mail order, phone orders, and from its 12,000-square-foot showroom in addition to the web site it launched in 1998. While a relatively small percentage of its $70 million-plus annual sales are transacted online, the web plays a critical role in driving phone sales through the extensive inventory that’s listed online and updated for customer viewing daily (and in real time for call center agents.) Inventory listed online represents the 5,000 top patterns, or about 70% of what Replacements has in stock. Customers wanting to extend or replace china, silver or crystal can register their patterns on the web site in online form to receive information about what’s in stock. Registered users are e-mailed on inventory status monthly or more frequently on request, and they can link to an online order form from the e-mail, or place an order through Replacements’ toll-free number.