Retail chain Abt Electronics reports web sales growth of 20% in 2006, citing demand for flat panel TVs and home appliances. “Flat panel TVs were crazy last year, for us and the entire industry,” says Jon Abt, vice president. “Prices were down significantly so we had to sell more of them and margins were lower, but 2006 was a good time to sell flat panels,” he adds.
Online sales of major appliances also were up, compared with 2005, but Abt declined to get into specifics.
E-commerce tools contributed to growth in 2006 and are positioning the company, which is No. 148 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, for more online sales in 2007, Abt says.
Abt Electronics added customer reviews by PowerReviews Inc. last summer. The reviews improved sales conversion rates and assisted the company in identifying poorly performing products. “We have a service department but some didn’t show up there,” Abt says.
The company also added customer comparison tools from Guidester Inc. The tools, set up for specific product lines such as televisions, help customers narrow their search by asking a few questions about preferences.
For example, a customer could enter the height and width of a media cabinet and the Guidester would generate a list with the televisions that would fit. Abt has 13 of them in place, about half of which were live in 2006.
Abt also has online buying guides that historically were limited to generic product information, but that are being enhanced with data about specific products. Video-driven guides also are in the works.
The top e-commerce priority for 2007 is expanded search tools, Abt says. “We will update our functionality and capability within the next few months,” he says. “There are a handful of other initiatives on the table we’re not ready to talk about yet. But we see the potential of the web and are investing in it this year more than ever.”
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