Though it won’t be releasing official figures for several more weeks, The Bombay Company Inc.’s e-commerce business is back on an upward track.
In 2005, Bombay, No. 291 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites, reported e-commerce sales of $15.9 million, a decrease of 1.48% from 2004 web sales of $21.2 million.
But the addition of a new e-commerce executive and more attention to interactive marketing and customer behavior resulted in an overall 2006 increase in web sales of about 50%, says Steve Duchelle, vice president of e-commerce, who joined Bombay from RadioShack Corp., No. 106 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites, in January 2006.
“I had the opportunity to come here and make a difference and be part of a turnaround,” he says.
To increase sales, Bombay has doubled the size of its e-mail marketing database and improved other aspects of its online marketing, Duchelle says. The retailer also is using its web analytics program from Coremetrics to more closely identify and react to shopper buying behavior.
“We believe that a robust Internet business is key to our future and becomes a major component of our multi-channel business plan as we go forward and as our Internet business grows, our cross channel activity increases,” Bombay says in its most recent quarterly earnings report. “We have received positive responses to our e-mail marketing efforts and have experienced synergies between the stores and the Internet, including the ability to transfer BombayKIDS sales from closing store locations to the web.
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