AAFES takes command of a new e-commerce strategy
Online business remains brisk for the Army & Air Force Exchange. The organization that supplies and operates the military’s PX system generated total web sales of $126.21 million in 2004, up 10% from e-commerce sales of $114.7 million in 2003.
But despite growing sales, AAFES certainly doesn’t have a lock on the online shopping business of the nation’s armed forces community. Facing more off-line competition, AAFES is using the web to expand its multi-channel strategy and give its international base of members of the military and their dependents even easier ways to shop online.
For instance, AAFES, which carries more than 25,000 SKUs in its online inventory, is adding new lines of merchandise such as home décor and expanding the number of outside merchants with storefronts on AAFES’ interactive shopping mall to more than 40.
AAFES is also promoting its web store heavily in signage in its network of bricks-and-mortar locations and in 15 different catalogs. To generate more sales from its catalog—and catalog order centers in PXs—AAFES is redesigning its e-commerce site and building more virtual catalogs that will allow shoppers to read a virtual version of the exchange’s most current edition and place their orders entirely online.
“We’re in the final stages of creating an online catalog shopping experience,” says Mike Westphal, senior vice president of marketing for AAFES. “Many military exchange customers window shop the catalog before going online to place their order. These improvements will result in faster order processing and more customer convenience.”
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