The Online Women’s Clothing Industry By Yucheng Hu, Yimin Jiang, Andrew Jones

Major Players in Online Women’s Clothing FirmsLocations Served Eddie BauerU.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, & U.K. Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Japan, & U.K. Land’s EndU.S., & U.K. Victoria’s SecretAll over U.S. J. CrewAll over U.S. EspritAll over U.S.

A Sample Front Page

Basics Consumers Sign up online with clothing stores Can shop anytime anywhere that they have access to web interface Log in, select clothes, pay using a credit card, and arrange for shipment

A Sample Signup Page

A Sample Clothing Store

Women’s Clothing Who are the customers –Victoria’s Secret and Esprit primarily target middle and upper class women. They also try to attract male customers who are purchasing gifts for women. –Eddie Bauer, Gap, Land’s End, and J.Crew sell both men’s and women’s clothing. So their customers come from both groups. –These online clothing stores hope to take advantage of the customers they do not reach with their mall presence.

Women’s Clothing –Gap’s Philosophy is “A simple formula drives our brands: We strive to deliver style, service and value to everyone—kindergartners and grandparents, students and professionals, athletes and philosophers, big-city urbanites and small-town folks.” (Source:

Women’s Clothing How do they attract customers –Referrals (J.Crew, Land’s End have affiliate programs) –Word-of-mouth and advertising (all, e.g. Land’s End offers Land’s End Live, Shop with a Friend, Your Personal Model for Women, etc.) –Eddie Bauer has a presence within Yahoo! (shopping to gain customers) –Promoting online sites in stores and catalogs (all) –Membership (e.g. Club Esprit), an easy one step process to order items from catalogs (all)

Women’s Clothing Value added –The basic value proposition is helping customers to buy clothes easily Offer free registration and provide member discounts (Esprit, J.Crew and Banana Republic) Mail free product information to members (All) Provide members wish-lists to record their preferences and remind them (Eddie Bauer, Gap, Land’s End and Esprit) Offer “One-click” service for easy checkout (All)

Women’s Clothing Additional value added –User can check order and delivery status online (Victoria’s Secret) –Refer customers to alliance partners (Banana Republic refers users to Gap) –Create personalized 3-D model for individual customers using exact measurements (Land’s End)

Women’s Clothing Additional value added –Offer buyers related product information and purchase suggestions (Land’s End) –Establish affiliate programs with other web sites, random users get more opportunity to visit stores (J.Crew, Esprit and Land’s End) –Deliver products to multiple addresses for each order (Banana Republic)

Women’s Clothing Sample delivery prices: –Two-dimensional delivery options (time vs. order value) Eddie Bauer ( Order<$30, 5 days-$2.95, 3 days- $8.95, 2 days-$14.95; order increase every $30, add $2) Gap (<$50, 7 days-$5, overnight-$14; increase every $50, add $2) Esprit (<$25, 10 days-$5.95, 4 days-$11.95, 3 days- $15.95; increase every $25, add $1)

Women’s Clothing Try purchasing at the online stores –Easy navigation within the site –Rich additional information about products (J.Crew, Eddie Bauer provide clothing care tips) –Frequent on-sale and promotions to get potential customers to try First time user introductory discounts (Banana Republic) Online jeans-design contest to attract users (Gap) Cumulative purchase discounts (Banana Republic)

Women’s Clothing Turning one-shot customers into repeat customers –Creating incentives to attract current customers Holiday savings updates on clearance sales or special offers –Customers are committing to an on-going relationship due to excellent customer service Satisfaction guaranteed (e.g. merchandise returnable within six months at Victoria’s Secret) –Encouraging customers to make wish lists Customers will come back to follow up on the wish list