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The First Annual eTail Awards were handed out in Boston on August 12 at the eTail2003 conference. Nominations were accepted from retailers for the most innovative application in six categories. The awards were established to honor, recognize and promote true best practices in Multi-Channel Retailing.
David Berkowitz, editor of eMarketer, initially evaluated the nominations and forwarded the three finalists in each category to the Advisory Board for final judgment. The Board consisted of Scott Bauhofer, Senior Vice President, Best Buy; Lorna Borenstein, VP & GM, eBay; Michael Crotty, Vice President, Neiman Marcus; Patrick O'Neill, GM, Nike.com; Larry Becker, Vice President New Media, Crutchfield; Ken Seiff, CEO, Bluefly.com and Dave Towers, Vice President E-Commerce, J. Crew. The award winners were:
Visualization: Lego (accepted by Steve Hawco, VP eCommerce and Direct Marketing)
Lego was able to establish a global community for it's users by creating experiences where fans have the chance to meet, interact and communicate with each other, both physically and virtually.
CRM: Lands' End (accepted by Sam Taylor, VP eCommerce and International)
Lands' End pioneered a revolutionary online customer service called Lands' End Custom by allowing shoppers to create their own unique garments. This innovation is the forerunner of a business model used by a myriad of companies in a multitude of industries.
Web Analytics: CompUSA (accepted by Al Halberus, Director of eCommerce)
CompUSA found that their ability to analyze valuable on-site functionality through their Product Compare tool was key to optimizing the overall impact of their site. They were able to fine-tune and augment the tool, which resulted in increased usage and higher revenues.
Search Optimization: PETCO (accepted by Heather Blank, Dir. of eCommerce and Business Development) PETCO was able to leverage revenue performance data from specific keywords. They were able to effectively drive first-time shopper sales using real-time information.
Email Marketing: PC Connection (accepted on the behalf of PC Connection by Chet Silverman of WBR)
In striving to improve customers' and shoppers' quality of experience, PC Connection streamed the entire directory of products in its May catalog directly into the RAM of their opt-in database. This resulted in searches and navigation happening instantaneously, as the size of the email is only 28k with no attachments.
Fulfillment: Drugstore.com (accepted by Chris Hauser, Vice President of Operations)
Drugstore.com relies on in-house software called Toolbench to bridge gaps across different applications, sub-systems, and departments to give senior management real-time, accurate and actionable data. The company is able to deliver a 99.997% accuracy rate on fulfillment.
The awards were announced at a ceremony during the eTail2003 conference in Boston earlier this month. Worldwide Business Research organized the event.
http://www.etail2003.com
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