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Saks Fifth Avenue. com

By: Marie Grove and Pei Zhang

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History • 1924: First Saks Fifth Avenue stored open and became the first

large retail operation to locate in what was a primarily residential district

• 1926: Adam Gimbel became President of Saks Fifth Avenue and expanded stores coast to coast

• 1926-1969: Adam Gimbel traveled all over the world in search of items that would Saks above all other specialty retailers (he retired in 1969)

• 1972-1989: 20 new stores opened throughout the country • 1992: The first Saks Fifth Avenue outlet store opened in

Franklin Mills, Pennsylvania • 1995: The outlet division name was officially changed to Off

5th • 1996: Saks became a public company as Saks Holdings, Inc. • 2000: Saks Fifth Avenue launched saks.com, offering in-store

categories, as well as exclusive products and content• 2013: Saks Incorporated was acquired by Hudson’s Bay

Company (HBC)

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Saks.com• Why launched Saks.com• Easier for customers to choose among Saks Fifth Avenue’s

seasonal trends and products• Improving product selection experience

• Large scale photography• Product detail pages• Designers’ showcase and trends

• Result: The overhauled e-commerce capability at Saks is expected to boost sales of the company in 2013

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Saks.com • “Saks.com delivers enhanced, personalized shopping

experience, and is committed to providing the same legendary service and style found in all Saks Fifth Avenue stores.”

• Offers a large assortment of products from men’s, women’s and kids designer apparel to jewelry, beauty products, accessories and items for the home.

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Saks.com • Saks Fifth Avenue.com offers oversea shipping to

101 countries and the normally international orders should be delivered within 12 days.

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Saks.com• E-commerce is handled by Saks Direct. • Its distribution center can do just in time process

for shoes and apparels departments and most online orders.

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Saks. com • Main competitors•Traditional departments•neimanmarcus.com•nordstrom.com•bloomingdales.com•Others:• shopbop.com• asos.com

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International shopping experience• Compare Saks.com with Neiman.com• Saks offers the same merchandise to their

international customers as their US customers. Almost anything that is presented on Saks.com can be shipped outside US.

• Neiman offers out of fashion merchandise for Asian customers. Some brands are not offered to certain countries.• Asian customers can not buy Prada on Neiman.com.

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International shopping experience• Payment • Saks: Using US dollars for most countries,expect

some counties that have strong currencies such as Japan

• Neiman: Using local currency • Example:

Saks Neiman

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International shopping experience• Shipping• Saks: normally not offer free international shipping • Neiman: free international shipping for order over

$100

• International marketing promotions• Saks: None• Neiman: different version of website• for different countries

• Some international customers• post discount information on • their social network

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Saks.com and Social Media

The social circle includes:

•Pinterest •Instagram •Facebook •Twitter•Tumblr•Saks POV•Lookbooks•Videos•Catalogs

Mobile Commerce:•App available for smartphones and tablets

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SWOT Analysis • Strengths• Saks is well- known for taste and elegance and is an

established brand• Renowned for its superlative selling services and

merchandise offerings • Best of European and American designers for men

and women• Strong multi-channel platforms• Have customer loyalty based on their product quality

• Weaknesses • Online pricing, in store and catalogs don’t match up • Customer service needs improvement

• Shipping is free but returns are not free

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SWOT Analysis (cont.)

• Opportunities• Should expand global presence further • Make international partnerships for promotion

opportunities• Offer exchanges on international orders

• Threats:• Extremely competitive industry • Market demand is based on the current

economy• Short international return period

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Reference• http://tommytoy.typepad.com/tommy-toy-pbt-cons

ultin/2012/04/r-etailers-always-seem-to-be-fighting-through-notoriously-tight-operating-margins-so-any-competitive-advantage-that-accrue.html

• http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/94584/Saks-Boosts-eCommerce

• http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/About-Us