Saks Fifth Avenue. com

By: Marie Grove and Pei Zhang 1

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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 5 th 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) 2

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 3

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. 4

Saks.com

• Saks Fifth Avenue.com offers oversea shipping to 101 countries and the normally international orders should be delivered within 12 days. 5

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. 6

Saks. com

• Main competitors • Traditional departments • neimanmarcus.com

• nordstrom.com

• bloomingdales.com

• • • Others: shopbop.com

asos.com

7

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. 8

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 9

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 10

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 11

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 12

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 13

Reference

• http://tommytoy.typepad.com/tommy-toy-pbt consultin/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 14