This week, as Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati) continues seeking a buyer for its Fingerhut catalog and online business division, its New York-based Bloomingdale's division will begin pulling items from its Bloomingdales.com web site. The site will be transformed into an information and marketing vehicle with only limited sales transactions.
Dawn Robertson, president of Federated Direct (which oversees mail-order and Internet operations), said that cutting the transactional element would help her division reach profitability by 2003.
Robertson attributed the web site's problems to the nature of the Bloomingdale's online customer (“more inclined to browse than to buy”) and to the relatively small merchandise assortment. (Bloomingdales.com has about 40,000 different items, roughly half of that offered by Macys.com.)
Retail analysts point to other reasons. “It's the Bloomingdale's apparel,” said one. “Career-oriented, dressy. You need to try things on.” “It's the site design,” said another. “It didn't begin to capture the excitement and experience of the physical stores.”
The site will now primarily feature editorial content and photos on select merchandise, and information on coming promotional events and sales.