Sears.com gets a makeover

These additions build on already implemented categories: major appliances, tools, lawn and garden equipment and parts on sears.com. At the same time, sears.com has been relaunched to enhance the shopping experience.

Products can be purchased with instant credit for qualified buyers and can be returned to local full-line Sears stores. 

Shoppers can view and compare up to three similar home products side by side and get product advice from new advisor sections: "Home Electronics Advisor,'' "Computer/Office Advisor'' and "BabyMe Advisor''.

The primary focus of Sears Online is to provide home-related solutions. In addition to the five new product categories to sears.com, Sears recently announced two other home-focused online initiatives: BobVila.com, a joint venture with Bob Vila to develop America's definitive site for home improvement, and thegreatindoors.com, extending the concept of the popular home decorating and remodeling stores, The Great Indoors® to the Web. Both BobVila.com and thegreatindoors.com plan to launch this fall.

Earlier this year, Sears Online added lawn and garden equipment to sears.com, and Sears formed a strategic alliance with AOL to create more value for customers of both brands. Sears also was a charter member in the launch of GlobalNetXchange, a new business-to-business exchange for the retail industry.

To enhance navigation, searches and personalization opportunities, the sears.com site relaunch included building new categories with BroadVision technology and migrating the appliance offering to BroadVision's e-Business applications. Sears.com relaunched with a team that included Xpedior and Viant.

Xpedior teamed up with Sears Online to build and integrate several product lines and legacy systems into the sears.com Web site. 

07/25/00 SOURCE: Sears, Roebuck and Co. & Xpedior