1. Saks Fifth Avenue. com
By: Marie Grove and Pei Zhang 1

2. 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
: Adam Gimbel traveled all over the world in search of items that would Saks above all other specialty retailers (he retired in 1969)
: 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) 2

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. 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

7. Saks. com Main competitors Traditional departments neimanmarcus.com
nordstrom.com
bloomingdales.com
Others:
shopbop.com
asos.com 7

8. 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

9. 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: 9
Saks
Neiman

10. 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

11. 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

12. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses
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

13. SWOT Analysis (cont.) Opportunities Threats:
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

14. Reference
consultin/2012/04/r-etailers-always-seem-to-be-fighting- through-notoriously-tight-operating-margins-so-any- competitive-advantage-that-accrue.html
eCommerce 14