Kmart''s e-commerce entry, BlueLight.com, continues to impress me with how well the execs there understand the merger of online shopping opportunities with traditional brick-and-mortar, wander-through-the-aisles shopping. In fact, they just completed installing more than 3,500 BlueLight.com online shopping kiosks for use in over 1,100 Kmart stores, and they plan to roll out kiosks in every Kmart store nationwide.
So, if your local Kmart is out of stock of a particular item, you can order it online, right then, right there. And, BlueLight says, the instant in-store access to the Web shopping site allows consumers to browse through an online display of bulky items -- such as big-screen TV sets -- make a selection, order it and then it''s delivered right to your house. That sort of thing is a big deal with women (I can''t even budge my 27-inch set) and I suspect it might be the determining factor in making or losing a fair number of sales.
BlueLight calls it the country''s largest in-store Internet shopping kiosk program. And for shoppers, the kiosks increase product availability big time -- by more than 100,000 products (SKUs), the company says.
The self-serve kiosks connect directly to the BlueLight.com shopping site and will be available to more than 30 million Americans who shop at Kmart each week. Talk about economy of scale, they''ve got it.
"The BlueLight.com online shopping kiosk is a major cornerstone in our e-selling strategy," said BlueLight.com CEO Mark H. Goldstein in a press release on the kiosks. "Working with Kmart, we are developing multi-channel programs that answer the consumer''s needs and wants -- no matter where they are, no matter what they are looking for. We are taking the traditional retail model and are super-charging it for the new millennium."
The kiosks currently can be found in three locations at participating Kmart stores: the service desk, electronics, and sporting goods departments. The kiosks feature a familiar personal computer interface directly connected to the BlueLight.com site and utilize BlueLight''s secure fulfillment and ordering functionality.
Using a credit card or Kmart cash card, users can choose from BlueLight.com''s selection of more than 200,000 items.
Kmart calls its approach the "Sticky Bricks" business model, which integrates the online assets of BlueLight with the resources of Kmart. Already, BlueLight.com purchases can be returned or exchanged at any of Kmart''s more than 2,100 stores nationwide. And the Kmart Sunday sales circular that reaches 72 million households every week is also available online at BlueLight.com. BlueLight also offers a free Internet access service that currently supports more than six million subscribers.
My take: If this model DOESN''T work, we are all going back to our drawing boards for a long, long time.
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