Brand Idenity

Clothing and accessories are non-essential items and sales of non-essentials usually decrease during a recession. There have been many retail clothing stores such as Goodies, Jones Apparel Group, Van Heusen, and Ann Taylor that have not weathered the recession well. However, the J. Peterman Company appeals to a more specific, upper class market and they sell their products on the Web, which does not seem to suffer as much during a recession.

J. Peterman Company sells distinctive lifestyle merchandise successfully online and by catalog. Current estimates show that J. Peterman Company has annual revenue of $4,800,000 and has a staff of about 35 employees (Andreoli, 2001). Their one-of-a-kind merchandise fills a niche in the market and therefore lends itself well to electronic commerce. Items that appeal to small, but geographically dispersed groups of consumers are well-suited to electronic commerce.

In 1997, the company opened up 10 retail stores in several markets, including New York, Detroit, and San Francisco. The stores were moderately successful but the growth was too fast for the company's small operations. Despite $75 million in sales at its peak, the company was forced into bankruptcy in 1999. J. Peterman may have had a difficult time competing with larger retailers because of the constantly changing and unique nature of its merchandise (Andreoli, 2001). A better approach may be to partner with one of the larger retailers. For example, J. Peterman could offer its unique merchandise in a store like Macy's. Clothing, purses, bags, etc. are products that may sell well when consumers are given the opportunity to experience the physical characteristics of an item before they buy it. Although, the J. Peterman Web site attempts to describe their products with entertaining stories this may not be enough for some consumers who actually want to experience the unique nature of the items (Solomon 1998). This is another good reason for J. Peterman Company to consider a partnership with a larger retailer. J. Peterman may also want to consider a partnership with a larger online retailer like with amazon.com. The J. Peterman Web site functions well and has emphasis on user experience but they don't have a large presence on the Web.

J. Peterman has strong brand name within its community but it could benefit from increased advertising. Currently, they offer coupons and sweepstakes online and advertise on Facebook and Twitter (Orr, 2002). However, they may want to expand their advertising efforts online. An effective method that works well for other apparel retailers is to have Hollywood Stars wear their clothes. Photographs of the Stars could then be added to their Web site. J. Peterman Company knows all too well the power of advertising. After all, their catalog business began with an ad in the New York Times.

In the early days of the Web, companies offered discounts as purchase incentives Majority of firms today differentiate themselves in other ways besides pricing Customer Relationship Management Managing long term relationships with customers.

Although the J. Peterman Web site has fulfilled many of the differentiation strategies unique to online business, there may be improvements that could be made to their Web site. For example, there are no photographs of clothing, only photos of the one-of-a-kind objects. This works well with the old-time style of their illustrated catalog but it may not be enough for some online apparel