The initial thrust isn't sophisticated functionality, such as managing customer relationships, personalizing offers or analyzing sales activity. These initiatives, the company hopes, will drive that percentage up. In October, Lands' End began using Ariba's Commerce Services Network, a transactional hub for conducting e-business. Commerce system, which manages its corporate sales, Manzer explained. B2B software from webMethods and Java middleware tied to IBM's Net.
Commerce server handles data translation between the systems.
But Manzer hopes that ultimately corporate clients will be able to manage their own business rules so they can add or delete products and features in their own stores. What's important with these new sites is to maintain the company's focus on customer service, Manzer said. Indeed, it's in acquiring and in serving customers where Lands' End has historically shone, and the company is now leveraging a robust direct-selling model as it expands online. Lands' End already has 30 million customers. Site visitors have built more than 1.5 million virtual models in the past 18 months.