Minn. Retailers are expanding their businesses to reach more customers and keep up with competitors. Nordstrom and Macy's are online. The strategy is designed to boost sales, but some will be satisfied just to avoid losing ground to rivals.
Customers are the clear winners.
It's all terrific. The changes in retailing have led to a blurring of the lines between stores, catalog companies and online merchants. Offering More Services Mail-order companies have gone online because it's a cheap way to serve existing customers and perhaps snare new ones. For online companies, catalogs are a way to steer people toward Web sites, and cost less than the TV advertising they used last holiday season. And traditional bricks and mortar retailers are going both routes.