But then there's the Internet. My main impression from listening to Higgins on last week's conference call is that he just doesn't get it. While Higgins said last week that Trans World is determined to be a dominant Web player and plans to spend the money to do so, don't expect big ad spending. Indeed, Higgins hopes to leverage the 500 million customer visits that the company's stores receive each year to cross-promote the online store. Higgins said he thought that would be a mistake, noting that Trans World has actually been building bigger stores with broader selection, such as its F.Y.E. format, which will grow from 7 to 13 units this year.
Traditional retailers can use their stores to promote their websites.
If you take a radical view of where the business is headed, you could even argue that the stores function as extremely cost-effective advertising for a website, even if the stores will eventually be shuttered or left to operate at a loss. But I think it's simply misguided to imagine that the Web will complement the stores and not cannibalize store sales. Still, I doubt it. The market does, too. Trans World's game plan looks inadequate for a number of reasons.