Blinds To Go: Evaluating the Blindstogo.com Retail e-Commerce Venture

When Blindstogo.com, the online project of Blinds To Go (BTG), was first proposed in mid-1999 its board of directors was lukewarm to the idea. However, after six months of operation and seeing other retailers start to go online and the tremendous valuation being given to dot.coms, the board was encouraging BTG to devote more resources to the project. Plans were already in place to further expand their retail store network. Senior management at BTG had received sales, spending and survey results from their retail e-commerce venture. Data obtained from the Web site indicated that the people who visited the site were the same people that visited the stores. The vice-chairman of BTG wanted to evaluate the results of this online venture by examining the fit of the e-commerce project within the overall business strategy, to determine where resources should be focused.