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Shopping Centers Today -> November 2004
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Sizing up the customer
Buying clothes on
the Internet can be a risky proposition, because one manufacturer’s size
10 can be another’s 6, 8 or 12. Some 70 percent of online and catalog returns
are due to sizing problems, says Ram Srinivasan, who is encouraging people to
store their measurements on his password-protected Fitme.com
Web site. About 20,000 have already done so, he told SCT. The site’s
“Size Genie” then tells those customers the size that fits them best
for about 250 different manufacturers. Not only is Srinivasan trying to get retailers
to put Fitme.com links on their Web sites, he also suggests that they and their
landlords put kiosks in their stores and malls, respectively. Don’t mess with
Amazon.com
is suing three unidentified people it accuses of forging its name on e-mails and
Web sites designed to mislead people into disclosing personal information —
the practice called “phishing.” Hundreds of similar lawsuits have been
filed since the federal government passed anti-spam legislation in January. Hot retail
Some
400 police departments in 26 states are unloading unclaimed stolen and confiscated
goods on an auction site. Propertyroom.com,
founded by Thomas Lane, a former police detective on New York’s Long Island.
The site gets between 12 million and 14 million hits a month, Lane told SCT.
“We move thousands and thousands of items a month.” 
New arrivals
Three major chains have launched e-tail initiatives lately. The Body Shop rolled
out a new Web site, thebodyshop.com,
while Sears significantly expanded its sears.com
to include home furnishings and apparel. The Bombay Company, meanwhile, unveiled
three sites: bombaycompany.com,
bombaykids.com
and bombayoutlet.com.
As if ...
The Internet is “the shopping mall of the young,” said a recent Chicago Tribune story, but not according to a dozen or so teen girls invited to share their shopping habits at the ICSC Fall Conference in San Antonio. “No way,” was their collective response. The girls said they like to see and try before they buy. Besides, the mall is where their friends are.
Shopping Centers Today
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