June 30, 2010
By the ZippyCart Ecommerce Software Reviews Content Team
Pier 1 is a well known home furnishing retailer that, surprisingly enough, shut down their ecommerce operations in 2007 to allow the company to have a bigger focus on overall profitability. In late 2003 and early 2004 Pier 1 stock (NYSE:PIR) was hitting all time highs between $23 and $25, but went on a steady decline since that point dropping down to under $1 in late 2008 and early 2009. After hitting this low point the company started to get back on track and is currently trading around $6, and there are still more opportunities for Pier 1 to progress. President and CEO Alex W. Smith is not giving up on the opportunity to make ecommerce a part of the business strategy for Pier 1. In order to take advantage of ecommerce efforts in 2010, Pier 1 is currently updating their website so they can begin testing to see if they can make this business unit profitable. Currently the site is more for marketing purposes and so that consumers can locate stores in their area.
The goal for Pier 1 is to upgrade the current site by September so that the entire selection of merchandise will be available online so that customers can start their research on the products they like, before heading into the store to make a final purchase. Later in the year, during the next phase, Pier 1 plans to begin testing a site-to-store shipping ecommerce model. This will allow Pier 1 to keep things simple, and give their customers a more interactive ecommerce experience. Hopefully this lean business approach will continue to help Pier 1 succeed during rough economic times.
Scott is an avid fan of all things ecommerce. His claim to fame is that he "puts the Zip in ZippyCart." He considers himself the world-wide number one reader of TechCrunch, C|Net, and The Ecommerce Times. Scott has worked in the SEO industry for many years, but found himself always shifting his focus to review sites and ecommerce blogs. When we decided to start the ZippyCart Ecommerce news, Scott was an obvious fit. He handles most of our OpEds as he is a very opinionated guy. Scott is also our Twitter guy, so don't hesitate to send him a tweet if you see him online.
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[...] nationwide to be exact. Three years ago they stopped doing direct e-commerce business. Starting in September Pier 1 hopes to have their entire selection of merchandise online so customers can research [...]