E-commerce concepts and applications

E-Commerce

The company I have chosen is the Harry & David Company.

The URL for the Harry & David Company home page is http://www.bco.com/

The modern incarnation of the Harry & David Company was founded in 2005 as an umbrella organization.

This was following a leveraged buyout. In recent years, ownership has been in turmoil. The company had an IPO but is no longer on the market. The firm has its roots in 1910 when Samuel Rosenberg founded an orchard. His sons took over the orchard in 1914 and built a business marketing the high-end Royal Riviera pears locally. The mail order business was added in 1934 during the Great Depression as the local market dried up. It was then that the Harry & David Company took its current form.

The initial product was pears from the orchard. These were sold locally at first. The mail order business came about in the depths of the Great Depression in response to a decline in the local market for high-end fruits. When the mail order business was launched, it was based on the Royal Riviera pear and was sold as far afield as San Francisco and New York. The company has marketed nationwide since then, using both direct marketing and stores. The company has not been able to expand internationally, owing to the difficulties in shipping fruit across international borders. The original market was the local consumer market, but this has shifted towards the corporate gift basket market in recent years. The baskets still revolve primarily around the Royal Riviera pear, as this is the Harry & David signature.

c. Harry & David is a privately held firm, but has publicly-held debt.

An IPO was conducted in 2005, but since then the company has reverted to private ownership. They still release SEC financial statements in accordance with their publicly-held debt obligations.

d. Harry & David operates both in cyberspace and in brick and mortar. They have two main facilities. The headquarters is in Medford, Oregon and they operate a second main facility in Hebron, Ohio. They have 130 retail stores nationwide as well. These are located in 39 states nationwide.

4.a. The most recent year's revenues, for the fiscal year end June 25, 2008, were $545, 064, 000. This represents a decline of 2.8% from the year before. Compared with 2006 it presents an increase of 3.9% b. For the fiscal year ended June 25, 2008, the Harry & David Company recorded a net profit of $4,608,000. This represents a decline of 85.6% from the year before. Compared with 2006 this represents an improvement of 147.44%. Those years were hampered by losses on the sale of Jackson & Perkins, but nonetheless 2008 was a poor year relative to 2007 but an improvement over 2006.

5. Harry & David markets gourmet fruit and food gifts both online and through their retail stores. These are built around the Royal Riviera pear, but contain other fruits and foodstuff as well. The online business caters mainly to corporate customers with some consumer clients as well. The retail stores are focused on tourists and other gift-related markets.

6. The main target market for Harry & David is corporations. Their gift baskets also appeal to the consumer market, focusing on middle-aged, affluent Caucasians. Corporations, however, are their biggest source of profit and their present main target market. The consumer market is not targeted as aggressively, but still makes up a substantial component of their customer base, especially in their retail stores. The consumer market is reached both through stores an online. The corporate market is mainly reached online. A small portion of their business, 6%, is in the wholesale trade.