E-Commerce Comparing the E-Commerce Sites

E-Commerce

Comparing the E-Commerce Sites of Build-a-Bear and Vermont Teddy Bear Company

Comparing the two websites of Build-a-Bear Workshops and Vermont Teddy Bear Company quickly illustrates the major differences between each company's approach to marketing, product strategy, and multi-channel selling and support. Of the two, Build-a-Bear.com is more multi-channel based, attempting to draw customers into their stores for the poplar birthday parties they host in addition to the shopping experience of picking out a doll and having it stuffed in the store. VermontTeddyBear.com on the other hand focuses on the Internet more singularity on their site, showing the different occasions, people who could receive a bear, and galleries of possible bear costumes.

Comparing Websites: Similarities and Differences

In analyzing the differences of both websites, the greatest differences between the two center first on product breadth. Build-a-Bear.com has over a dozen different types of animals and bear types to choose from, each of them customizable with accessories. VermontTeddyBear.com stays just with bears and defines a catalog of pre-accessorized bears. The wide variation of selections both websites offer, with Build-a-Bear.com concentrating on breadth of animal types, translates into a significant product catalogue on each site. The organization of all these products, accessories, and their combinations also require each website to have product configuration supported either in the website catalog or as a separate application. Of the two implementations of catalogues and product configurators, Build-a-Bear.com is the more challenging due to the many more combinations of animals and accessories. In effect the developers of each website had to define a specific taxonomy of how animals and their accessories were "compatible" or could be combined. This is quite a complex processes for any website to support, yet both do it well, however Build-a-Bear.com has the more challenging tasks of the two companies on this point. It is also interesting to note how each of the catalogs and configuration options of each site parallel significant events. For Build-a-Bear.com the orientation of the site to seasonality is much broader and also aimed at driving traffic into their stores. For VermontTeddyBear.com the focus is on the outfits that are seasonal and to a lesser extent, customization to the specific seasonal preferences of customers. From this standpoint, VermontTeddyBear.com illustrates how the limitations of their catalog are impacting their ability to expand their product offerings. This is directly tied to the underlying content management, catalog management and configuration systems that are used as the core part of their site.

Another key difference in each site is the actual purchasing process. As Build-a-Bear.com concentrates on driving traffic into their stores and has a three-click navigation to purchase any bear, VermontTeddyBear.com relies on a much more intensive process that requires nearly double the number of clicks to purchase. Both of these scenarios were tested with a demo login and password. The actual purchasing workflow on Build-a-Bear.com is much more efficient and streamlined. Both however have up-sell of accessories configured in their purchasing workflows. Of the two, Build-a-Bear.com has a more extensive collection that attempts to replicate the actual experience of being in one of their stores.

In summary from a comparison standpoint, Build-a-Bear.com is much more oriented towards having customers online create their own specific doll, and gets close to the actual experience of being in one of their stores. Likewise, the process of customizing a doll through VermontTeddyBear.com's site is achievable yet takes much more navigation. Of the two, Build-a-Bear.com is the more intuitive.

Extent of Support for Multi-Channel Management Strategies

Retailers often rely on websites to entice and motivate consumers to also visit their stores. Both companies have retail locations, with Bear-a-Bear having at least one retail store in 48 states and several in foreign countries. Vermont Teddy Bear Company has only a single retail outlet, which is their factory in Vermont. The differences in website design and navigation are very significant in this regard. Build-a-Bear works to create a more transparent set of navigation points to guide a consumer to one of their stores, while Vermont Teddy bear does not. In addition, supporting the customer with 800 numbers is easily found on the Build-a-Bear.com site, yet is not as apparent and placed within the purchasing process steps on the respective websites as well. This factor of being available for customers through a variety of channel is a major competitive advantage of Build-a-Bear as well.