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>>Blue-Light, an Internet site 60% owned by Kmart Corp., >>is increasing the number of Kmart products it offers >>on-line to about 65,000 from 1,250. It also plans to >>boost the number to100, 000 and hopes to feature >>millions of items from the discounter. Kmart expects a >>strong revenue flow to help its e-commerce business >>break even, and achieve profits by the end of 2001. >>Blue-Light aims to draw Kmart customers with free >>Internet access. >>Kmart and other discounters are hoping that the >>convenience of the Internet along with low prices will >>expand their customer base to higher-income >>households. Blue-Light says subscribers so far have >>used the site mainly for e-mail, chat rooms, and >>shopping from other retailers on Yahoo! Inc. The most >>common visitors to the site were married women in >>their mid to late 30s. Kmart finds that pricing is >>even more important on-line than off. Kmart launched >>its first e-commerce site two years ago, but in many >>ways it is starting form scratch with Blue-Light. >> K-mart invested $55 million dollars into >>Blue-Light.com. Blue-Light currently has 7 million >>Internet customers, and the company hopes that the >>numbers will increase. The website now features >>240,000 items, which is 175,000 more than the expected >>65, 000. Instead of keeping the free Internet access >>as when Blue-Light first started the store has to now >>charge it's customers for their time spent on the >>Internet because of the financial problems that they >>face. K-mart even with their current financial >>situation, they still expect profits to rise up to >>$100,000 million by the year 2005. >> Currently the Online sales are surpassing those of >>the in store sales. In-store sales are now only 34% >>of K-mart sales. The website also features far more >>items than In-store. The items available in store are >>70,000 compared to on-line, which is 240,000 items. >>K-mart expects that the online sales will continue to >>out number the in store sales with the closing of more >>than 280 of its stores. However there will be an >>increase in in-stores sales with the liquidation of >>the closing stores, which is expected to pull in $500 >>million for K-mart. >> K-mart also tries to increase sales by fusing online >>and in-store access. Kiosk content is expected to >>attract traffic for the retail outlet and Web site as >>well as carry out other services. EDR Corp. has grown >>by helping businesses communicate internally and >>with their customers through the seamless integration >>of electronic media technologies. They help to >>install computer kiosks in a portion of Kmart stores. >>Kiosks are becoming pitchman-in-chief for Web sites of >>companies. >>Kiosks are interactive purchasing area, which allows >>customers to order products and services on a >>touch-screen computer terminal. Kiosks are a part of >>the Kmart solution center. Through this system >>customers can purchase items that are not available or >>items that are out of stock in the store. This system >>makes the purchasing process much more convenient and >>easy for the customer. Five months after Kmart >>installed 3,500 kiosks throughout the US, it reported >>that 20% of BlueLight.com shoppers came from inside >>Kmart outlets. >>Kmart planned on spending about $2 billion in over two >>years on technology and infrastructure improvements. >>It hoped to cut the time customers spend in checkout >>lines by 20%, improve customer relations and inventory >>management and reach Black and Hispanic consumers in >>Urban areas. >>Unfortunately, with the current financial situation >>that Kmart faces the plans to install more kiosks in >>more stores will not be possible, however they plan to >>try to keep as many kiosks as possible in the >>remaining stores. The integration of the Internet and >>in store access has truly made a difference in Kmart's >>profits and the company hopes that this increase in >>profits will continue. >>Even though Kmart faces bankruptcy it was reported in >>the market share reporter as having the second largest >>retail market share among the companies in the retail >>industry. As reported Kmart has a market share of >>15.6 percent, with Wal-Mart leading with 47.8 percent >>and Target third at 11.5, while all other retailers >>cover just 25.1 percent of the market. When Kmart >>does close all the stores scheduled to close its >>market share is expected to decrease.

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