Tommy Hilfiger Case Study

eBusiness Strategy at Tommy Hilfiger

In 2000, Tommy Hilfiger decided to source an ecommerce vendor to help them launch their eBusiness strategy. The management decided the online ordering system (www.tommyb2b.com) would be the engine providing the push to broaden the reach of Tommy to include U.S. based specialty retailers. Tommy traditionally used a direct sales force to sell to large department stores and apparel retailers. Tommy’s direct sales force had not pursued the specialty store sector because this retail channel had historically been too expensive to reach and service directly.

Once "word got out" that Tommy was looking for an ecommerce order management system, there was no shortage of vendors soliciting the opportunity to demonstrate their solutions in action. Not surprisingly, when Tommy listened to these vendors "everything worked in the PowerPoint presentation." Yet, when Tommy’s team asked, "How many dollars are actively flowing through the systems built with your online selling technology?" it became readily apparent that many of these vendors were selling what their solutions could do and not what they were actively delivering to clients. Tommy quickly narrowed the short list to MICROS-Retail’s eOne Web Commerce and IBM.

Strong Customer Reference

Tommy’s team visited Omaha Steaks to validate eOne’s technology. Omaha Steak’s ecommerce team spent an entire day with Tommy’s team detailing system architecture requirements and demonstrating the order management "integration in action." It became apparent to Tommy’s team that the Omaha Steaks team would not have provided such a thorough validation of MICROS-Retail’s technology if a strong business relationship had not been forged between the two companies. This relationship had been built on a foundation of open communications and "frankness" about the strengths and weaknesses of the eOne solution.

Exemplary Customer Service

Other suppliers initially positioned their solution within striking range of the budget, but when they mapped their offerings to Tommy’s needs, their value propositions became complex and vague.

In the end, given the need to integrate with custom backend systems and the criticality of staying on schedule, Tommy increasingly felt that finding the right comfort level with a vendor was the most important factor in their decision. Knowing that the chosen ecommerce platform vendor would become a key strategic partner as the company rolled out future phases of their eBusiness initiative, selecting MICROS-Retail, Tommy prioritized a strong ongoing commitment to client services.