Woolworths online has now been launched just 20 weeks after the domain name was bought by Shop Direct which owns Littlewoods among other companies
Given that half the problem in starting an internet shop is getting noticed then it was a smart move to buy up such a high profile brand by Shop Direct and they have big plans for Woolworths.co.uk
Thay have already said that they want the shop to be profitable within 12 months and that target was given a boost by the fact that over 100,000 people logged on to the site the day the website went live
Woolworths also has thriving twitter and facebook sites with more than 8000 followers from which it gathers feedback on the product offering
The new Woolworths will stock significantly more products than the stores including large items such as paddling pools and swimming pools
So far it looks as if the new Woolworths will be more sophisticated than the old discounting Woolies, and it is targeting Amazon as its major rival rather than high street stores
Its going to be very interesting to see how sales go (especially of the pic’n'mix sweets!) as and when the high st version of Woolworths (Wellworths?) is also launched before Xmas
So far in 2009 high street toy stores have enjoyed a good year without the presence of their biggest competitor and the industry’s largest discounter. Will traditional high st toy shops continue to thrive without the presence of a large discounter on their doorstep? Or will going online just make them harder to compete against?
Best Years are a soft toy wholesaler and we are cautiously optomistic because so far prices seem to be standard but we will wait and see. Either way we won’t be supplying them as we deal only with independent and department stores
see www.bestyears.co.uk
Tags: high st toy shops, online vs high st retail, retail, teddy, teddy bear, wholesaler, woolworths
