Electronic Commerce and Blue Martini
BUSINESS PROBLEM-SOLVING CASE
CAN J&R ELECTRONICS GROW WITH E-COMMERCE?
J&R Electronics is a mom-and-pop shop for the modern age. Joe and Rachelle Friedman started the business as audio equipment store in 1971.They funded the original business, a 500-square-foot storefront near New York’s City Hall, with the money the received for their wedding. Over 35 years, the Friedman expanded the business, adding records, equipment , cameras, computers, movies, and games. Today, J&R Electronics encompasses a lucrative catalog business and 10 specialty electronics stores covering 300,000 square feet of retail space on that same city block in Manhattan. Among the stores are the famed J 8R Music World and J&R Computer World.
The J&R empire sells nearly every type of electronic device imaginable. However, the Friedmans have resisted the advice of suppliers, such as record companies, who have told them the only way to survive and compete with big box stores was to become a chain. Rachelle Friedman explained that “by staying on the block...we maintain control, which the chain stores lose.”
How does J&R continue to survive with only one location in an industry dominated by Wal-Marts, Best Buy, and Circuit City? Quite appropriately. The Friedmans have their son to thank for that.
Jason Friedmans is the vice president of e-commerce for J&R Electronics. In 1998, Jason, who started out as the company’s database manager, lobbied his parents to invest in the Web as an outlet for the company. J&R went online using e-commerce software developed by InterWorld Corp.. a highly regarded product of the first dot-com boom. InterWorld’s Commerce Exchange served J&R well enough to satisfy the notion that e-commerce would play a major role in the company’s future.
In 20000, J&R was ready to upgrade to a new version of the InterWorld software, which was touted as being much more robust than the previous version that J&R had installed. Within a year, the upgrade process at J&R was thrown
CAN J&R ELECTRONICS GROW WITH E-COMMERCE?
J&R Electronics is a mom-and-pop shop for the modern age. Joe and Rachelle Friedman started the business as audio equipment store in 1971.They funded the original business, a 500-square-foot storefront near New York’s City Hall, with the money the received for their wedding. Over 35 years, the Friedman expanded the business, adding records, equipment , cameras, computers, movies, and games. Today, J&R Electronics encompasses a lucrative catalog business and 10 specialty electronics stores covering 300,000 square feet of retail space on that same city block in Manhattan. Among the stores are the famed J 8R Music World and J&R Computer World.
The J&R empire sells nearly every type of electronic device imaginable. However, the Friedmans have resisted the advice of suppliers, such as record companies, who have told them the only way to survive and compete with big box stores was to become a chain. Rachelle Friedman explained that “by staying on the block...we maintain control, which the chain stores lose.”
How does J&R continue to survive with only one location in an industry dominated by Wal-Marts, Best Buy, and Circuit City? Quite appropriately. The Friedmans have their son to thank for that.
Jason Friedmans is the vice president of e-commerce for J&R Electronics. In 1998, Jason, who started out as the company’s database manager, lobbied his parents to invest in the Web as an outlet for the company. J&R went online using e-commerce software developed by InterWorld Corp.. a highly regarded product of the first dot-com boom. InterWorld’s Commerce Exchange served J&R well enough to satisfy the notion that e-commerce would play a major role in the company’s future.
In 20000, J&R was ready to upgrade to a new version of the InterWorld software, which was touted as being much more robust than the previous version that J&R had installed. Within a year, the upgrade process at J&R was thrown