±±¾©Èü³µpk10

That's why when other traditional bricks and mortar stores were busy pumping money into their online presence during the dotcom frenzy, John Lewis was holding back. Not until last October did it launch www.johnlewis.com.

This was only after it had invested in the technology skills it required to do it properly - a move which involved purchasing buy.com, the country's fastest growing e-tailer last year which at the time was growing by 3,000 new buyers a week.

This month as the previously accessible microsite Buy.com is fully integrated into the single John Lewis site, the job ahead for johnlewis.com marketing manager Claire Hewson is only just beginning. She is tasked with collecting more information from customers and translating this into effective direct communication.

"It's a new area for us,

she says "but from the very beginning we decided that the people we were going to target were existing John Lewis customers first, then buy.com ones later.

Already classic DM techniques have been used to promote the site - including mailing two 28-page catalogues showing products that will be sold on the site. These went to more than one million customers - two thirds of which were existing customers and the rest bought names. A separate mailing to all John Lewis account members also drew attention to the site.

"All mailings were coded and we are now able to track when people were sent the mailings, and when they registered,

says Hewson. While the exact numbers of registered JohnLewis.com buyers is guarded, in the run up to Christmas the site was getting 1,000 orders a day and was ranked eighth in the top 50 most visited websites. This peaked at 489,000 visits per month.

With all this good news, the task now is much harder - integrating the buy.com database with the John Lewis one. "The merger of the two is being done now,

says Hewson "but it involves bringing this group - predominantly men - into the John Lewis family and generating trust to the brand that may not have been there at buy.com."

To smooth the merger, visitors of both sites who registered by answering a list of questions about the products they were interested in are sent an email every two weeks detailing new products and services available on the site.

At the moment, DM emails are homogenous and Hewson says she is wary of personalising them just for the sake of it. "It's so easy to get personalisation wrong,

she says.

"People can buy baby products as gifts rather than because they have a child of their own. That's just one example of where it can go wrong. We can see what people have bought offline, see what they buy online and make comparisons between the registration form from that."

But Hewson is interested in using other agencies such as online firm Tempest which has been working on search engine optimisation. At regular intervals John Lewis's product file is sent to it so that even if web browsers type a product - like a Tefal Toaster - in a search, johnlewis.com will appear high on the list as somewhere that stocks it. Tempest is paid on a results basis when a registration and purchase can be traced back to this process. It all adds more valuable names to the database, says Hewson.

Plans are also afoot to maximise all the DM potential the site provides.

Technology which measures how people navigate the site will build up a picture of which items are looked at more frequently compared to what is bought. "At the moment people are purchasing goods that are difficult to get home,

says Hewson "but we want to drive seasonal sales around Easter, Fathers' Day, etc."

"People who shop across different channels are much more likely to shop on a repeat basis,

says Hewson. "We're trying to build new relationships to help people do this. It's very much a case of watch this space."

ON THE SPOT

Claire Hewson, marketing manager, JohnLewis.com

What do you tell people you do at parties?

It varies depending on whether I am enjoying the company of the people or person.

Do you always open your direct mail?

Not always, but admittedly I'm a sucker for in-your-face marketing tactics like 'unbelievable' prize draws, and 'everyone's a winner'.

If you could send some DM to anyone, what would it be and to whom would you send it?

A cheap postcard, advising marketers to use their budgets more efficiently.

It would go to all of the agencies who send me the most beautifully produced mail pieces which I am sorry to say often end up in the bin.

What one piece of advice would you offer someone undertaking a DM campaign?

If you can't measure your campaigns you'll never make your money work for you.