White Knight Projects

Another great display of the power and allure of taking your business online is yesterday’s formal announcement by the Barclays brothers, owners of the Shop Direct Group (littlewoods), that they had bought the Woolworths brand and were going to turn the whole operation into an online-based seller.  All I thought of when I read that piece was ‘why didn’t woollies do that sooner?‘

With 800 stores nationwide and retail sales falling year on year with the online outlook getting better and better every year, why didn’t woolworths just sell 50% of their shops and re-invest the money into a contact-centre like setup where orders could be fulfilled from their online website and a warehouse? Why did it take the company to go into administration before they realised their mix wasn’t right?  Perhaps they were putting too many eggs in their distribution basket, hoping that other companies who were trading online who were buying from them (zavvi.co.uk) would continue to grow and keep them afloat.  I can’t help but feel that woolies missed the boat last time round and this new announcement to bring woolies back online is both a show of fortitude for the online selling industry and a good move from the barclays brothers.

“We’ve got high hopes and big ideas for the Woolworths we want to bring back to you!” is what the www.woolworths.co.uk website read today, let’s see if they mean it when they actually launch the website.  Let’s see if they really do get it right…