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Internet Mini Case #6
Williams-Sonoma
Maryanne M. Rouse

Williams-Sonoma (WSM) was a specialty retailer of products for the home. The company’s products were sold through two channels: the retail channel and the direct-to-customer channel. The retail segment comprised four retail concepts: Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and Hold Everything. The direct-to-customer segment sold though eight retail catalogs: Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Bed + Bath, PB Teen, Hold Everything, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma Home (which incorporated elements from the previously separate Chambers) as well as through four e-commerce sites. The catalogs reached customers throughout the United States, and …show more content…

In 2001, the company added a Pottery Barn Kids web site, and a Pottery Barn online gift and bridal registry, and it opened five new retail stores in Toronto, Ontario.

In line with its related diversification growth strategy, Williams-Sonoma tested a new catalog in summer 2002, under the West Elm brand. This new brand targeted young, design-conscious customers seeking to furnish first homes/apartments/lofts with quality furniture and accessories at affordable price points. West Elm product categories included furniture, decorative accessories, and an extensive textiles collection. In 2003, Williams-Sonoma expanded its catalog mailings for West Elm, added a web site, and opened its first retail store.

Williams-Sonoma launched PB Teen with a catalog and web site in late April 2003. PB Teen was intended to fill the market space between Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids with hip, exclusively designed furniture, rugs, lighting, bedding, and accessories promoted with its catalog, interactive web site, special sales campaigns, and contests.

The company’s newest concept, Williams-Sonoma Home, was introduced in third quarter 2004 to tap into what company Chairman William H. Lester noted had been an empty space between the Pottery Barn demographic and designer home furnishings. Lester hoped to position this brand extension as an upscale furniture concept that would be more classic and less fashion-forward than Pottery

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