Via the WebWord mailing list is this comparison of Sears.com and Dell.
The focus of the article is on “seducuble moments&rdquo, which the author describes as opportunities for offering the customer additional products. There are no big surprises, but I found it interesting nonetheless:
If someone were coming to the site interested in buying a refrigerator, what would they [sic] most likely want to do first: (1) apply for credit or (2) find the right refrigerator? It struck us as odd that there was a way to apply for the financing, but no way to explore if the right refrigerator was on the site. […]
Sears is more interested in selling you credit than appliances, because they make more money from the former. Here’s a relevant quote:
“At Sears … the credit-card division has become one of three major profit centers for the company. … income from the division climbing 19% during the most recent quarter …”
From http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P29760.asp
You’re right that Sears is interested in selling credit. However, one of the points of the article is that consumers are more likely to be interested in buying a fridge and then getting credit to pay for it (as opposed to the other way around).
I had an interview with Dell today. It went pretty well.
This comment is pretty off topic.