eToys BEST E-COMMERCE EXPERIENCE

Three out of three Adweek moms surveyed recommended eToys for busy working parents, and with that support--plus expo nentially more kudos from outside sources all year long--eToys was voted IQ's pick for the Internet's best e-commerce experience, both for its improvement over brick-and-mortar toy stores and for its being a great e-commerce option overall.

Three years ago, eToys CEO Toby Lenk was just another would-be entrepreneur--albeit one with Disney on his resume--looking to build an Internet-based company. "It was around December of 1996, and I was starting to go through the hell of buying [toys] for my niece and nephew," remembers Lenk. "So it was a very good time of year to be emotionally looking at the idea [of an online toy retailer.]"

Motivation came from his experience--and that of other shoppers--wading through the disarray found at many dirt world toy retailers. "The existing retail stores just do not service the segment very well," Lenk says. "It's just a nightmare to find toys, it's a nightmare to bring kids into toy stores, it's a nightmare that you can't get any service. The selection is getting squeezed at the big stores, not increased, so you can't get diverse toys. There are all sorts of reasons ;why the existing retail format is so bad that the Internet could be something that better serviced the market."

With an initial investment of $1 million, gathered from family, friends and select investors, and later with some financial support from IdeaLab, Santa Monica, Calif.-based eToys was born. The site went live in October 1997, with its center motif being convenience.

One of the features Lenk touts is the inventory update. If a visitor wants to buy a toy, he or she can check immediately to see if the toy is in stock. If it isn't, users are asked whether they want a notification of when it arrives at the warehouse. The idea is that parents can't afford to wait to find out if something can't be shipped immediately. "With a kid's birthday if you're a day late, everybody's toast," Lenk explains. "That was a key aspect of how we had to design the site."

Though parents may be just as happy to shop without the kids, eToys is also kid-friendly, Leak says. 'A lot of parents and children surf the site together, and will build wish lists together," he says. "So you want to have some way to involve the children in a fun ... parent-approved way"

But time-saving features still rule the day. Says one harried mother of two, Adweek special reports editor Patty Orsini, 'As long as I can shop about a week ahead of when I want the item, there is no reason to go to a brick-and-mortar store. I can usually find what I'm looking for and get as good a price at eToys."

The site also lures parents like Orsini with its easy navigation, such as the options to search the site by child's age, type of toy and price range, or view a list of recommendations. There is also a "My eToys," section which keeps track of toys users might want to order down the line. "I use this for when I'm looking for something for one kid, but come upon something the other might like, so I add it to the wish list," Orsini says.

Are there any clouds on the eToys horizon? Lenk doesn't see any But, Jim Sliver, publisher of the trade publication The Toy Book, wonders if the service can always maintain such high standards. "It's very easy to do great customer service when you're only doing $30 million," he explains. As retailers in general grow, "that's when customer service becomes a problem."

The ever-optimistic Leak concedes, "It's a constant struggle to move fast enough ... There are so many great things to do for the customer. It's just a question of getting them done."

As of March, eToys had welcomed 365,000 customers who browsed through 9,500 SKUs of some 750 brands. It raked in $30 million in fiscal year 1999, up from $700,000 in, 1998. Its May 20 IPO opened at $20 a share. On June 21, the stock closed at 40 1/16.

COPYRIGHT 1999 BPI Communications, Inc.
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