Before the rise of Amazon.com, Seattle retail was defined by one company: Nordstrom. Now, the upscale retailer appears to be taking some plays out of the Amazon.com playbook, announcing plans to boost spending on e-commerce infrastructure to $150 million this year. That marks roughly 30 percent of the company’s capital expenditures, up from 20 percent last year, according to a report by Internet Retailer.
The added expenses translates to more jobs, so it may get kind of interesting to see how the ongoing talent war shakes out with Amazon and other online retailers in Seattle such as Blue Nile and drugstore.com. (Now owned by Walgreens).
According to Internet Retailer, Nordstrom is looking to hire up to 400 people in its e-commerce group, which includes the HauteLook members-only online fashion site. (Interestingly, Amazon launched its own competing service called MyHabit last year).
Caris & Co. for one applauded the bigger moves into e-commerce. According to report on Barron’s:
Nordstrom’s rollout of customer-centric technologies are allowing it to more fully embrace multi-channel retailing and it continues to build both customer loyalty and sales. As Nordstrom continues to expand over the coming years, in its full-line stores, off-price racks and online, we believe the shares should more fully reflect the retailer’s growth potential amongst affluent customers.
