What Williams-Sonoma must do is create a more unified multichannel strategy that seeks to manage the lowest-cost sales entirely online, further reduces Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) on their income statement. If Williams-Sonoma can do this they can quickly become even more profitable. The e-commerce strategies need to concentrate on creating such a unique online customer experience that prospects and longtime customers both use the Web to purchase directly and visit stores to see the highest-end products. The retail locations don't need to stock the lowest-margin and highly commoditized products. They do however need to deliver an exceptional customer experience and also showcase the most profitable products to further accelerate demand so they can close more business. References

Barsauskas, P., Sarapovas, T., & Cvilikas, a. (2008). The evaluation of e-commerce impact on business efficiency. Baltic Journal of Management, 3(1), 71-91.

Bernoff, J., &...

(2008). Harnessing the power of the oh-so-social web. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(3), 36-42.
Falk, L.K., Sockel, H., & Warren, H. (2007). A holistic view of internet marketing. Competition Forum, 5(1), 9-14. R

King, R.C., Sen, R., & Xia, M. (2004). Impact of web-based e-commerce on channel strategy in retailing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 8(3), 103-130.

Lin, C., Huang, Y., & Burn, J. (2007). Realising B2B e-commerce benefits: The

link with it maturity, evaluation practices, and B2BEC adoption readiness. European Journal of Information Systems, 16(6), 806-819.

Netessine, S., Savin, S., & Xiao, W. (2006). Revenue management through dynamic cross selling in E-commerce retailing. Operations Research, 54(5), 893-913,1012-1013.

Reynolds, J. (2002). Charting the multichannel future: Retail choices and constraints. International Journal of Retail & Distribution…