Essay - E-commerce 1. the Company I Have Chosen is the Harry...

E-Commerce

*****. The company I have chosen is the Harry & David Company.

2. The URL for the ***** & David Company home page ***** http://www.bco.com/

3. a. The modern inc*****rnation of the Harry ***** David Company was founded in 2005 as an umbrella organization.

***** ***** following a leveraged buyout. In recent years, ownership has been in turmoil. The company had an IPO but is no longer on the market. The firm has its roots in 1910 when Samuel Rosenberg founded an orchard. His sons took over ***** ***** in 1914 and built a business marketing the high-end Royal Riviera pears locally. The mail order business was added in 1934 dur*****g the Great Depression as the local market dried up. It was then that the ***** & David Company took its current form.

b. The initial product was ***** from ***** orchard. *****se were sold locally at first. The mail ***** business came about in the depths of the Great Depression ***** response to a decline in ***** loc*****l market for high-end fru*****. When the mail order bus*****ess was launched, it ***** based on ***** ***** Riviera pear and was sold as far afield as San Francisco ***** New York. ***** company ***** marketed nationwide since *****, using both direct marketing and stores. The company h***** not been able to expand internationally, owing to the difficulties in shipping fru***** across international borders. The original market was the local consumer market, but this has shifted towards the corporate gift basket market in recent years. ***** baskets still revolve primarily around the Royal Riviera pear, as this is the Harry ***** David signature.

c. Harry & David is a privately held firm, but ***** publicly-***** debt.

An ***** was conducted in 2005, ***** since then the ***** has reverted to private ownership. They still release SEC financial statements in accordance with their publicly-held debt obligations.

d. ***** & David operates ***** in cyberspace and in brick and mortar. They ***** two ma***** facilities. The headquarters is in Medford, Oregon ***** they operate a second main facility in Hebron, Ohio. They have 130 retail stores nationwide as well. These are located ***** 39 states *****.

4.a. The most recent year's revenues, for the fiscal year end June 25, 2008, were $545, 064, 000. This represents a decline of 2.8% from the year before. Comp*****d with 2006 it presents an increase ***** 3.9% b. For the fiscal year ********** June 25, 2008, the Harry & ***** Company recorded a net profit of $4,608,000. ***** re***** ***** decline of 85.6% ***** ***** year before. Compared with ***** ***** represents an improvement of 147.44%. Those years were hampered by losses on the sale of Jacks***** ***** Perkins, but nonetheless 2008 ***** a poor year relative to 2007 but ***** improvement over 2006.

5. Harry & David markets gourmet *****it and food gifts both online and through their ***** stores. These are built around the Royal Riviera *****, but contain other fruits ***** ********** as *****.