Match Maker for "Bricks" and "Clicks" The article "Venture Capitalist Aims to Turbo-charge Old Firms" discussed the two different deals made by Jim Breyer, chairman of Accel Partners a Silicon Valley capital venture firm. The reason that these deals have drawn so much outside attention is due to their deviation from the norm. Breyer has secured a deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to provide them a web-based retailing outlet and he engineered the buyout of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, and Co. His idea is to " take a run of the mill brick and mortar co. and turbo-charge them on to the Internet." Despite the huge flop of the Toy R Us and Benchmark Capital venture Breyer is convinced that his strategy of reinventing old companies on the Internet is the wave of the future. The venture between Wal-Mart and Accel is now underway with a combined $100 million invested between the two companies. Jenne Jackson, former head of Banana Republic is in charge of the new Wal-Mart.com Company. With much debate from both sides only time will tell if Breyer's idea is crazy or ingenious. When visiting the Old Navy web site I found that they attempted to appeal to a young market with links to games and picture of the week contests. Their branding attempts to place a young and hip feel to their logo and their stores. In contrast Sears' web site appealed to an older market. The different options were more functional then flashy. They had links to Specials, around the house items, under the hood items, a fashion file, and a wish book. The final site I looked at was Varsity Books.com. They had a large variety of options such as finding your school, and various book lists. They are obviously targeting the college aged market and they come off as a one stop center for all your book buying needs. ...
