Profile of BlueNile.com, customer-centered e-tailer

BlueNile.com is one of my favorite e-commerce sites. I have no connection to them other than being a customer, and I always recommend them to people shopping for engagement rings.

The New York Times ran a good profile of their company history today. From When Buying a Diamond Starts With a Mouse - New York Times:

Only a decade after it was founded in the infancy of the Web, Blue Nile ranks behind only Tiffany & Company in diamond ring sales, according to industry analysts.

In the early days, flush with dotcom investment cash,...

The overabundance of cash engendered bad habits. The company, which at the end of 1999 switched to the more exotic Blue Nile name, booked $44 million in revenue in 2000, its first full year under Mr. Vadon, but managed to lose $30 million, largely because it spent $40 million advertising on television.

But then the CEO "eliminated the advertising budget and hoped that consumers would still find his site. 'Either we were going to build this thing through word of mouth,' said Darrell Cavens, Blue Nile's marketing chief, “or we were going to see revenues collapse and we would all go home.'"

• Jan 7, 2007
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