Overstock.com 2009 Annual Report Download - page 16

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Table of Contents
instant online chat and e-mail inquiries on products, ordering, shipping status, returns and other areas of customer inquiry. As a result of this commitment, we
maintained our #2 rank in customer service rankings among all U.S. retailers, according to rankings published in the 2010 NRF Foundation/American Express
Customer Service Survey.
Our customer service staff processes approximately 15,000 calls per week and up to approximately 32,000 calls per week during seasonal peak periods.
The same staff processes approximately 10,000 e-mail messages each week and up to approximately 18,000 e-mail messages per week during seasonal peak
periods, with a turnaround goal of one business day. We use automated e-mail and phone systems to route traffic to appropriate customer service
representatives. The demands on our customer service staff increase significantly during peak periods, including the several weeks before and after the
Christmas holiday.
Technology
We use our internally developed Website, our O.biz website and a combination of proprietary technologies and commercially available licensed
technologies and solutions to support our operations. We use the services of XO Communications, Inc., Qwest Communications International, Inc. and
Verizon, Inc. to obtain connectivity to the Internet over multiple Gig-E and OC48 links. We currently store our data on several Oracle and Teradata databases
using Dell and IBM computer hardware connected to multiple large scale Hitachi and EMC storage devices. Currently, we use Dell and IBM servers for our
Website, which are connected to the Oracle and Teradata databases and operate in a multi-processing Linux environment designed to accommodate large
volumes of Internet traffic. Currently, our primary computer infrastructure resides at our co-location facility in Salt Lake City. We also have a second data
center which we use primarily for backups, redundancy, development, testing, and our corporate systems infrastructure.
Competition
The online liquidation services market is intensely competitive and has relatively low barriers to entry, as new competitors can launch new websites at
relatively low cost. We believe that competition in the online liquidation market is based predominantly on:
price;
product quality and selection;
shopping convenience;
order processing and fulfillment;
customer service; and
company brand recognition.
Our liquidation services compete with other online retailers and traditional liquidation "brokers", some of which may specifically adopt our methods and
target our customers. We currently or potentially compete with a variety of companies that can be divided into several broad categories:
liquidation e-tailers such as SmartBargains;
online general retailers with discount departments such as Amazon.com, Inc., eBay, Inc. and Buy.com, Inc.;
online specialty retailers such as BlueNile and BackCountry; and
traditional retailers and liquidators such as Ross Stores, Inc., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., TJX Companies, Inc., Costco Wholesale Corporation, J.C.
Penney Company, Inc., Sears Holding
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