3.1. Technology Evolution

In 1996, jcrew.com was launched, allowing customers to browse through the pages of the J.Crew catalog and place orders from the convenience of their computers. The online store became one of the first apparel Web sites, paving the way for the transformation of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers into e-tailers. Although ahead of its time in 1996, the site's architecture eventually hampered J.Crew from fully realizing the potential of online sales.

The original jcrew.com was developed under a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) framework using C++ as the language that provided the basic functionality and interactive capabilities of the site. The online catalog was largely static, with each product and category of products having its own HTML pages. Since the application was designed on a closed, proprietary architecture, it was prohibitively difficult to extend the existing functionality.

The site did, however, provide real-time inventory verification when customers purchased items, along with a shopping cart, basic check-out services, and one billing and ship-to address. These capabilities were innovative at the time, but grew less so as newer, more robust e-business technologies became available. This, coupled with the exponential growth in the business-to-consumer e-commerce sector, prompted J.Crew to revamp its underlying Web infrastructure.