Hi Inge
This is fashion-unrelated on the surface, but given that the readers here do a huge amount of on-line shopping, I thought it might be interested to see how things work after the "buy" button is clicked. I found it fascinating!
Companies like Amazon, which does stock fashion items too :-)), must have perfectly functioning operations which are probably stretched to its furthermost boundaries at this time of the year. I instantly thought of Nordstorm and what's probably one of its busiest times of the year, NAS, which must have if not similar then certainly equally robust logistics behind. Zappos comes to mind as well. Also, I imagine that with generous return policies US companies have compared to many other companies, which must also be catered for in equal measure as the purchases in terms of stock and inventory - if not more, there is no room for much logistical slack.
I'll leave it to you decide if it's a qualifier, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and have a new level of appreciation for the service these companies provide, both as a customer and as a professional used to check the workings behind the scenes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/pro.....778635.stm