Learning from the mistakes of its competitors last holiday season, toy retailer FAO Schwarz is working with various software companies and consultant MarchFirst to revamp its online store, FAO.com.

The upgraded site will feature advanced search capabilities, easier navigation, and real-time inventory status. One of the biggest lessons FAO Schwarz learned from last year's holiday season is that "inventory management is critical to managing customer expectations," says FAO Schwarz VP Jennifer Townsend.

The site is built on Allaire Corp.'s Internet Business platform, and FAO Schwarz is using customized middleware from software company PageDigital Inc. to integrate its E-commerce site with its back-end legacy systems. A data replicator from PageDigital allows customers to query the retailer's inventory in real time to find out whether a product is available. FAO Schwarz hopes to cut down on the expenses of staffing a call center during the holiday season by letting customers track orders and check inventory online.

Online customer-service and self-service features will be most helpful to seasoned online shoppers, because novice Internet users will be more inclined to call a customer-service representative for information about an online purchase, says Seema Williams, an analyst with Forrester Research.

"Customers are more comfortable picking up the phone, because that's their first resource," Williams says. "Online-order tracking will not fully alleviate call-center strain. Delivering the packages is the only thing that will alleviate the strain."

Other plans FAO Schwarz has for its Web site within the next month include adding security-authentication layers to its site to give customers greater access to their own personalized information and partnering with instant-messaging application company FaceTime Communications Inc. to offer live customer-service Web chats.