Apparel

Cloud technology opens torrent of customer data for Chico's FAS

Maintaining a wealth of customer data has become a primary directive for retail IT departments. In recent years, retailers have been making substantial investments in solutions that collect and store data relating to their customers' purchases, behaviors, preferences, demographic characteristics and almost any other traits you can think of. But after all this data has been captured, what do you do with it?

Price, location and selection fade as real differentiators

Remember when retail gurus used to say that when it came down to it, retail strategy was all about location, location, location? Location still matters, but not as much as it used to. With the explosion of online retail, brick-and-mortar retail strategies are changing. But it's not just location that has receded in importance. Price and selection don't matter as much anymore either.

Marks & Spencer's new store merges online and physical shopping

Technology is revolutionizing the way consumers shop, both in stores and online. Here is how one retailer is working to bridge both worlds.

British retailer Marks & Spencer is taking a giant leap forward in its goal to becoming a multichannel leader and merging the worlds of physical and online shopping with the opening of its new concept store in Amsterdam.

Columbus, Ohio - The Affiliated Business Group (ABG), a division of DSW Inc., will exclusively supply the footwear departments of all U.S. Loehmann’s stores and the loehmanns.com e-commerce site. The initial rollout of the news arrangement is expected to commence in a few stores starting December, 013 with the balance of the chain and e-commerce launching in the first quarter of 2014. ABG will plan, procure, and deliver the entire women's and men's footwear inventory, while Loehmann’s will provide staffing for the shoe departments.

Englewood, Colo. – Michael Foss has been named CEO of The Sports Authority Inc. He replaced outgoing CEO Darrell Webb, who is retiring both as the company’s chief executive and chairman of the board.

Foss, a member of the board of directors of The Sports Authority since 2009, most recently served as executive VP and CFO at Petco Animal Supplies and as CFO of Circuit City Stores before that. He has 30 years of executive experience across a variety of verticals including retail.

Washington, D.C. – Shop.org, the digital retail division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), named six new members to its board of directors and also reappointed three existing members. All nine members will serve two-year terms.

Philadelphia -- Madewell, a J. Crew concept, has signed its first lease in Center City Philadelphia, according to broker Fameco Real Estate. The 4,000 sq.-ft. store will be located near Rittenhouse Square. Neighboring retailers include Intermixx, Burberry, Athleta and Blue Mercury. Fameco and Open Realty Advisors both represented Madewell in the transaction.

Both brokers are also representing searching for a 2,500-sq.-ft. location for J. Crew Men on Walnut Street in Philadelphia.

Somerset, England – British fashion retailer Mulberry operates vertically, selling its own products through a chain of 110 stores. Needing to support this endeavor through improved customer service levels, higher operational efficiency and a more responsive supply chain, in first quarter 2013 Mulberry selected JDA demand and fulfillment solutions, which the retailer will deploy though the JDA cloud services offering.

Dallas – Haggar Clothing Co. is supporting a planned expansion of its store presence in the U.S. and Canadian markets with the implementation of multiple solutions from Epicor Retail Software. Haggar seeks to open 10 to 15 new stores annually in the U.S. through 2017 and two to three stores a year during the next four years throughout Canada.