eCommerce

Columbia Sportswear’s prAna brand has become the industry’s latest cyber-breach victims.   When the lifestyle brand’s e-commerce site was targeted last week, the incident lead Columbia to “immediately launch an investigation and engage a leading third-party cyber security firm to assist us,” Columbia’s CEO Timothy Boyle said on the company’s Q4 2016 earnings call on Feb. 9. “Protecting our customers' information is one of our top priorities and we are taking this very seriously.”

Sunglass Hut is making a strategic move to evolve its brick-and-mortar experience.   The sunglass retailer has added a a cloud-based merchandising system across its stores in Australia and New Zealand that helps each store localize and personalize its product mixes to create a shopping experience that feels custom-tailored.   

The online retailer is expanding its presence in California.   Amazon has pre-leased an additional one million sq. ft. of logistics space from Goodman Commerce Center Eastvale, California, according to a statement by Goodman. Goodman will construct the logistics center for Amazon.  

Despite an earlier report to the contrary, Walmart is not combining its online and store buying functions.   Reuters had reported that the discounter was combining its online and store buying operations as it moves to make itself more competitive with Amazon. The report was picked up by numerous media outlets.   Based on information from Walmart, however, the chain is not merging the stores and walmart.com buying teams. The two will continue to operate as two separate teams.  

Driving conversion in a digital landscape requires a new level of engagement.   Pacific Sunwear of California has found a way to reconnect with its digital shoppers, as well as improve its click performance, drive conversion, and thus, sales. Using Rakuten Marketing Search, a solution available through Kenshoo’s advertising platform, the retailer is refining its strategic marketing approach, focusing on consumer engagement (click performance) and automating its ad spend management processes.  

For the first time ever, Amazon has released data that details how much money its Prime membership program and other subscription services bring in.    Amazon disclosed in its latest annual filing that it brought in $6.4 billion from Amazon Prime and other subscription services, Bloomberg reported.   

A key advisor to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been appointed to a new position in the company — one that reflects its continued focus on delivery infrastructure.   Maria Renz, who served as technical advisor to Bezos for the past two years, has been named to the new role of VP of delivery experience, reported Recode.   

Caleres has made two executive appointment in its Famous Footwear division.   The company named Karlyn Mattson as chief merchandising officer, leading Famous Footwear’s buying, merchandising, planning, allocation and analytic functions.     Mattson joins Caleres from a 25-year career at Target Corp., where she was most recently VP merchandise manager of shoes, accessories and intimate Apparel for retail and online. She held leadership positions at May Company and Macy’s.