Merchandising

Adidas, Reebok to Ban EU Sales on Amazon, eBay
June 14, 2012

Europeans, don't go looking for new kicks on eBay or Amazon.com — not if you like the brand with the three stripes. Adidas says it wants to limit all European online sales to franchised sites. The ban, set to take effect in 2013, would also affect subsidiary athletic shoe maker Reebok. 

International Expansion, Showrooming, Online Marketplaces Trending at IRCE
June 14, 2012

Having spent last week at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago, I came away with three key takeaways: One, if you're an online retailer not selling internationally, particularly in Australia, what are you waiting for? You're missing out on a potential growth opportunity for your brand. Two, brick-and mortar retailers must develop a strategy to deal with "showrooming," — i.e., consumers using stores as showrooms to check out products, then buying those products online at a lower price (with free shipping, of course). Three, online marketplaces are proliferating — it's not just Amazon.com and eBay anymore — and becoming another viable channel for retailers to engage consumers and sell their products.

The Jones Group to Acquire Brian Atwood Designs
June 5, 2012

Jones Group Inc. announced that it is deepening its partnership with world renowned designer Brian Atwood through the acquisition of the Brian Atwood brand. The transaction will bring Brian Atwood's existing and future collections, inclusive of his luxury shoe collections, into the Company's portfolio and furthers Jones' strategy of acquiring and nurturing the world's best creative talents and designer brands to infuse a strong design-driven perspective in the Company's portfolio. 

Free Whitepaper: comScore's Online Shopping Customer Experience Study
June 4, 2012

What matters most to online shoppers? Hint: It has less to do with specific products and everything to do with communication, and that includes shipping and returns. You'll find key insights into what makes online shoppers click, consumers’ online shopping preferences, what shipping and post-purchase services enhance the customer experience most, and more with this fact-filled whitepaper. Check it out here!

Nordstrom Leverages GQ Brand Across Channels
May 31, 2012

Nordstrom and GQ have announced a multimedia strategy designed to integrate GQ editorial into the Nordstrom online shopping experience. Nordstrom will host an online store that will feature "GQ Selects," a selection of men's products handpicked from the pages of the magazine by the editors of GQ. Beginning with GQ's July issue, the items will be designated in-book, compiled on GQ.com and available for purchase on NordstromMen.com. "Our customers look to us for style advice," said David Witman, Nordstrom general merchandise manager, menswear. "Who better to partner with than GQ, the authoritative style experts?" 

HanesBrands to Downsize Imagewear Business
May 30, 2012

HanesBrands, the parent of Champion and Hanes, said it plans to narrow the focus of its worldwide imagewear business by restructuring to exit noncore segments and reduce risk. The company announced the sale of its European imagewear division and, in the U.S, the exit from the private-label category and the planned divestiture of its OuterBanks brand. Imagewear, which sells basic apparel to wholesalers in the screen-print market, accounts for 8 percent of the company’s sales before the actions. Hanes expects to incur pretax charges in the second quarter of up to $85 million to $95 million.

Big Data Can Be Hard for Retailers to Harness
May 23, 2012

Online retailing has existed for nearly 20 years, and product recommendations have been around for almost as long due to the pioneering work of Amazon.com, which applied for a patent on its collaborative filtering technology in 1998. Since then, a majority of retailers have adopted online product recommendations. Yet many of these implementations are still fairly primitive because they fail to understand an online shopper’s real-time product needs.

Levi's, Gap Garment Workers in Cambodia on Strike for Pay Increase
May 22, 2012

Workers at a Cambodian garment factory that makes clothes for Levi's, Gap and other well-known international brands are striking for more pay and better working conditions. More than 5,000 workers from the Singaporean-owned SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd. failed to reach an agreement with their employers Tuesday to end an 11-day strike. Ath Thon, director of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers, said workers are demanding an increase in their base pay of $61 a month for 8-hour days, six days a week. He said they want a $5 salary hike and an extra $25 a month for transportation and housing.

Take Control of the Online Experience to Increase Conversions
May 22, 2012

Giving potential customers the information they actually want is one of the most effective ways to grab their attention in today's fragmented media landscape. With the right tools in place, once you have a visitor's interest, it becomes easier to guide individual website experiences, with conversion as the ultimate goal.

What you will learn:

- The importance of making a great first impression through relevant website content
- How PODS employed a relevancy strategy to double its percentage of business that is booked online
- How to use customer segmentation strategies to drive more relevant content
- How triggered marketing campaigns can help improve the online retail experience