J. Jill

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Everything you do, everything you say, everything you are — and I mean everything — is a direct reflection of your brand. All of these things need to be managed and controlled, but in a way that doesn't seem managed and controlled. Sound difficult? It is. That's why so few brands actually do it well.

QUINCY, Mass. — J. Jill, a leading multi-channel specialty retailer of women's apparel based in Quincy, Mass., announced that it has appointed Scott Edmonds to its board of directors. Edmonds most recently was the chairman and CEO of Chico's FAS, where he led the company's growth from $155 million in sales and 200 locations to $1.5 billion and 1,076 locations over a ten year period. Paula Bennett, president and CEO of J. Jill, commented, "I'm very excited to have Scott join our board of directors. His proven specialty retail success and expertise in this market segment will provide tremendous

NEW YORK — Talbots said on Tuesday that its board of directors has adopted a shareholder rights plan -- or a poison pill -- to protect its stockholders after a private equity firm disclosed it had acquired a sizeable stake in the company. On Monday, Sycamore Partners LP revealed it had acquired a 9.9% stake in Talbots and said it planned to attempt to talk with the retailer about strategy and operations. Reports put Talbots’ market value at $288 million, and suggest a buyout would exceed $400 million. In its move to protect shareholder value, Talbots adopted the poison

The cross-channel retail industry is at a crossroads. For starters, due to the economic downturn, the past couple of years have been difficult for the retail sector. But that's changing. Retailers are starting to see signs of life and are breathing a sigh of relief. At press time, for example, it was announced that February retail sales increased 0.6 percent over January and 4.2 percent year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Golden Gate Capital Corp., a private equity firm, agreed to sell a majority stake in the J. Jill clothing business to Arcapita Bank BSC, a Bahrain-based investment bank, less than two years after buying the company.

When I first started covering this business back in 1986, I didn’t know what a catalog was — seriously. At least, not the kind we talk about from cover to cover in this magazine. My parents never received any catalogs in the mail in the Long Island suburb where I grew up, only store fliers. At least, I never saw any catalogs. And although later in life we’ve all become big catalog shoppers, we were strictly a retail-shopping family back in those days. So I spent the better part of my first year as associate editor at my former catalog biz publication

People On the Move Neiman Marcus: The multichannel apparel marketer has promoted its retail division president/CEO Karen Katz to executive vice president of the parent company, Neiman Marcus Group. The company has also promoted the Group’s senior vice president and CFO James Skinner to executive vice president and CFO. Sears: The multichannel retailer has hired Louis Ramery as its new senior vice president, customer relationship marketing. Ramery, who’ll have overall responsibilities for developing and executing the Sears Holdings’ relationship marketing strategies and programs, will report to Maureen McGuire, Sears Holdings’ chief marketing officer. He was previously with Digitas, a marketing agency network. J.C. Penney: The multichannel

As a cataloger/multichannel marketer, you’ve long understood the importance of double-checking all aspects of your marketing programs to make sure everything is in order. No doubt, you visit your printer when you’re on press to monitor print quality. You do bindery checks to inspect book assembly. You likely use mail decoys to confirm delivery. You also probably “mystery shop” your own company to monitor your call center and shipping teams. You surely double-check your printing and postal invoices for accuracy. The same attention to detail applies to online marketing. As paid search marketing grows in importance and consumes a larger share of catalogers’

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