Industry News - November 21st, 2008
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RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS |
Sport Chalet Re-launches New E-Commerce Web site
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Sport Chalet, a full-service specialty sporting goods store with
locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, selects the
MarketLive E-Commerce Suite for the company's new Web site.
Phase one of the site will launch on November 22, 2008 and will
showcase Sport Chalet's winter and holiday merchandise and provide
shoppers with innovative Web experiences to increase awareness of
merchandise and services available in Sport Chalet's stores. In 2009,
Sport Chalet will launch phase two of the site to deliver a
fully-integrated online and offline shopping experience for customers,
including in-store pickup of items ordered from the site.
"Our ambitious goals for the site meant we needed a partner that had
the right combination of advanced yet flexible e-commerce technology,
Internet strategy expertise, and best practices know-how," says Craig
Levra, chairman and CEO, Sport Chalet. "MarketLive was the right
e-commerce platform company for us, and was able to meet our
requirements and timeline. We look forward to our partnership with
MarketLive as we build our new site and push the boundaries of
multi-channel retailing."
To build the new site for Sport Chalet, MarketLive's Customer Service
and Internet Straetgy groups will work with Sapient to create site
design and product imagery that will help increase sales and promote
the Sport Chalet brand. In addition, MarketLive's e-commerce technology
platform will be leveraged to allow other Sport Chalet partners to
integrate their e-commerce platforms to meet Sport Chalet's goal of
delivering a fully-integrated online and offline shopping experience in
2009.
Partners include Baazarvoice for customer ratings and reviews, Experian
CheetahMail for email campaign management, and Shopatron for order
management, enabling in-store pickup, customer support, and payment
processing.
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Levi Strauss & Co. Extends E-Commerce Partnership with GSI Commerce |
Levis Strauss & Co. announces it has extended its e-commerce
agreement with GSI Commerce through 2015. GSI will continue to provide
the Levi's brand online store with a full-service, integrated platform
which includes e-commerce technology, order management, customer care
and fulfillment. Levi's has partnered with GSI since 2005.
The Levi's Web site was recently redesigned to make users' online
browsing, shopping and buying experience simpler and more efficient.
gsi interactive, the digital marketing and design agency of GSI, added
new product imagery, enhanced on-site search capabilities and
implemented a parametric search and filtering feature that allows
online shoppers to find a specific Levis style and fit of jeans
quickly. The new features and enhancements were added and designed
based on a customer usability study conducted by gsi interactive in the
agency's usability lab.
The Dockers brand online store also is powered by GSI.
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Hallmark Canada Adds Merchandising Suite |
Hallmark Canada implements Retail.net from Tomax for core
merchandising, store operations and customer management, including
point-of-sale.
The software will be deployed throughout Hallmark Canada's network of
corporate stores and also will be made available to its independent
retailer community. Tomax will provide hosting services for the
Retail.net solutions, providing managed application and IT services for
the combined organization.
"We are excited to provide our retailers with best-in-class retail
application services from Tomax." says Chris Kelly, general manager,
Hallmark Canada. "These tools will provide the wherewithal for our
retailers to compete more effectively, and most importantly, provide
higher levels of service."
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The Buckle Continues to Drive Multi-Channel Sales and Loyalty |
The Buckle renews is contract with Alliance Data Systems to continue
providing private label credit card services. A client of Alliance
Data's since 1995, The Buckle's fiscal 2007 net sales were nearly $620
million, and year-to-date net sales have increased by approximately 32
percent through September 2008. Under terms of the renewal agreement,
Alliance Data will continue providing private label credit card
services including account acquisition and activation; receivables
funding; card authorization; private label credit card issuance;
statement generation; remittance processing; customer service
functions; and marketing services to Buckle.
The private label card solution also includes support of Buckle's
points-based rewards program, called B-Rewards, where cardholders earn
one point for every dollar spent, and receive dollars-off certificates
redeemable at Buckle.
"Our long-standing relationship with Alliance Data has developed into a
true partnership," says Dennis Nelson, president and chief executive
officer, Buckle. "We rely on Alliance Data's industry knowledge and
marketing tools to help us attract cardholders and keep them as ongoing
guests. Through our partnership, we are able to offer valuable benefits
to our most loyal shoppers. We look forward to a continued relationship
with Alliance Data as we continue to build upon past successes."
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Meijer Selects QuantiSense for BI and Data Warehousing
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Meijer implements retail-specific business intelligence (BI) and data
warehousing application from QuantiSense. Meijer also chose QuantiSense
for a consulting engagement entitled "Developing Your Playbook," built
around the signature QuantiSense Playbooks, a set of predefined
analytic paths that help take advantage of opportunities and correct
recurring problems.
Although Meijer already had a mature data warehouse and sophisticated
reporting, the company recognized a need for a stronger context in
which to present the data to its users a structured and systematic
method that would introduce new metrics and create new paths from
exception to action. Meijer uses QuantiSense - built on MicroStrategy's
architecture for embedded retail intelligence, role-based dashboards,
and Playbooks that weave standardized business processes throughout the
enterprise.
Meijer will kick off the QuantiSense implementation with its
merchandising team and expects to complete the initial phase in under
100 days. QuantiSense will provide Meijer's merchandising staff with
role-based dashboards that present relevant information for each user's
department and unique responsibilities. Meijer's users will be able to
view exceptions and performance data on the dashboard and easily drill
down on any item for granular details. After the initial merchandising
roll-out, Meijer plans to expand QuantiSense into other areas of its
business such as supply chain services, executive management reporting,
consumer insight and more.
"QuantiSense provides Meijer with a strategic platform for transforming
the way we disseminate, report and act on information, and it will
enable us to link the IT team's operational objectives with the
business team's strategic and tactical decision making," says John
Agnew, director of merchandising services, Meijer. "We are very pleased
that we can get QuantiSense up and running so quickly, and integrating
Playbooks into our daily business processes promises to bring a
significant competitive advantage for Meijer."
Costco Wholesale Automates Information Management Processes
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Costco automates the information management processes of its packaging
graphics and marketing communication efforts with Paxonix's PaxPro
software. Costco's Marketing Department turned to Paxonix to automate
and streamline its processes to help meet increased market demands for
its package designs and for providing marketing collateral to its
retail locations. Costco needed a comprehensive solution to automate
and streamline the project management process.
"Paxonix was the best solution for Costco as we look to increase
efficiencies and accelerate time to market with new products," says Bev
Akada, assistant vice president of corporate communications, Costco.
"By utilizing Paxonix, we will automate and streamline our processes,
freeing up our staff to focus on even greater innovation and speed to
market across everything we produce within our department."
Previously, Costco relied on Excel, desktop tools and printed proofs to
manage the process. The organization was in search of a flexible and
easy-to-use system to automate the process and make critical
information accessible to key personnel at any time during the creative
process. A Web-based solution, PaxPro will provide Costco real-time
visibility across projects, which helps enable a faster approval
process helps project managers plan, execute and deliver projects on
time.
Costco was impressed with PaxPro's intelligent forms, PaxForms, to help
connect people, processes and data with the company's business rules
and accelerate time to market. By leveraging PaxForms, Costco will
streamline data capture, information sharing and approval processes,
help reduce errors and deliver information faster to decision makers.
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