Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine July Issue 2018 | Page 69

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Fast-fashion retailer rue21 appoints ex-Chico's
FAS exec as CEO
American fast-fashion retailer,
rue21, has appointed Laurie Van
Brunt as CEO of the company.
Brunt is an experienced retailer
who was serving as President of
Chico’s FAS-owned Soma brand
that retails lingerie, sleepwear, and
beauty products.
Notably, while serving as President
at Soma, she managed to grow the
revenue of the brand to US $ 350
million in 2017 as compared to US
$ 87 million in 2010. She also led the
company’s charge into e-retailing.
After exiting bankruptcy back in
October last year, the company
has been searching for a new
management and along with Van
Brunt, the US-based teen retailer
has also roped in Stephen Sommers
(Ex. CEO, Vineyard Vines) as Chief
Marketing Officer and Michele
Pascoe as its Chief Financial
Officer (former Senior Director
of a Private equity firm, Alvarez
& Marsal.
Markedly, Michael Appel who
served as the interim CEO of the
company after exiting bankruptcy,
will be taking back his designated
position as the Chairman of the
Board. “With our increased funding
in place along with our new top
brass, and the usage of innovative
data analytics to run our business,
we as a group are expecting the
brand to be better than before and
to deliver positive results in the
time to come,” said Appel.
Reportedly, due to bankruptcy,
rue21 had to shut around 400 of its
stores and appointed three different
(interim) CEOs in last three years.
It currently operates 753 stores in
the US.
It will be a tough task for the
new management to take the
brand out of dire-straits, as it
remains to be seen what the fresh
force has to offer to the teen
fashion retailer.
Harvey Nichols partners with Hero to board
omnichannel bandwagon
British luxury store chain Harvey
Nichols is the latest retailer to
jump on to the omnichannel train.
The multi-brand seller of
fashion and lifestyle products
has partnered with retail tech
firm Hero to bridge the gap
between online and offline selling
operations. With this alliance,
the retailer is launching a live
shopping platform that connects
the company’s in-store stylists or
assistants with online shoppers.
Complete with features like
photo sharing, texting and video
chat, all happening in real time,
customers can talk directly to
staff in the store rather than a
remote customer care specialist.
The feature will be released to
all the shoppers in the UK and a
12-month pilot test of the project
has already been conducted via
flagship on Knightsbridge in
London. Adam Levene, Founder
and CEO of Hero added, “Sales
associates are armed with
iPhones and iPads and it’s really
game-changing. It means they are
no longer waiting for customers
to come into the store. They can,
instead, proactively assist millions
of shoppers throughout the site.” an add-on button on the Harvey
Nichols website to talk to these
assistants.
The way this service will work is
that employees will be directed
to log onto the Hero site when the
store visitation is comparatively
low. Consumers can simply use The interactions that will ensue,
thanks to this new feature,
will also help the retailer in
understanding the way customers
converse, their demands as
well as the performance of the
assistants. This data will further
assist in acting as base to train
store managers and better equip
them to handle the queries.
Pearson Poon, Executive Director,
Harvey Nichols explained, “We
are bridging that gap between
online and offline because
ultimately from a strategic
perspective, you want the
customer shopping experience
to be seamless, whether you are
shopping online or offline.”
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