Tag Archives: E-Commerce

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Surprise your BAE with beautifully curated gift options from Giftstoindia24x7

KOLKATTA, India, 2020-Feb-12 — /EPR Retail News/ — It is that time of the year when the whole world celebrates the spirit of love on Valentine’s Day. Couples who live across boundaries often miss the chance to keep up with the joy of this day. Giftstoindia24x7.com, an e-commerce gifting platform is helping customers to send Valentine Day gifts to India and surprise their special one and enjoy this day. GiftstoIndia24x7, is an e-commerce platform which caters to the needs of non-residential Indians and allows them to conveniently send gifts to their loved ones back in India.

GiftstoIndia24x7 offers a great product range to its users. It has a specially curated category for Sending valentines day gifts to India for their loved ones. To provide customers with utmost convenience, the portal offers 24X7 customer service support, these experts curate a personalized experience and help customers pick the best gift option for their loved ones. The Valentine’s Day category boasts of 1000+ personalized gifting options in addition to the array of other gift products. To amplify the gifts options, give users the best shopping experience and enable them to send the best Valentine’s day gifts to India, the portal partnered with gifting start-ups across India. Additionally, Carvaan products from SaReGaMaPa are available for the music lovers giving customers more options to make Valentine Day gifting truly special for their significant other. 

From classic gifts like Luxury Bouquet Boxes, teddy bears, cushioned hearts, jewellery, etc to specially curated hampers for food lovers, grooming set for the grooming addicts and hampers for the fashionistas; GiftstoIndia24x7 has something in store for every person who wishes to shower love and Send valentines day gifts to India for their significant other. Additionally, it also has personalized options like personalized calendars, select-experiences and dining vouchers, personalized mugs, t-shirts amongst others. For those who want to keep it simple, it offers an option to Send specially curated arrangements of flowers to India from USA on the same day. 

With its premier offerings and strong delivery network, GiftstoIndia24x7 spreads smiles across 1500+ locations in India. With services like exclusive delivery options like same day delivery and midnight delivery, an easily accessible portal and 10,000+ gifting options, GiftstoIndia24x7 is helping couples celebrate love across distances. 

About GiftstoIndia24x7

Established in 1999, GiftstoIndia24x7  is India’s premier gifting platform specially curated for the gifting needs of non – residential Indians. The e-commerce portal offers its users about 20,000 gift options for multiple occasions along with same day delivery and mid-night delivery options. The e-commerce platform delivers has the largest distribution network and delivers to 1500+ locations in India. The platform boasts of a 24X7 customer service support which gives customers across the globe a personalized gifting experience, making them feel more connected with their family and friends back home.

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JusTransact Sees E-commerce Retail Explosion in India

New Delhi, India, 2018-Jul-23 — /EPR Retail News/ — E-commerce retail operations in India supported by unprecedented growth of smart phone and internet penetration has made Indian retail industry the most potent, sustainable and fastest growing industry  in 2018 compared to many of the world’s leading economies.

Even in rural regions, where people used to make retail purchases from the nearby mom-and-pop or physical stores for their grocery, electronic, or any other domestic goods, are now flaunting with tablets or smart phones with dependable internet connectivity and make purchases from online stores using debit or credit cards or internet banking or through digital wallets offered by payment companies such as Paytm, Rupay, Freecharge, MobiKwik, Jiomoney, to name a few.

According to market research firm eMarketer, Indian e-commerce sector will show rapid growth of 31 per cent this year to reach $32.7 billion. With the growing internet penetration and rapid usage of smart phones, the report predicted that by 2022, Indian e-commerce businesses will worth a whopping $71.94 billion surpassing the growth of China and other leading economies in the world.

As per the 2017 Goldman Sachs report, the online retailing sector in China will grow from the current 17 per cent to 25 per cent by 2020.

Factors contributing growth

Industry analysts from Millennium India, a leading e-commerce advisory and supplier of advanced POS technology to Indian retailers, say that the E-commerce growth in India has been contributed by the arrival of leading names – Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm Mall, Zomato, Bigbasket, Naaptol, Urban Ladder, etc, which have forayed into newer fields to address the daily needs of customers.

For example, Flipkart, Amazon and Jio are in the process of integrating nearby grocery shops to provide customers the pleasure of shopping daily need items, fruits and veggie from home, says Kiran Bhargava, an industry analyst based in Mumbai.

According to Bhaskar Venkatraman, CEO and Director of JusTransact.com, which is India’s only e-commerce portal for Point of Sale (POS) electronic products, says: “E-commerce in India has seen vertical growth over a decade and is now in the consolidating mode spreading its base to several other fields to satisfy growing customer demands. Customers, who are empowered by mobile technology, want everything online.  Today’s shoppers are highly demanding and tech-savvy which forces retailers to  open all doors – physical, internet, mobile, land-line, desktop/smart mobile/tablets, O2O, cloud- to reach them and vice-versa. No one wants to lose-out customers because of lack of technology.”

“E-commerce is getting further boost due to cheaper smartphones and increased internet users, and this trend is catching up fast in tier II and III cities as well,” adds Bhaskar, who also heads Millennium India.

Not only, groceries, customers can now order their daily needs and essential items such as furniture, electrical and electronic items, hardware, home utility items, laundry services, food from their smart phones, whose penetration and internet connectivity and also overwhelming online presence by young population and expanding middle class are catapulting the number of digital buyers in India.

The online retail space has been witnessing fierce competition in the recent times for the larger pie with market leader Flipkart (which has been taken over by Walmart recently), Amazon and Paytm Mall (backed by Softbank and Alibaba) infusing huge capital for improved logistic and payment system and also planning to woo customers with attractive discounts on competitive products.

Though as of now, no one has emerged clear winner of the e-commerce space in India, one can surely say that coming months will be more crucial for these entities and customers are in for delightful surprises with deep discount offers, concludes Bhaskar.

 

For Media Contact

K Ramanathan

Editor-Media coordinator,

Justransact.com,

Millennium Re-tech Ventures India Private Limited,

G-19,2nd Floor, Block-16, 2nd Main Road,
Ambattur Industrial Estate,Chennai-600 058.

Website: https://www.justransact.com/

E-mail: ram@justransact.com

Ph: +91 9384612789

 

 

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Intershop client Alko named Digital Leader of Nordics brands in e-commerce

  • Finnish food retail sector still in beginner phase of digital maturity
  • Alko exceeds expectations with precise digital product information
  • Top positions in Finnish food retail, e-commerce and Nordics e-commerce

Jena, Helsinki, 2018-Mar-08 — /EPR Retail News/ — Finnish state owned monopoly for retailing alcoholic drinks, Alko, was announced Digital Leader of Nordics brands in  e-commerce. Additionally, the Intershop-based web shop was granted more top positions for the industry sectors “food retail” and “e-commerce” in Finland.

In comparison to other Finnish brands, Alko’s web shop offers dedicated product information, relevant pictures and adjoining data to the catalogs in the most appealing way. Basic but crisp e-commerce functionality resulted in superior customer satisfaction. A wish list, a detailed shopping basket, a real-time chat service and feedback form have proved to be beneficial to sell alcoholic products in a challenging environment of government regulations.

The shop was already awarded “IT project of the Year 2017” for its omnichannel initiative. Paula Kujansivu, Vice President, Online and Supply Chain at Alko Oy: “We see our customers appreciating our offering well in our daily business and we will improve the online shopping experience based on our customers’ feedback. Getting it acknowledged also by standards of sophisticated scale is additionally motivating for us in terms of exceeding those expectations.”

Axel Köhler, COO at Intershop, adds: “A state-of-the-art technology, combined with skilled implementation talents, resulted in a successful e-commerce business. Intershop´s software is built to deliver exactly this.”

About Intershop

Intershop Communications AG (founded in Germany 1992; Prime Standard: ISH2) is the leading independent provider of omni-channel commerce solutions. Intershop offers high-performance packaged software for internet sales, complemented by all necessary services. Intershop also acts as a business process outsourcing provider, covering all aspects of online retailing up to fulfillment. Around the globe more than 300 enterprise customers, including HP, BMW, Würth, and Deutsche Telekom run Intershop solutions. Intershop is headquartered in Jena, Germany, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. More information about Intershop can be found online at www.intershop.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial and operational performance of Intershop. Actual events or performance may differ materially from those contained or implied in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could lead to such difference could include, among other things: Intershop’s limited operating history, the unpredictability of future revenues and expenses and potential fluctuations in revenues and operating results, significant dependence on large single customer deals, consumer trends, the level of competition, seasonality, risks related to electronic security, possible governmental regulation, and general economic conditions.

Contact:

Intershop Public Relations

HEIDE RAUSCH
Head of Corporate Communication
Phone: +49 3641 50-1000
Fax: +49 3641 50-1309
mailto:pr@intershop.de

Source: Intershop Communications AG

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Dusyma Kindergarten GmbH selects Intershop Commerce Suite to relaunch its e-commerce and content management system

  • Specialist for kindergarten supplies relaunches its online presence
  • Focus on seamless integration and ease of use
  • Planned expansion of customer loyalty and increase in online trading

Jena, Germany, 2017-Sep-27 — /EPR Retail News/ — Dusyma Kindergarten GmbH is replacing its existing e-commerce and content management system with the Intershop Commerce Suite as the core of its new online presence. The high scalability, flexibility and performance were decisive for this choice.

Diverse challenges

The specialist for pedagogically high-quality toys and furniture has been present on the Internet since 1999, offering corporate information and a web shop on its website.

The most important goals for the optimization of the online presence were the technical modernization, for higher user-friendliness, increased sales, and the support of consulting and dialogue eventually leading to higher customer loyalty. Technical challenges included the existing PIM system and the connection to Microsoft Dynamics and VPWIN to guarantee a seamless, automated exchange of all relevant data. In addition, white label shops were to be offered to subsidiaries and trading partners. “There’s no such thing as can’t be done,” said Benjamin Rost, CEO & founder of Experts in Motion AG, who has been implementing Intershop solutions with his team since 1999.

Customer satisfaction guaranteed

Now, tailored to the respective customer segment product ranges and special content is being presented in topic worlds. They feature expert contributions, product presentations and detailed descriptions for download.

The Responsive Web Design optimizes the view according to the used devices such as smartphone or tablet. The broadly diversified clientele, which includes nurseries, day nurseries, day-care centers, schools, medical and therapeutic facilities, foster and day-care parents, retirement homes and specialist dealers as well as private individuals, can thus chose from around 16,000 items. The integrated Econda web analytic system provides the user with various product recommendations during the online purchase process. If required, the external Dusyma call center supports customers with additional information.

Uwe Fierke, Marketing Manager of Dusyma Kindergarten GmbH, sees the decision for the project implementation reconfirmed. “With the decision in favor of the Intershop solution, coupled with the implementation by Experts in Motion’s e-commerce specialists, we have laid a very good foundation for achieving our ambitious goals in the long term. Quality assurance is a major concern for us, which is why we have also commissioned the e-commerce agency to operate, maintain and further develop the new online shop.”

About the Experts in Motion AG
Experts in Motion AG is an agency for e-commerce solutions based in Stuttgart. The e-commerce specialists are system integrators of a wide variety of requirements and optimize flexibly and modularly with the appropriate technologies such as Intershop, SAP Hybris and SAP YaaS. As an implementation partner of Intershop, they have been realizing complex projects since 1999. More: www.experts-in-motion.de

About Intershop
Intershop Communications AG (founded in Germany 1992; Prime Standard: ISH2) is the leading independent provider of omni-channel commerce solutions. Intershop offers high-performance packaged software for internet sales, complemented by all necessary services. Intershop also acts as a business process outsourcing provider, covering all aspects of online retailing up to fulfillment. Around the globe more than 300 enterprise customers, including HP, BMW, Würth, and Deutsche Telekom run Intershop solutions. Intershop is headquartered in Jena, Germany, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. More information about Intershop can be found online at www.intershop.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial and operational performance of Intershop. Actual events or performance may differ materially from those contained or implied in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could lead to such difference could include, among other things: Intershop’s limited operating history, the unpredictability of future revenues and expenses and potential fluctuations in revenues and operating results, significant dependence on large single customer deals, consumer trends, the level of competition, seasonality, risks related to electronic security, possible governmental regulation, and general economic conditions.

SOURCE: Intershop Communications AG

MEDIA CONTACT

HEIDE RAUSCH
Head of Corporate Communication

Phone: +49 3641 50-1000
Fax: +49 3641 50-1309

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METRIC USA RELEASES MULTI-FUNCTIONAL UNISEX KITCHEN APRON ON AMAZON.COM

CULVER CITY, US, 2017-Jul-18 — /EPR Retail News/ — Just this week, Metric USA released an Adjustable Top with Comfort Neck Pad and Water-Repellent Waist Apron, available on Amazon.com.  Metric USA is a full-service home goods and accessories manufacturing and development company with a commitment for incorporating innovative and never-before-seen elements into everyday household products,

Curated to embody two different apron designs and functionalities for on-the-go individuals, the new multi-functional apron comes in a set of two styles: a bistro style serving apron and a bib cooking apron.

“This new apron product comes with an adjustable neck strap that enables the user to adjust the bib apron easily,” said Rita Haft, Founder, and Owner of Metric USA. “Plus, with the extra-long reinforced ties, the apron is easily pulled for a comfortable, perfect fit. Designed with durability and flexibility in mind, this apron can keep up with any kitchen demand.”

The apron comes with a padded neck section which provides comfort to users wearing the aprons for long periods of time. Due to its versatility and unisex development, the apron is a functional solution for moms, dads, husbands, wives, kids, daughters, friends, chefs, and waiters/waitresses in any type of food establishment.

The reversible design also makes the apron twice as functional, with two sides of high-quality apron fabric that can withstand cooking, baking, barbecuing, serving guests in a restaurant and hotel, and other types of uses.

“There are also zippered pockets for keeping phones safe and dry during the cooking process,” said Rita Haft. “Spread the word on the official rollout of our new dual-sided apron product, and head on over to our website today to check out our other innovative home goods fixtures.”The Metric USA apron comes guaranteed wrinkleless.

For more information, visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073F5VXKS

To check out Metric Products’ social media accounts, visit: https://shopmetricusa.com

Check on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb1KcskM2BRi6zA8ltSjbQA

 

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Amazon-Whole Foods Deal to Heighten Industry Competition

Amazon-Whole Foods Deal to Heighten Industry Competition

The acquisition will further immerse Amazon in the $611.9-billion Supermarkets and Grocery Stores industry, where Whole Foods holds a 2.7% market share.

Los Angeles, CA, 2017-Jun-16 — /EPR Retail News/ —This morning, Amazon announced plans to acquire Whole Foods Market in a $13.7 billion deal. The acquisition will further immerse the e-tailer in the $611.9-billion Supermarkets and Grocery Stores industry, where Whole Foods holds a 2.7% market share.

According to IBISWorld Industry Analyst Madeline Hurley, “Although industry revenue is only set to rise at an annualized rate of 0.8% over the five years to 2022, the transaction will allow the online retail giant to boost not only its grocery sales, but expand its brick-and-mortar presence.”

This is not the first time Amazon has dabbled in brick-and-mortar retailing. In 2015 the company  opened a physical book store in Seattle and now operates a total of eight locations nationwide. Over the next five years as the retail sector becomes even more competitive, retail powerhouses like Amazon and Walmart are expected to invest in both online and physical stores in order to maximize their market share.

About IBISWorld Inc. Recognized as the nation’s most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every US industry. With an extensive online portfolio valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. For more information, visit www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772.

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For free access to the Supermarkets and Grocery Stores industry report or interviews with our retail sector analyst, please contact Kathryn White at kathryn.white@ibisworld.com

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ENJOY A LUNCH TOTE WITH BUILT-IN ODOR ELIMINATION FROM METRIC PRODUCTS

CULVER CITY, CA, USA, 2017-Jun-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Metric Products, a full-service, family-owned and operated company has just today launched their latest functional and high quality product, a Lunch Tote Bag. Metric Products works hard to design, create and manufacture a range of products that are functional and embody good design, simplicity, and unmatched beauty, and this new Lunch Tote Bag, with a revolutionary odor-eliminating pouch built right into its design, is no exception.

Passionate about developing products that provide simple fixes to life’s everyday struggles, Metric Products designed a tote bag that is portable, eye-catching, and functional with no unwanted food-related odors.

“Everyone knows that bringing lunch into school or work is a much healthier option than eating out at local food establishments,” said Rita Haft, Founder and Owner of Metric Products. “Since lunch bags tend to get smelly, owners throw them away and succumb to the allure of cafeteria food. With our new design, we’re hoping to thwart this desire and promote healthier eating.”

The new lunch tote fits all standard sized lunch boxes with extra space for drinks, while keeping all food and snacks at just the right temperature. At the same time, it eliminates any odors that come from new and used food in the compartments.

The product is designed with a durable zipper to keep all food and beverages secure. It also comes with an inside stash pocket to hold cutlery and other valuable kitchen utensils. Due to its origami design, the bag can be folded flat for incredibly easy storage.

“Most importantly, this is a reusable product that will help everyone mitigate their environmental footprint,” said Rita Haft. “Spread the word on the official launch of our new lunch tote, and head on over to Amazon.com to get a better visual of this on-the-go product solution.”

For more information, visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07176FM86

To check our social media accounts, visit: https://shopmetricusa.com/

To Subscribe to YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oicm-0keBlY&spfreload=10

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METRIC PRODUCTS RELEASES PREMIUM ANKLE STRAP PRODUCT FOR IMPROVED GYM PERFORMANCE

CULVER CITY, USA, 2017-Jun-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Metric Products, a full-service, family-owned and operated company has just this week released their latest product, a Premium Ankle Strap. Metric Products works hard to design, create, and manufacture a range of products that are functional and embody good design, simplicity and unmatched beauty. This new Premium Ankle Strap is no exception and provides high quality glute kickback workouts at any type of fitness institution.

Designed specifically to partner with any type of cable machine that is hooked to the user’s ankle for glute-based exercises, the Premium Ankle Strap will come in a package of 2 that won’t require the consumer to remove and replace the straps each time they switch feet.

“Most products today come with just 1 singular strap, requiring the user to unstrap and re-strap the product every single time they rotate the exercise,” said Rita Haft, Founder and Owner of Metric Products. “We want people to be able to exercise with comfort and convenience today, which is why our high quality products are optimized for seamless application.”

Each one of the ankle cuff products comes with a coconut shell charcoal odor eliminator that removes odors generated from high intensity fitness activities. The pouches also act as natural air fresheners while the user is completing a workout.

Curated for determined fitness performance, the cuffs come with welded stainless steel loops, adjustable D-Rings and a superior-quality hook-and-loop fastening tape that will not give way or slide out of place in the middle of an exercise.

“Best of all, these are portable products that can be simply folded and stored for on-the-go travel, with a natural air freshener that keeps them smelling good anywhere at any time,” said Rita Haft. “Spread the word on the launch of our new product, and head on over to Amazon.com today to learn more about its dimensions.”

Contact: Katie Smith

For more information, visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713SM3HC.

To check us on social media, visit: https://shopmetricusa.com/

To Subscribe Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oicm-0keBlY&spfreload=10

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KiwiTech Announces Strategic Partnership with Blingby

Strategic partnership formed to revolutionize video content delivery and e-commerce

Washington DC, 2017-Mar-09 — /EPR Retail News/ — KiwiTech, LLC, a startup accelerator and technology services company, has announced a strategic partnership with Blingby, an innovative digital advertising and marketing platform. Blingby users watch, buy, book or rent the styles and places that inspire them. However, Blingby is not only about fashion, lifestyle, or travel; it is adaptable to many different industries. Third-parties can also license and customize Blingby’s (bbStream) technology for use on their platform, enhancing their value proposition.

A truly groundbreaking innovation is Blingby’s bbstream, which can be integrated natively into content streams by producers CDNs and content distributors into their video content. Why should you care?

Imagine watching a YouTube video and moving your cursor above a person’s jacket. From that simple action, a drop-down appears with information on the jacket, through which a user can click through to purchase. Or what if PM Justin Trudeau is giving a presentation in front of the 4 Seasons in Montreal, move your cursor to the hotel and information on room rentals, etc., drop down from which you can click and execute a transaction.

It’s audience-agnostic, non-intrusive advertising that virtually eliminates the “ready fire aim” approach used by advertisers, replacing it with pinpoint accurate audience segmentation.

Blingby, founded in 2014, is a video content delivery and e-commerce marketing and advertising platform, engaging users in 185 countries. Blingby empowers marketers by providing them with a powerful, engaging and advert-less platform where the video and the proprietary bbStream experience drives user interaction. Blingby technology supports native and live streaming. Blingby is currently available on the web at www.blingby.com and on third-party websites, social media and as an Android or iOS mobile app through Google Play and iTunes.

“Blingby is a paradigm shift in marketing and advertising by transforming content into an informative, ’advert-less’ engagement applicable to different industries. We are excited to form this strategic alliance to help further transform Blingby’s unique platform,” said Rakesh Gupta, Founder and CEO, KiwiTech. “We’re committed to bringing the best of KiwiTech to help Blingby meet their business goals.”

“People’s tolerance to pushy and non-relevant and non-engaging marketing is rapidly diminishing. We built Blingby to solve this problem. We deliver a continuously-evolving, fully-immersive visual digital experience with high user engagement and conversion rates,” said Marcia Favale, President, CEO and Co-Founder of Blingby. “KiwiTech, with an extensive experience in the technology space, will augment our technology delivery to continuously reshape user engagement in digital media, helping us further deliver on the Blingby vision.”

KiwiTech brings a deep understanding of developed and emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and visual recognition. “As part of this partnership, KiwiTech will provide exclusive technology capabilities to Blingby,” said Robert Stanicic, COO and Co-Founder of Blingby.

KiwiTech provides end-to-end digital technology solutions across a wide range of industries, including publishing, healthcare, media & entertainment, education, financial services, and government. It has quickly gained recognition as an innovator by investing in numerous early-stage startups and partnering with large enterprises. Leveraging world-class design and technology development capabilities and extensive expertise with content management and creation, KiwiTech enables companies to seamlessly add mobile to their technology stack. KiwiTech is based in Washington DC, with additional offices in New York and New Delhi, India.

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Intershop and MAC-IT Solutions Extend Their Competencies In E-Commerce and Microsoft Dynamics NAV

  • Connection of Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution for retail and e-commerce offers new solution on Microsoft Azure Cloud
  • Jointly developed integrated solution offers optimal start for customers in digitization strategy

Jena, Germany, 2017-Mar-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — Intershop Communications AG and MAC IT-Solutions GmbH are extending their respective core competencies in the areas of e-commerce and Microsoft Dynamics NAV as part of their partnership. MAC IT-Solutions specializes in supporting medium-sized enterprises in the fields of e-commerce and multi-channel commerce. Customers who already run or want to run Microsoft Dynamics NAV and use the cutting-edge Microsoft Azure cloud platform can now do so to flexibly expand their IT environment with a highly scalable e-commerce platform.

The integrated solution from MAC IT-Solutions and Intershop specially developed for this application combines the Microsoft Dynamics NAV “DiVA” ERP and CRM solution, specifically optimized for medium-sized mail order retailers, with the powerful Intershop Commerce Suite. Both systems can be particularly efficiently operated in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, and can even cope with large peak loads flexibly and scalably. Functionalities for both retail and wholesale trade are seamlessly covered. This relieves retailers of the need to make their own arrangements in this respect as well as from their own IT operations and costly upfront investment. This means they can focus solely on the success and growth of their business.

Customer data security is a particularly important aspect for many German mail order companies. For companies that want to be sure that their customer data is stored and processed 100% in Germany, Microsoft Cloud Germany provides a cloud service in which data are processed by a trusteeship solution in partnership with Deutsche Telekom in Azure data centers in Frankfurt and Magdeburg. The joint MAC IT-Solutions and Intershop offering is also available in this Azure environment.

Dr. Jochen Wiechen, CEO at Intershop Communications AG, sees huge importance in the collaboration: “The MAC IT-Solutions and Intershop Microsoft Azure Cloud offering combines ERP, CRM, finance, purchasing and e-commerce as key elements in a purposeful digitization strategy. It is needs-focused and flexible, while being safe and efficient. Moreover, Office365 can be seamlessly integrated as a further cornerstone of Microsoft’s cloud strategy. We are sure it will be very well received in the market.”

Oliver Bartl, Head of MAC Cloud Solutions, describes the collaboration as follows: “Our Plus, Garden XXL and Lenscare customers have already been operating successfully in the market with MAC DiVA and Intershop for some years. The new integrated solution from the Azure Cloud is a valuable additional option allowing us to operate efficiently in an ever more rapidly changing market. We are sure we will be gaining a number of new joint customers with this combination.

About MAC IT-Solutions GmbH:

MAC is the IT solution provider for e-commerce and multi-channel software. MAC’s goal is to offer modern retail an IT platform that handles all business processes efficiently while facilitating a cross-channel brand strategy. Their ERP, CRM, PIM and POS systems are used by many reputable retailers throughout Europe. The modular IT platform is based on the integrated MAILPlus and DiVA ERP and CRM systems, which are based on Microsoft Dynamics. The system can be operated both on physical premises and in the cloud.

Our customers include 4Care, Baur Fulfillment, dress-for-less, Falke, Fiege, frontline, karstadt.de, hess natur, jpc, Orion, Plus.de, and many more

MAC is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, IBM Advanced Business Partner, a member of the K5 Liga and Preferred Business Partner in the bevh trade association.

About Intershop

Intershop Communications AG (founded in Germany 1992; Prime Standard: ISH2) is the leading independent provider of omni-channel commerce solutions. Intershop offers high-performance packaged software for internet sales, complemented by all necessary services. Intershop also acts as a business process outsourcing provider, covering all aspects of online retailing up to fulfillment. Around the globe more than 300 enterprise customers, including HP, BMW, Würth, and Deutsche Telekom run Intershop solutions. Intershop is headquartered in Jena, Germany, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. More information about Intershop can be found online at www.intershop.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial and operational performance of Intershop. Actual events or performance may differ materially from those contained or implied in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could lead to such difference could include, among other things: Intershop’s limited operating history, the unpredictability of future revenues and expenses and potential fluctuations in revenues and operating results, significant dependence on large single customer deals, consumer trends, the level of competition, seasonality, risks related to electronic security, possible governmental regulation, and general economic conditions.

Contact:

Intershop Public Relations
HEIDE RAUSCH
Head of Corporate Communication
Phone: +49 3641 50-1000
Fax: +49 3641 50-1309
Email:pr@intershop.de

Source: Intershop Communications AG

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Xcel Brands, Inc. debuts its H Halston women’s Fast Fashion apparel program at Dillard’s department stores and e-commerce

NEW YORK, 2017-Mar-06 — /EPR Retail News/ — Xcel Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELB) is pleased to announce the debut of its H Halston women’s Fast Fashion or Quick Time Response (QTR) apparel program at Dillard’s department stores and e-commerce in March 2017. H Halston initially launched in Lord & Taylor and Hudson Bay department stores Spring 2016 as a partnership to support the Hudson Bay Company in their strategic initiative to offer their customers proprietary brands on a fast fashion cadence. H Halston is part of the family of Halston brands and offers sophisticated and glamorous daywear in the tradition of the brand’s minimalist design DNA.

CEO and Chairman of Xcel Brands, Inc. Robert W. D’Loren remarked, “We’ve seen success with the H Halston brand’s exclusive retail partnership with Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay. The next natural step was to bring this historic American brand to an additional geographic region through Dillard’s.”

With his deep knowledge of the iconic Halston DNA, global style authority and stylist Cameron Silver continues to serve as the brand’s Fashion Director.

Xcel Brands, Inc. is a brand management and media company engaged in the design, production, licensing, marketing and direct-to-consumer sales of branded apparel, footwear, accessories, jewelry, home goods, and other consumer products, and the acquisition of dynamic consumer lifestyle brands. Xcel was founded by Robert W. D’Loren in 2011 with a vision to reimagine shopping, entertainment, and social as one. Xcel owns and manages the Isaac Mizrahi, Judith Ripka, H Halston, C. Wonder, and Highline Collective brands, pioneering an omnichannel sales strategy which includes the promotion and sale of products under its brands through direct-response television, internet, brick and mortar retail, and e-commerce channels. Headquartered in New York City, Xcel Brands is led by an executive team with significant production, merchandising, design, marketing, retailing, and licensing experience, and a proven track record of success in elevating branded consumer products companies. With a team of over 100 professionals focused on production and digital marketing, Xcel maintains control of product quality and promotion across all of its product categories and distribution channels. Xcel differentiates by design. www.xcelbrands.com

Roy Halston Frowick was the creator of luxury American fashion, whose groundbreaking designs still influence and inspire us today. Founded in the 1960’s, the HALSTON label took the fashion industry by storm. Originally known for his innovation in millinery, Halston used his signature materials of jersey, cashmere and suede to reinvent the jumpsuit, the shirtdress, and the classic caftan, permanently leaving his mark on fashion. The 1970’s and the era of Studio 54 became synonymous with Halston’s designs. Soon after, he was named “the premier fashion designer in America” by Newsweek. His strong connection to pop culture was evident through his friends and clients, which included Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor and Anjelica Huston. Halston went on to create one of the best-selling fragrances of all time in his signature tear-drop shaped perfume bottle designed by Elsa Peretti. Halston created strong codes that are quintessential to the brand even to this day, as a new team of innovators continue to evolve the HALSTON legacy through the H Halston and H by Halston collections. The H Halston brand, exclusive to Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay and Dillard’s, offers true feminine glamour with effortless daywear, footwear, and accessories that easily transitions from work to cocktails.  The H by Halston brand, exclusive to QVC, is made up of versatile, minimalist daywear and accessories in functional fabrics and materials essential for building a chic, contemporary wardrobe. Global celebrity stylist and style authority Cameron Silver is the Fashion Director of the H Halston and H by Halston brands.

For further information please contact:

Stephanie Taylor
Public Relations Associate
staylor@xcelbrands.com
347-727-2483

Source: XCEL BRANDS, INC./globenewswire

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Fullbeauty Brands, the e-commerce and catalog retailer that houses Melissa McCarthy’s “Seven7” collection, partners with Zensar Technologies

San Jose, CA, 2016-Nov-10 — /EPR Retail News/ — Zensar Technologies, a leading provider of digital solutions, software and infrastructure services, announced that it has secured the project to enable US based FULLBEAUTY Brands to achieve visible transformation in its financial and procurement processes. The scope of the project involves Zensar partnering with the e-commerce and catalog retailer to leverage the benefits of a smarter financial and procurement framework, involving reimplementation of the latest version of Oracle Applications Release 12. FULLBEAUTY Brands is a leading American plus-size women’s and men’s apparel and home goods company on the growth path, having acquired multiple businesses with an umbrella of eight proprietary brands. The key objective of this reimplementation project entails a complete redesign of account charts and streamlining key financial and business processes for increased efficiency.

“The retail industry has been at the forefront of customer centric innovation. In order to ensure seamless and profitable operations, it is critical for FULLBEAUTY Brands to streamline its financial processes. I am confident that our Oracle expertise, along with our demonstrated knowledge across the retail segment, will result in the creation of a more efficient process to meet their business goals,” commented Sandeep Kishore, CEO and Managing Director, Zensar Technologies.

Jeanne Franklin, Senior Vice President, Finance, FULLBEAUTY Brands said, “For the project we chose to do a re-implementation rather than an upgrade. The Zensar team is a great partner. Their working knowledge of Oracle in the retail sector was why we chose them as our Oracle integrator, however, they also bring basic day to day skills to the table as they are working with us to streamline our chart of accounts and purge inactive vendors to improve efficiencies.”

Commenting on the implementation, Robert Evans, CIO, FULLBEAUTY Brands said, “We reviewed a number of strong vendors in the Oracle support arena and Zensar stood out as the most capable and knowledgeable from a business and technology platform perspective. Zensar helped us review our licensing structure with Oracle and suggested several ways to use our existing modules and tools to facilitate the use of new features and functionality in the Oracle Financial Reporting platform. These new protocols utilize existing capabilities within the platform without the use of a lot of special coding and development work. Zensar has also been an excellent resource for helping us to determine and implement best practices from a business viewpoint on the Oracle platform.”

According to Harish Gala, Executive Vice President and Head, Enterprise Application Solutions, “Our understanding of Oracle products and solutions, combined with the proven experience of having worked with leading global retail brands will help us to transform the objectives of FULLBEAUTY Brands into visible outcomes. Our team is geared to implement this project effectively, by ensuring that we keep sight of the company’s growth plans.”

Sumesh Chawla, Head of Retail & Hospitality Business US, Zensar Technologies said, “We are glad to have had the opportunity to partner with FULLBEAUTY Brands in transforming their financial processes, by laying the foundation to support their current and future business growth.”

The scope of this project includes a complete reimplementation of the Oracle ERP Financials R12 including GL, AP, AR, Fixed Assets, Cash Management, iProcurement, PO, Project Accounting and Inter Company.

At the end of the project implementation, the customer is expected to benefit from the following expected key outcomes:

• Complete alignment with Oracle Product / Support Roadmap to leverage maximum benefits
• Visible increase in processing efficiencies, due to the elimination of manual processes
• Provision of transactional security and reporting execution across multiple Operating Units
• Centralized Accounting and Centralized Banking configurations, making it a seamless process
• Business Intelligence Reporting and Analysis more streamlined to generate timely and actionable insights
• Month End Close cycle reductions, resulting in better inventory control
• Opportunities improvement across Data Cleansing, Hardware and Extensions Utilization

The above outcomes will help the company to achieve operational efficiencies, create a platform for business growth, while providing competitive advantage.

About FULLBEAUTY BRANDS
FULLBEAUTY Brands is the most trusted, comprehensive resource for plus-size women and men seeking fashion inspiration, style advice, and clothing tailored to their individual needs. Proprietary brands under the FULLBEAUTY Brands umbrella include: Woman Within® (WomanWithin.com), Roaman’s® (Roamans.com), Jessica London® (JessicaLondon.com), swimsuitsforall (swimsuitsforall.com), KingSize® (KingSizeDirect.com), BrylaneHome® (BrylaneHome.com), and fullbeauty.com®, an online marketplace offering a curated collection of the finest Brands, and thousands of products, the premier fashion and lifestyle destination for women sizes 12+ (fullbeauty.com).

About Zensar Technologies (www.zensar.com)
Zensar is a leading digital solutions and technology services company that specializes in partnering with global organizations across industries on their Digital Transformation journey. A technology partner of choice, backed by strong track-record of innovation; credible investment in Digital solutions; assertion of commitment to client’s success, Zensar’ s comprehensive range of digital and technology services and solutions enable its customers to achieve new thresholds of business performance.

Zensar, with its experience in delivering excellence and superior client satisfaction through myriad technology solutions, is uniquely positioned to help them surpass challenges around running their existing business most efficiently, helping in their legacy transformation, and planning for business expansion and growth through innovative and digital ways. Zensar Technologies is an Oracle Platinum partner and an Oracle services partner.

Follow Zensar via:
Zensar Blog: http://www.zensar.com/blogs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Zensar
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zensar-technologies
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zensar
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Zennovation

About RPG Enterprises (www.rpggroup.com)
Mumbai headquartered RPG Enterprises is one of India’s largest industrial conglomerates. With over 15 companies in its fold, the group has a strong presence across core business sectors such as Infrastructure, Tyre, IT and Specialty. Established in 1979, RPG is also one of India’s fastest growing business groups with a turnover in excess of USD 3.2 Billion, 20000+ people and a global presence in over 100 countries.

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E-COMMERCE REVOLUTION MUST INCLUDE SMALL BUSINESS, SAYS UNCTAD SECRETARY-GENERAL

New York, 2016-Sep-21 — /EPR Retail News/ — Entrepreneurs and small business must be included in the e-commerce revolution, an exciting opportunity to create jobs and livelihoods all around the world, the UNCTAD Secretary-General said ahead of a meeting on small business and e-trade
(http://unctad.org/en/Pages/MeetingDetails.aspx?meetingid=1193) .

With the global economy now in its sixth sluggish year of growth, many are
hoping that e-commerce can generate the jobs and livelihoods that more
traditional work has been unable to provide. Last year the global market
for electronic commerce was worth around $22.1 trillion, up 38 percent
from 2013.

“E-commerce is a train that has left the station and is quickly gathering
speed,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said.

“The challenge is to get as many people aboard this train as possible, so
that e-commerce can usefully contribute to inclusive growth,” he added,
referring to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and goal 8 in
particular.

Dr. Kituyi was speaking ahead of a high-level conversation, entitled
“Empowering SMEs through e-Trade and Investment Facilitation” at the UN
Headquarters in New York on 20 September. Speakers at the event include:
Dr. Kituyi; Jack Ma, UN Special Advocate on the SDGs: Robert Azevedo,
Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Alicia
Barcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will also be speaking.

The conversation will look at ways to engage entrepreneurs and small
business in the e-trade revolution.

By connecting untapped markets through internet and mobile network
platforms, online commerce can allow entrepreneurs and small business to
produce and trade goods and services, source inputs, reach customers and
clients, and connect to global and regional value chains.

But a huge gap is opening up between countries and firms that are able to
exploit these opportunities and those that cannot. Existing platforms and
rules for global trade are skewed towards the interests of large
corporations, leaving few opportunities for small and medium-sized
enterprises.

The conversation takes place just two months after UNCTAD’s work on
e-commerce took a significant jump forward with the July launch of the
e-Trade for All initiative (http://unctad.org/en/Pages/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=308) at the UNCTAD 14 Conference in Nairobi. The initiative brings together 15 international organizations and 22 private sector actors together, easing developing country access to cutting edge technical assistance and giving donors more options for funding.

The initiative also supports the December 2015 call by the UN General
Assembly to better use information and communication technology to achieve the SDGs.

Contacts:
UNCTAD Communications and Information Unit
+41 22 917 58 28
+41 79 502 43 11
unctadpress@unctad.org (mailto:unctadpress@unctad.org) ,
http://unctad.org/press

Source:  UNCTAD

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The German e-commerce industry benefits from Georgia’s under-utilized .GE ccTLD

Ge-for-germany

Germany, 2016-Aug-09 — /EPR Retail News/ — The success of thousands of German businesses is in jeopardy, hindered by the oversubscribed domain extension .DE. Soon, there will be no domains left for new businesses to register.

As the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Germany, the .DE domain extension represents a booming online marketplace serving a domestic population of over 82 million. The third most popular top-level domain (after .COM and .TK) the .DE zone has very few short or dictionary word domains left available. In no time at all, those looking to register their business online will have to choose between obscure names, misspellings, or random word combinations to secure a domain in the .DE zone. Their customers will never find them.

This is a serious problem that has the power to halt the growth of the German e-commerce industry, but there is a small group of marketers working tirelessly to address it – and they’ve found a solution.

According to GlobalR.com, a domain registry specializing in .GE domains, the entire English-speaking world knows Deutschland as Germany. To them, .DE is irrelevant and Georgia’s .GE ccTLD is the obvious choice for native German businesses. With barely 30,000 registered domains in the .GE zone, this under-utilized ccTLD represents an unrivaled opportunity for German business owners, giving them their pick of domain names and a ccTLD the majority of consumers automatically associate with Germany.

It’s a solution Germany’s e-commerce industry has been quick to champion. The result has been a marked improvement in the .GE domain name registration procedure, with the process now automated and usually taking no longer than 48 hours. Add to that the competitive prices of .GE domains, almost limitless choice of names, and the development of bulk registration packages, and it’s little wonder pioneering businesses and startups all over the country are rushing to capitalize on the many lucrative opportunities available to owners of a .GE domain.

SOURCE: EuropaWire

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CBRE: Top inland ports expand at nearly twice national pace fueled by rapid growth of e-commerce

Los Angeles, 2016-Jul-21 — /EPR Retail News/ — The rapid growth of e-commerce has fueled development of warehouses and distribution centers in the 12 primary U.S. inland-port markets at nearly twice the national rate, according to a new report from CBRE Group, Inc.

Even with the surge in construction, demand for industrial buildings in those markets is so robust that nine of the 12 have seen their availability rates decline from their post-recession peaks faster than the national rate.

By far the leading catalyst for the growth of inland ports is e-commerce, which has flooded U.S. seaports with an unprecedented volume of foreign cargo destined for markets across the U.S. That cargo is routed from seaports to nearby inland ports, which are major transportation hubs where cargo is handled, warehoused and broken into smaller batches for further distribution to consumers within that region.

“Inland ports account for more than half of the fastest growing industrial markets in the U.S. because they are key way stations in the national e-commerce distribution network,” said David Egan, CBRE’s Head of Industrial & Logistics Research in the Americas. “As online commerce continues to expand, more shippers, retailers and logistics firms will seek top-quality, big-box warehouses in the leading inland-port markets to serve as critical links in their supply chains.”

In the report, CBRE identifies the main inland ports in the U.S. based on their connection to major seaports, their transportation infrastructure and their close proximity to major population centers. Those are: Southern California’s Inland Empire; Phoenix; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Kansas City; Houston; St. Louis; Chicago; Memphis, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta; Greenville, S.C.; and East and Central Pennsylvania.

Inland ports are defined as having a Class I rail connection to a major seaport and also having access to significant transportation infrastructure, be it rail, highway, waterway or a combination of the three.

Collectively, the 12 inland ports expanded their base of industrial properties by 2.7 percent in this year’s first quarter, far outpacing the national average growth rate of 1.6 percent, according to CBRE research. The fastest growing of the 12 were the Inland Empire (4.3 percent), Greenville (4.2 percent), Atlanta and Dallas/Ft. Worth (both at 3.6 percent).

Meanwhile, even with their rapid growth, many of those markets can’t keep up with demand. The inland ports with the least availability are Chicago (6.6 percent), Kansas City (7.4 percent) and the Inland Empire (7.6 percent).

The CBRE report highlights three inland ports as representative of the category’s recent growth:

  • Chicago, the largest U.S. inland port, registered a 26 percent increase in intermodal container shipments since 2000 to now handle more than 15 million TEUs (Twenty-foot-equivalent unit) annually. The ports inbound and outbound traffic is expected to grow by double-digit and triple-digit percentages by 2040.
  • The Greenville area, where an inland port opened in 2013, has seen its cargo volumes grow by triple-digit percentages since then. Due in part to its growing manufacturing base and the nearby Port of Charleston, Greenville has emerged as one of the fastest growing industrial markets in the U.S.
  • St. Louis, a leading river port, capitalizes on less-expensive water transport to bring in shipments. That cargo then is distributed within a 500-mile radius of the port including nearly one third of the U.S. population.

“Inland-port markets have recovered faster than their non-port counterparts since the Great Recession,” said Scott Marshall, CBRE’s Executive Managing Director of Industrial & Logistics in the Americas. “These markets will hold their edge because they have sustainable advantages in their infrastructure, access to population centers and connections to major seaports to benefit them for the foreseeable future.”

To download the report, click here.

About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2015 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Robert McGrath
Senior Director, Global Media Relations
+1 212 9848267

Source: CBRE

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Availability of industrial space in U.S. declined for 25th consecutive quarter as e-commerce continued to fuel warehouse demand – CBRE

Los Angeles, 2016-Jul-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Availability of industrial space in the U.S. declined for the 25th consecutive quarter, the longest such streak on record, as e-commerce continued to fuel warehouse demand, according to CBRE Group, Inc.

Industrial availability declined to 8.8 percent in the second quarter, down 20 basis points (bps) from the first quarter, to its lowest level since the second quarter of 2001. Of 57 major U.S. markets tracked by CBRE, 37 registered declines in their availability rate in the second quarter, marking a slight gain from the 35 markets did so in the first.

Jeffrey Havsy, CBRE’s Chief Economist for the Americas, said robust demand from e-commerce users building out their North American distribution networks will continue to push increases in lease rates this year and spur additional construction. CBRE expects developers to complete construction of roughly the same amount of industrial space in the 57 markets this year as they did last year, when they delivered 150.5 million square feet. That tally, while robust, is nonetheless well short of the 10-year high of 213.5 million delivered in 2006. However, the planned pipeline is continuing to grow.

“While we’ve had some shocks to the global economy, the U.S. economy still is moving along at a slow and steady space, and that will sustain industrial demand,” Mr. Havsy said. “Retail sales have been above expectations, posting pretty strong gains in April and May. That will help both the retail and industrial sectors.”

E-commerce has pushed industrial availability to unusual lows as demand grows for facilities to handle uses such as same-day delivery fulfillment and reverse logistics. In addition, the U.S. dollar’s strength relative to other currencies should continue to increase U.S. imports, which in turn drive additional demand for industrial space.

Thirteen of the 57 markets tracked by CBRE posted increases in their availability of space, due mostly to delivery of newly constructed buildings not yet leased. Those that gained availability in comparison to a year earlier include Houston, Cincinnati, Denver, Minneapolis, California’s Inland Empire, South Central Pennsylvania, Cleveland and Honolulu.

Several registered significant declines in their availability rates from a year earlier, including West Palm Beach (down 290 bps), Newark (down 270 bps), Memphis (down 270 bps), Tampa (down 250 bps), Jacksonville (down 250 bps) and Detroit (down 250 bps).

Looking ahead, Mr. Havsy said, “We think demand will slow a little and supply will continue to ramp up. Vacancy will bottom out this year and then start to slowly rise. But industrial will remain one of the best performing asset classes in commercial real estate for a long time.”

The full report is available upon request.

About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2015 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Robert McGrath
Senior Director, Global Media Relations
+1 212 9848267

Source: CBRE

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BRC supports the e-commerce proposals from the European Commission

LONDON, 2016-May-26 — /EPR Retail News/ — The BRC represents many e-commerce retailers, including both omni-channel and pure players.

The E-commerce proposals from the European Commission issued today (Geoblocking Regulation; revised Consumer Protection Co-operation – CPC- Regulation; Parcels Delivery Regulation; new Unfair Commercial Practices Directive Guidance) complement those in the Online Contracts Directives that are already being discussed in the Institutions and which the BRC has broadly supported.

The Geoblocking proposal is seen by the Commission as one of the keys for its strategy to expand e-commerce throughout the single market by providing both business and consumers with a better basis for their transactions.
The proposal makes it a requirement that every website should be open to access by consumers everywhere in the EU and that any consumer anywhere in the EU should be able to make a purchase from that website on the same terms and conditions and price as a consumer in the Home State of the retailer for delivery to the normal delivery area of the business.

This should overcome the debate over whether a business is obliged to sell AND deliver to all consumers and the consumer protection law that applies when a business in one Member State sells to a consumer in another Member State without actually targeting consumers in that Member State. The confusion in this area has resulted in uncertainty for businesses and consumers alike.

It also confirms that a product legally on sale in one Member State can legally be sold to a consumer in another Member State.

And it makes clear that access to a website does not imply the trader is actively targeting consumers in another Member State – and thus becoming subject to the rules and regulations of that Member State.
As long as this is legally watertight, this should help all those businesses that have been reluctant to dip a toe in the water.

However, we would wish to emphasise that very many BRC members are already actively selling to consumers not just in the rest of the EU but in many other countries besides. BRC surveys show 66 billion pages of UK retail websites were read in March alone and there was a year on year increase in hits on UK retail websites from all Member States except Estonia with an average of a 52% increase across the whole EU.

This demonstrates that in fact e-commerce is growing year on year and that cross border sales are growing year on year. So while we welcome the Commission initiative, we also stress that the real expansion and growth is happening through the actions of retail entrepreneurs serving the desires of consumers without the need for interference from Europe or the UK.

For media enquiries:
zoe.maddison@brc.org.uk
T: +44 (0)207 854 8924

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FDI in Indian E-commerce will stop price wars and streamline operations: Bhaskar Venkatraman

Chennai, India, 2016-Mar-30 — /EPR Retail News/ —  The Indian government’s move to open up E-commerce market place to Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) will, apart from bring in more foreign investments and improve economy, also streamline and regulate the market while arresting the unethical price competitions, says Bhaskar Venkatraman, Founder and Director of JusTransact.com, an exclusive e-commerce market place for Point Of Sale (POS) products and consumables, for both retail and non-retail applications.

Bhaskar Venkatraman, Director, JusTransact.com

Bhaskar Venkatraman, Director, JusTransact.com

Reacting the government move to allow 100% FDI in India’s e-commerce sector, Bhaskar, who is one of the pioneers in introducing POS technology to Indian retail market, says,  “This is a good step with a long term vision and a step towards bring in regulations and healthy competition among e-commerce companies. The move will arrest un-ethical price competitions vis-à-vis brick-and-mortar counterparts which will ultimately benefit end users. This will also change consumers’ perspective towards online shopping as they give more weightage to convenience rather than the price factors.”

On the flip side, the entry of international biggies into Indian e-commerce sector will lead to realignments of local companies, which is unavoidable in the present scenario. This will trigger healthy competition and improve products’ standards in the market, a win-win situation for consumers.

About JusTransact.com

Justransact.com is an e-commerce venture of Millennium Retech Ventures India Pvt. Ltd promoted by Millennium Group. JusTrasact.com was launched with a sole motive of providing reliable, affordable and scalable POS solutions to the fast growing retail sector in India. POS technology facilitates small, medium and large businesses automate their activities, enhance customer experience and also make them competitive with established players. The portal has made world-class cutting-edge POS Hardware, Software and Knowledge accessible to retailers. Headquartered in Chennai and having branches in major cities in India, Justransact.com offers one-stop solution for all kinds of POS needs to both retail and non-retail business applications. The portal currently sells 1000+ POS products of 15+ categories from 40+ world’s leading brands.

Media contact: 

K Ramanathan,

ram(at)justransact(dot)com

G-19,2nd Floor, Block-16, 2nd Main Road,

Ambattur Industrial Estate,

Chennai-600 058.

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Intershop and Wincor Nixdorf partner to provide integration of leading e-commerce and POS solutions for retailers

  • Cooperation with focus on comprehensive omni-channel offering
  • Deep technical integration of leading e-commerce and POS solutions sets standards for retailers

Jena, Germany, 2016-Mar-09 — /EPR Retail News/ — Intershop and Wincor Nixdorf today announce a partnership that will provide retailers a powerful set of tools helping them respond efficiently to the ever changing demands of their customers.

Ordering or reserving online and picking up the item in store is a common way of shopping today. Just as often customers order a product online when actually being in a brick and mortar store, e.g. if they have found the right product, but would prefer it in another color or size or wish to have it delivered to their homes.

What sounds easy to the customer requires complex processes, e.g. in terms of data management, logistics and payment for businesses. Intershop and Wincor Nixdorf have now initiated a product partnership that will address such challenges via a standard integration of e-commerce platforms and complex POS solutions. Customer data collected from online or offline shopping history, loyalty programs, or in-store search can then be combined for targeted cross and upselling offers at the point of sale. Leveraging the potentials of in-store and online sales channels, retailers then can efficiently offer their customers a truly seamless customer journey across all channels. At the same time they profit from higher conversions, increased sales, lower return rates, and higher customer loyalty.

Lars Wiesner, Vice President of Retail Software at Wincor Nixdorf, says: “With this partnership we enhance once more the openness and flexibility of our TP Application Suite. The integration will provide consumers a unique seamless customer journey experience independent of the channel used. We believe this partnership is an important step in supporting retailers in their operational challenges today and in the future”.

Udo Rauch, VP Sales EMEA and VP Channel at Intershop, explains: “This partnership brings together decades of expertise setting standards for retailers. It does not only offer better customer service, preferred delivery or payment options, but also comes with a wealth of additional personalized marketing and sales possibilities. We are confident that this partnership will shape the way people shop in the years to come”.

About Wincor Nixdorf
Wincor Nixdorf is one of the world’s leading providers of IT solutions and services to retailers and retail banking. The company’s extensive portfolio is centered around optimizing business processes at banks and retail companies. It is aimed mainly at cutting costs and complexity and improving service to the end customer.

Wincor Nixdorf leverages know-how from its core business with banks and retailers to diversify into related sectors. These include postal companies and service station chain operators.

Wincor Nixdorf has a presence in over 130 countries, with its own subsidiary companies in 42 of these. Approximately 9,000 employees work at the Group.

The company is the leader in Europe and the No. 2 in the world for programmable electronic POS systems (EPOSs). For automated teller machines Wincor Nixdorf is the No. 2 in Europe and worldwide.

About Intershop
Intershop Communications AG (founded in Germany 1992; Prime Standard: ISH2) is the leading independent provider of omni-channel commerce solutions. Intershop offers high-performance packaged software for internet sales, complemented by all necessary services. Intershop also acts as a business process outsourcing provider, covering all aspects of online retailing up to fulfillment. Around the globe more than 300 enterprise customers, including HP, BMW, Bosch, and Deutsche Telekom run Intershop solutions. Intershop is headquartered in Jena, Germany, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. More information about Intershop can be found online at www.intershop.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial and operational performance of Intershop. Actual events or performance may differ materially from those contained or implied in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could lead to such difference could include, among other things: Intershop’s limited operating history, the unpredictability of future revenues and expenses and potential fluctuations in revenues and operating results, significant dependence on large single customer deals, consumer trends, the level of competition, seasonality, risks related to electronic security, possible governmental regulation, and general economic conditions.

Intershop Public Relations
Heide Rausch

Phone: +49 3641 50-1000
Fax: +49 3641 50-1309
E-Mail

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mPOS Set to Revolutionize Indian Retail Sector

Chennai, India, January 13, 2016 — /EPR Retail News/ — Indian retail market is evolving at a rapid pace riding on technology innovations and customers’ changing preferences for superior shopping experience.

A lot of changes had happened during the last decade at Point of Sale (POS) counters as customers increasingly prefer cash-less transactions, and businesses have readily adopted right payment system for faster check-outs and better payment management.

One of the best ways the brick-and-mortar retailers can handle faster check-outs at their stores is via mobile-POS devices. These devices are like hand-held smart phones that are capable of accepting payments through cards, providing instant receipts and storing data for managing inventory, sales and other back-end business functions.

India, with close to 500 million credit/debit card holders and 700 million smart phone users, set to trigger cash-less transactions through mobile POS devices and online transactions, say analysts.

As per an estimate by the country’s leading banker Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India needs another 20 million M-POS devices in five years from the current 1.2 million sets to provide alternative retail delivery channels to both urban and rural populace across the country.

Predicting that M-POS will be a game changer for Indian payment market in 2020, Bhaskar Venkatraman, founder-director of JusTransact.com, India’s first e-commerce marketplace exclusively for Point Of Sale (POS) technology and solutions, says: “There are two reasons which can trigger the growth of M-POS in India – mobile devices becoming ubiquitous across the country with widespread internet penetration and customers craving for enhanced shopping experience with fast, convenient and cash-less transactions.  M-POS then becomes the natural choice to bridge the gap and promote card-based commerce for retailers. Also, fast evolving technology has changed the use cases of M-POS devices. Along with M-POS, we also expect more demand for Tablet POS and Cloud POS devices as the present generation retailers are more inclined to use latest technology to offer sophisticated shopping experience to buyers.”

Apart from the convenience in transactions and high customer experience, retail businesses choose mPOS devices to close the deal the moment customers make a decision on products without giving them time to change their mind when they proceed towards the checkouts, says Nimish Chandra, who manages a retail showroom selling electronic home appliances in Bangalore.

Despite the anticipated surge of these ‘anywhere commerce devices,’ Bhaskar doesn’t expect that mPOS will replace the traditional POS terminals in the near future.

“I think, to begin with, there will be a very little displacement due to mPOS in emerging markets like India where traditional POS systems are still ruling the roost. However, in the SMB environments, tablets will offer an attractive to traditional POS and mPOS. The displacement will be minimal at least for the next five years,” Bhaskar, who is also a domain expert in POS technology, feels.

He predicts that India will emerge as a leader in mPOS users in the Asia-Pacific region by 2019 as there has been a huge dependency on cash-on-delivery for e-commerce transactions which will open the gates for millions of mPOS deployments across the country.

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Intershop 2015 E-Commerce Report explores the major shift currently taking place in B2B commerce

  • Omnichannel commerce as driver of digitalization of commerce
  • New system landscapes and combined ecosystems bring integration challenges

Jena, Germany, 2015-10-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Organizations are reaping significant benefits from their digital B2B commerce strategies, but the fast-paced success has come at a price. This is the key finding from the Intershop 2015 E-Commerce Report, launched today, which explores the major shift currently taking place in B2B commerce.

The survey of 400 e-commerce decision makers, conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne, revealed that 97% of organizations have felt an impact due to changes in their B2B channels. Online-driven, omni-channel transformation is changing the way B2B brands connect with, engage and retain customers. On the other hand, digitalization demands the ongoing integration of supply chain and demand chain leading to more cross-linked processes, companies and businesses. All of which has ramifications for the wider digital enterprise.

Overall, respondents expect their organization’s digital platforms to grow by 13% in the next two years. Almost all (98%) respondents expect that their sector will benefit from the digitalisation of business, and the same proportion (98%) see opportunities from the digitalisation of business in general.

Yet, many are daunted by challenges as they build out the next phase of their B2B e-commerce business – especially when it comes to enabling an interconnected digital enterprise infrastructure. Most respondents (91%) expect to encounter challenges when growing their digital platform. The integration of IT systems into the B2B commerce landscape is viewed as a primary goal for the next three years. The vast majority of organizations (94%) still needs to integrate at least one IT system into their B2B commerce landscape, while they are also looking to incorporate an increasing number of business processes within their B2B e-commerce platform. The research also showed that B2B e-commerce teams are under intense scrutiny, with 99% of those surveyed saying that their organization measures B2B commerce success.

“While B2B e-commerce offers huge growth opportunities, it is very much a race of the fittest,“ commented Dr. Jochen Wiechen, CEO of Intershop. “For many organizations, delivering highly relevant and contextual experiences to their B2B buyers requires a radical rethink of their business structures, and a new dimension of automating processes along supply and demand chain. Those organizations able to re-engineer their offering fast and effectively will successfully deliver against today’s buyer expectations. Those that lag behind, however, risk losing out.”

Further key findings include:

  • 97% of respondents’ organizations have felt impact due to changes of their B2B channels – and that’s driving a greater need for more integrated business processes and greater collaboration between functional teams
  • In the next two years, respondents expect their organization’s digital platforms to grow by 13% – and that’s driving a parallel evolution of the e-commerce ecosystem from today’s web shop to a more complex and comprehensive customer engagement platform
  • Almost all (99%) of those surveyed state their organization measures their digital B2B commerce success – principally customer satisfaction (65%), revenue growth (64%), average order value (48%) and spend-per-customer (47%). This demonstrates the expectation for business results
  • Most respondents (91%) report their organization will encounter challenges when growing their digital platform – and that the integration of IT systems into the digital B2B commerce landscape is viewed as a primary goal for the next three years
  • Technical faults (47%), low initial digital B2B sales (44%) and issues integrating digital and offline channels (44%) were the challenges most likely to be expected when setting up digital B2B channels.
  • Almost all (98%) respondents expect that their sector will benefit from the digitalization of business, and the same proportion (98%) see opportunities from the digitalization of business – clearly, slipping behind represents a significant risk for those organizations that lack the vision or capability to evolve.

“It is great to see how many of the organizations we surveyed have embraced digital enablement. This capability is not only driving sales, but also helping them to enhance the good old fashioned face-to-face conversations that take place between key account managers and buyers and influencers,“ Dr. Jochen Wiechen continued. “On the other hand, digitalization is clearly rewriting the rules of competition. This means organizations are facing ever greater pressure to integrate their e-commerce operations directly into the business infrastructure. If they want to compete successfully, they will need to achieve true digital transformation.”

About the 2015 E-Commerce Report
Intershop commissioned independent research consultancy Vanson Bourne to survey 400 B2B decision-makers with responsibility for e-commerce in the UK, US, France, Germany, the Nordics and Benelux. The survey, conducted in June 2015, covered B2B organizations that had over €5 million online revenue and included a B2B element to their business. Participants were selected from organizations located in six geographic regions: the UK (60), the US (120), Germany (60), France (60), the Nordics (60) and Benelux (40).

The full Intershop E-Commerce Report can be downloaded from the Intershop website www.intershop.com/e-commerce-report .

About Intershop
Intershop Communications AG (founded in Germany 1992; Prime Standard: ISH2) is the leading independent provider of omni-channel commerce solutions. Intershop offers high-performance packaged software for internet sales, complemented by all necessary services. Intershop also acts as a business process outsourcing provider, covering all aspects of online retailing up to fulfillment. Around the globe more than 300 enterprise customers, including HP, BMW, Bosch, and Deutsche Telekom run Intershop solutions. Intershop is headquartered in Jena, Germany, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China. More information about Intershop can be found online at www.intershop.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial and operational performance of Intershop. Actual events or performance may differ materially from those contained or implied in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could lead to such difference could include, among other things: Intershop’s limited operating history, the unpredictability of future revenues and expenses and potential fluctuations in revenues and operating results, significant dependence on large single customer deals, consumer trends, the level of competition, seasonality, risks related to electronic security, possible governmental regulation, and general economic conditions.

Intershop Public Relations
Heide Rausch

Phone: +49 3641 50-1000
Fax: +49 3641 50-1309
E-Mail

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Best Buy expands its e-commerce and mobile development capabilities by opening a technology development center in Seattle

SEATTLE, 2015-2-19 — /EPR Retail News/ — Best Buy, the world’s leading consumer electronics retailer, will accelerate and fuel its rapidly expanding e-commerce and mobile development capabilities by opening a technology development center in Seattle.

The development center will open in late spring 2015 in the booming, tech-centric South Lake Union area of Seattle and will focus on mobile development, private cloud and omnichannel-application development. It will employ more than 50 engineers, product managers, web architects and developers in the next year and is expected to expand to more than 100 e-commerce professionals over time.

The development center will be located on the top floor of The Seattle Times headquarters building and will play an important role in the growth of Best Buy – with particular focus on how digital technology will drive a comprehensive customer experience and growth in all channels. With more than 1,400 stores in the United States and an e-commerce site that has seen rapid expansion for more than three consecutive years, Best Buy has the ability to turn ideas into reality, do it quickly and do it at scale.

“Establishing this development office is significant for BestBuy.com,” said Mary Lou Kelley, President, E-commerce for Best Buy. “The work done in this office will lead the transformation of the omnichannel experience for our customers. We intend for our colleagues in this office to drive breakthrough innovation at incredible scale – for the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer.”

The work in Seattle will supplement the work of the e-commerce and enterprise IT teams in Minneapolis. The Seattle development center will focus on talented individuals with backgrounds and skills to drive transformational innovation. Recruiting for the new positions is in progress. Best Buy currently has more than 150 full-time e-commerce engineers and product managers in Minnesota, as well as several hundred contract employees.

An initial group of about 30 job listings for the Seattle office will be posted Wednesday at www.bestbuy-jobs.com.

BestBuy.com’s e-commerce experience has undergone a major transformation over the past two years. It is focused on leading-edge development technologies, leveraging cloud technologies and practices to support increased scale and the rapid growth of e-commerce traffic from mobile devices. In addition, the e-commerce team successfully deployed an OpenStack cloud internally last year.

Best Buy has received a sizeable award of $200,000 for the development center from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s strategic reserve fund.

“Best Buy is an exciting addition to Washington state’s powerful community of e-commerce and mobile technology innovators here in the Cloud Capital of the World,” Inslee said. “We’re proud to have this dynamic, leading-edge company bringing great jobs and drawing on the talents of our outstanding tech workforce, which numbers more than 176,000, including some of the best cloud-application developers anywhere.”

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray applauded the move.

“Best Buy chose Seattle because we have the talent and the business environment that will help the company prosper,” Murray said. “The continued growth of e-commerce is a huge boost to our local economy and puts the city at the hub of the new global economy.”

The 32,000-square-foot office is being subleased from The Seattle Times.

About Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer, offering advice, service and convenience – at competitive prices – to the consumers who visit its websites and stores more than 1.5 billion times each year. In the United States, more than 70 percent of Americans are within 15 minutes of a Best Buy store. Additionally, the company operates businesses in Canada and Mexico. Altogether, Best Buy employs more than 130,000 people and earns annual revenues of more than $40 billion.

Forward-Looking a Cautionary Statements:

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that reflect management’s current views and estimates regarding future market conditions, company performance and financial results, business prospects, new strategies, the competitive environment and other events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “assume,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “project,” “guidance,” “plan,” “outlook,” and other words and terms of similar meaning. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: uncertainties regarding the expected benefits from the center; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in the registrant’s periodic reports (whether under the caption Risk Factors or Forward-Looking Statements or elsewhere). Best Buy assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, except as otherwise required by law.

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Gemondo Introduces The Gorgeous Zandra Rhodes Jewellery Collection

Gemondo, one of the UK largest online jewellers has introduced the gorgeous Zandra Rhodes Jewelleryinto their designer jewellery collections. Gemondo.com is an online jewellery retailer specialised in designer jewellery. It’s the only online outlet for discontinued Zandra Rhodes jewellery, and stocks the largest collection of Zandra Rhode’s jewellery in the world, many of which are offering at sales prices.

Zandra Rhodes is a famously colourful British fashion designer. She was introduced to the fashion world by her mother, who was a teacher at Medway College of Art. Zandra Rhodes graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 1964. Her major area of study was printed textile design. Zandra Rhodes is renowned for her unconventional clothes and pink hair. Her designs are considered clear, creative statements, dramatic but graceful, bold but feminine.

Zandra Rhodes was considered as one of the new wave of British designers who put London at the forefront of the international fashion scene in the 1970s. She designed costumes for Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury of Queen, and continues to design for royalty and celebrities. In May 7 2009, Zandra Rhodes teamed up with Marks & Spencer and launched a capsule collection, using her creative and iconic designs as inspiration, featuring a range of women’s wear, accessories, holiday pieces and lingerie. It turned out to be a huge success.

Zandra also has her very own collection of jewellery. Her inspiration has always come from organic material and nature, and the Zandra Rhodes Jewellery collection continues this theme. Turning silk into yellow and white gold or silver with a combination of precious and semi-precious stones, such as Sapphire, Swarovski Crystal, and Pink Tourmaline, etc. Zandra has created five different styles of beautiful and stylish necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, and brooches. The Zandra Rhodes jewellery includes five separate collections, which are Oriental Whisper collection, Punk Chic Collection, Lovely Lilies collection, Signature collection and Manhattan Lady Collection.

The inspiration for the Oriental Whisper Collection was the eternal ‘wiggle’ line that is featured in nearly every one of Zandra’s fabulous textile designs, and has become the staple of Zandra’s work in this field; The inspiration for Punk Chic collection came from her days as the ‘Queen of Punk’ where her haute couture collections included torn fabrics, pinned together with safety pins. Zandra’s safety pin designs came a long time before Versace and Vivien Westwood.

Via EPR Network
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Animal Crowns UK Pro Surf Tour Champions

The Animal team cleaned up the top spots of the UK Pro Surf tour at the final decider event in Newquay at the weekend. Alan Stokes claimed the overall men’s open tour title and Gwen Spurlock became overall women’s open tour champion too. This is a great finish for Gwen who has taken home the Welsh Junior and British Junior titles already this year.

Animal Crowns UK Pro Surf Tour Champions

The Animal Newquay open was the final stop of the gruelling six round tour that took the cream of UK surfers round the UK best breaks. After the stormy conditions provided by Mother Nature on day one, meaning the event was moved to Towan beach, the competition returned to Fistral. Day two saw a challenging chunky 6ft swell and a strong cross-shore SSW wind testing competitors. Each heat of the day was watched closely by the onlookers to find out who would win overall.

The weekend started with Stokesy holding a slender lead but with six surfers all in with a chance of taking the men’s Pro open tour title. As the heats progressed the contenders were eliminated leaving Newquay surfers Tom Butler and Alan Stokes as the last challengers remaining in the semi finals. Stokesy won his semi but Tom was unable to find the best waves and 3rd place kept him out of the final and handed the victory to Stokes.

Stokesy commented, “It means so much to take this title, it’s the hardest UK title to win as the championship is contested over 5 events. These new chargers like Tom Butler and Reubyn Ash pushed me all the way and made it an anxious but fantastic final event.”

In the Women’s event strong performances were put on by Zoe Sheath and Gabi Rowe. This wasn’t enough to take the overall title from Gwen Spurlock who won the overall UK Pro Surf Tour Women’s event thirty points ahead of the pack. Gwen’s story is one of a true champion, after winning the junior tour in 2007 a serious head injury kept her from the water in 2008. Now sporting a helmet Gwen has not only returned, but won the tour title.

On finding out she’d won the tour Gwen said, “Boom. I’m amazing.” She was pretty stoked that she had won the title.

About Animal
Since their conception, Animal clothing, Animal watches and Animal bags have successfully evolved into household names. The introduction of the Animal estore in 2009 means Animal can now offer Animal products UK wide and in a space unconstrained by shop floor size.

Via EPR Network
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Designer Jeweler, AstleyClarke.com Wins Best Luxury Brand Online 2009

We are delighted to inform you that AstleyClarke.com has won the Walpole Award for “Best Luxury Brand Online 2009“

The annual Walpole awards for Excellence took place last night (16th November 2009), at Banqueting House, London and honored those individuals and companies who have, in the views of the judges, members and industry, achieved the pinnacle of excellence across seven categories including luxury, design, online, international, overseas and emerging talent.

Designer Jeweler, AstleyClarke.com Wins Best Luxury Brand Online 2009

This year, the award for Best Luxury Brand Online was judged by leading industry experts Nathalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter, Brent Hoberman of MyDeco.com, Guy Salter of Walpole, Erik Wachtmeister of A Small World, Martin Bartle of 270 Degrees and Peter Fitzgerald of Google. Judges unanimously agreed that AstleyClarke.com has shown innovation through the use of online technology and marketing, achieving outstanding sales results and a luxury presence online in 2009. The other Nominees were: Anya Hindmarch, Cartier, Hackett, Mulberry and Louis Vuitton.

AstleyClarke.com is now the recognized home of the World’s best collection of designer jewellery and is the ultimate destination for all online jewellery gift shopping.

The award is a fitting accolade; in October AstleyClarke.com re-launched its Designer jewellery website as part of the strategic development of the Astley Clarke brand. It sits within the company’s mission to make Fine Designer Jewellery a more creative and imaginative category for a new generation of luxury consumer. This consumer embraces the attributes of ecommerce and is a high spender in the luxury arena. To compliment the launch of the new website, AstleyClarke.com also opened its newly refurbished showroom in West London.

“I am delighted AstleyClarke.com has won the Walpole Award for Best Luxury Brand Online. Astley Clarke has embraced a gap in the market for online luxury and is a pioneer in changing the way that luxury consumers shop for jewellery online – With exquisite designer jewellery, combined with a return to old-fashioned customer service of the highest standard, AstleyClarke.com has carved a unique niche for itself; moving away from a mass approach to luxury”. Bec Clarke – Founder and Managing Director

AstleyClarke.com
The new AstleyClarke.com website features outstanding jewellery photography; sophisticated gemstone search functions; zoom features and product showcases giving customers an improved view of the products, exquisite front end design, excellent faceted navigation, improved jewellery wish-list and gift reminding features. The site also houses inspirational jewellery content by the AstleyClarke.com design team, International Jewellery designers and leading fashion and jewellery editors. To educate international jewellery shoppers, Astley’s Jewellery Miscellany, written by the in-house gemmologists, covers in-depth information on gemstones, precious metals, design and craftsmanship.

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Artificial Christmas Trees Light Up The Ellen DeGeneres Show With A Denali White Christmas

Balsam Hill® Artificial Christmas trees has set a new standard of quality for the Artificial Christmas Tree industry. From the complete realism of the Vermont White Spruce Tree to the striking Artificial Christmas Trees White Denali, Balsam Hill® has overwhelmed its customers with quality and options. Ellen DeGeneres’ delight was evident on an episode that featured Artificial Christmas trees by the company. As she enjoyed the splendor of the trees, her enthusiasm and passion for beautiful touches of holiday magic was apparent. The Balsam Hill® Artificial Christmas Trees Decorations adorned the studio stage in such a way that it was transformed into a magical winter wonderland of Christmas that anyone would appreciate.

California, November, 2009 – Balsam Hill® Artificial Christmas trees are the number one trees when it comes to realism and beauty. The company has established a mission that guides them in working toward the goal of creating Artificial Christmas trees that are realistic and luxurious, while also being convenient and beautiful. The company has set new standards in all areas with each of its categories of trees. The Vermont White Spruce Tree, California Baby Redwood™, and Colorado Mountain Spruce trees are known for their realistic qualities and the Artificial Christmas Trees White Denali has been described by the “Home Journal” as ‘striking’. Even Ellen DeGeneres seemed to be taken aback as she looked intently at the adornments on her stage.

In recent years there has been a move toward using Artificial Christmas trees. This has resulted in a booming new business of opportunities for many, which means many companies are being put up overnight and producing less than quality products. But the cream always rises to the top, and that has been the case with Balsam Hill®. This company’s technology is at least two steps ahead of the others, which is why there is such a difference in the trees made by Balsam Hill® and Artificial Christmas trees made by other companies.

As the “Home Journal” describes Balsam Hill’s® Artificial Christmas Trees White Denali as being striking, the article goes on to suggest that one simply decorates it with blue paper starbursts and blue and silver ball ornaments. While this may not be the true traditional type of decorating theme that one is used to, the luxury of having the white tree foundation of Balsam Hill’s® Artificial Christmas Trees White Denali to work with opens new opportunities for creativity. Because the tree is white, using simple color schemes usually works; the white foundation provides opportunities to try things that may not work so well on a green tree.

Until this ‘white’ Christmas tree was created by Balsam Hill®, it was not possible to find well-made, first quality, white Artificial Christmas trees. Therefore, anyone with a sense of creativity but with a preference for quality was left without a real solution. Balsam Hill® has provided that solution and at the same time, made it more difficult for other companies to compete with them.

Balsam Hill® also offers high-end Artificial Christmas Trees Decorations that add a stunning final touch to the perfect tree. The company provides ornaments that are unique and quite different from the typical ones seen in department stores. It seems that they have gone out of their way to find and offer the ideal Artificial Christmas Trees Decorations in order to make their trees look even better.
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Retailers Seeking Temporary Solutions To Guarantee A Better Christmas

Displaysense reports high street retailers and independent stores are heading into the festive period in full force by increasing their retail display solutions to promote and distribute their range of products in defiance of forecasts of a slump in Christmas sales threatening the speed and strength of the UK’s economic recovery.

Displaysense, the UK’s leading supplier of display cabinets and cake stands has noticed a growing trend in businesses purchasing more in the way of temporary shop displays. This allows retailers the opportunity to have more stock on display, providing customers more choice as well as retailers the chance to reduce their stock and increase sales during this festive period.

With a slump in sales over the summer period, primarily due to poor weather and unrest in the banking system, there is now a surplus in stock at many retailers which needs to be cleared in order to make way for the latest products and gadgets for 2010.

With the opportunity of Christmas and January sales just around the corner, many shops are looking for as many opportunities as possible to sell, sell, sell and recoup their depreciating investment in the stock they hold. As cash is very much king to retailers and with banks still unwilling to lend, businesses are trying to ensure they can make the most of this silly season of sales and buyer demand approaching.

Steve Whittle the marketing manager at Displaysense, commented on this trend in a positive tone by stating, “The fact that a lot of businesses are looking to get rid of their stock shouldn’t be seen as a desperate attempt to make some money, but rather that they are ready to move on after a disappointing year. New stock lines bring new opportunities and the lessons learnt over the past year or so should put the majority of companies in good stead for the coming months ahead”.

With some ranges of wire chrome shelving units and clothes rails near to selling out at Displaysense, the company is already having to reorder more to fill the demand, which is the opposite to last year’s demands which saw the company’s 95% off sale signs selling out. The move from desperation to innovation has clearly paved the way for the unexpected upbeat feeling on the high street.

Only time will tell whether the predictions of a gloomy Christmas period will come true, however one thing that is certain, a temporary display isn’t just for Christmas. It can be a real life saver for retail shops.

Via EPR Network
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Online Boutique Specializes In Sweet Baby Gifts For The Sophisticated Gift-Giver

BabyStuffGifts.com, a leading online baby boutique, today announced its full line of one-of-a-kind personalized baby gifts and accessories, for those with discriminating tastes. As a trusted industry leader in specialty baby gifts, BabyStuffGifts.com offers an exclusive selection of fine baby clothes, gift baskets, accessories, blankets, hooded towels, bibs, burp cloths, dolls and plush toys.

“In a time when everything we purchase is mass-produced, we are pleased to offer charming gifts that are treasured for their uniqueness and uncompromising quality,” says Nancilyn Gray Scott, founder, BabyStuffGifts.com. “Most of our gift items and toys are manufactured exclusively for our store. These one-of-a-kind gifts are created by our talented team of designers, who share our philosophy about producing the highest quality baby products and gifts.”

Specializing in gifts for infants f r o m birth to 12 months of age, BabyStuffGifts.com offers dozens of gifts in every price range and for every occasion. In addition to a full line of exclusive boys’ and girls’ baby gifts, BabyStuffGifts.com offers a variety of bibs and burp cloths, bath and beach wear, nursery décor, stuffed animals and more, all personalized with the baby’s name or monogrammed with his or her initials.

About BabyStuffGifts.com
Every baby is a special gift and each one deserves only the very best! At BabyStuffGifts.com, our passion is to provide each precious baby with personalized baby gifts and baby gift baskets, at reasonable prices. Founded with a deep appreciation for finer quality items and sophisticated gift-giving, BabyStuffGifts.com offers a distinctive selection of personalized baby toys direct to consumers or through select retailers. Shipping to both domestic and international destinations, BabyStuffGifts.com manufactures most of its own products, which make wonderful baby shower, birthday, holiday and all-occasion baby gifts. For more information, please visit www.babystuffgifts.com.

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SimplyWeddingStuff.com Introduces Personalized Placemats

SimplyWeddingStuff.com, the ultimate online destination for unique wedding favors, bridal shower favors and gifts today introduced personalized placemats that come in a colorful variety of themes, making them perfect decorations and party favors guests can take home after the festivities have ended.

“In this economy, customers are looking for festive ways to keep party costs down, while still creating a memorable and fun event,” says Brenda Knutson, customer service manager, SimplyWeddingStuff.com. “At about a dollar a piece, these new personalized placemats double as party décor and a favor that guests can take home to reuse. Great for birthday parties, bridal showers and baby showers, anniversaries and baptism, the placemats are a hit with guests and make cleaning up a breeze for the host.”

Bridal shower themed placemats come in elegant, colorful and whimsical themes, f r o m a bride’s silhouette to clinking champagne glasses. Baby shower themes include Under the Sea, Ladybug, Baby Boy and Baby Girl and Trendy Mommy. Birthday themes include milestones birthdays such as 1st, 40th, 50th, with designs ranging f r o m elegant, cute, fun and kid friendly. Rounding out the vast selection of placemats are matching invitations, thank you cards and banners and decorations, for a complete party ensemble. The minimum order for placemats is 16, but any quantity above minimum can be ordered.

In addition to the bridal shower theme, placemats for almost any occasion can be found at one of the BigDotofHappiness.com family of shops, which includes BabyShowerStuff.com, SimplyBabyStuff.com, SimplyBirthdayStuff.com and SimplyWeddingStuff.com.

At SimplyWeddingStuff.com, finding just the right wedding invitation, bridal shower favor or wedding gift is an obsession they share with clients. Every bride has her own vision of a dream wedding and SimplyWeddingStuff.com provides all she needs to create a unique and memorable event. F r o m shower invitations to DIY wedding party favors and everything in between, the selection at SimplyWeddingStuff.com is unrivaled. Not merely a party favor warehouse, SimplyWeddingStuff.com’s design team creates truly inspired items for that very special day.

Via EPR Network
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