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<!--Generated by Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.166 (http://www.squarespace.com) on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:43:41 GMT--><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><title>Bulletin Board</title><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/</link><description></description><lastBuildDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 02:08:40 +0000</lastBuildDate><copyright></copyright><language>en-US</language><generator>Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.166 (http://www.squarespace.com)</generator><item><title>Internet Retailer: Merchantry Raises $7 Million in Series B Financing</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 21:41:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/5/13/internet-retailer-merchantry-raises-7-million-in-series-b-fi.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:33723502</guid><description><![CDATA[<p class="deck"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 9.57.36 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1368755898650" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p class="deck"><a href="http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/05/13/merchantry-raises-7-million-series-b-financing" target="_blank">Merchantry Raises $7 Million is Series B Financing</a></p>
<p class="deck">Merchantry provides technology that empowers retailers and media organizations to generate new revenue streams by building online marketplaces.&nbsp;</p>
<p class="deck"><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></a></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-33723502.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>RetailWire: Merchantry Receives $7 Million in Series B Funding</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 09 May 2013 02:05:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/5/8/retailwire-merchantry-receives-7-million-in-series-b-funding.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:33724119</guid><description><![CDATA[<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 10.06.19 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1368756400444" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.retailwire.com/press-release/22765/merchantry-receives-7-million-in-series-b-funding" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">Merchantry Receives $7 Million in Series B Funding</span></a></p>
<p>Merchantry, an online marketplace technology provider, announced that it has received $7 million in Series B growth capital led by Kite Ventures. Greycroft Partners and e.ventures also participated. The investment is in addition to $10 million Series A funding the company secured in 2011 and 2012.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></a></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-33724119.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>IVC POST: Kite Venture Led the Series B of Merchantry</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 01:53:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/5/6/ivc-post-kite-venture-led-the-series-b-of-merchantry.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:33724083</guid><description><![CDATA[<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 9.56.33 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1368755822612" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ivcpost.com/articles/8375/20130506/kite-venture-led-series-b-merchantry.htm" target="_blank">Kite Venture Led the Series B of Merchantry</a></p>
<p>By Marco Castro</p>
<p><img src="webkit-fake-url://07492E8B-E5A1-4AEE-8CF4-86BBE04AC65D/application.pdf" alt="" /></p>
<p>This is a clear image of how online merchants have taken center stage in the consumer industry. (Photo : Reuters)</p>
<p>In an announcement by Merchantry today, it disclosed that its&nbsp;Series B of Financing had raised US$7 million with Kite Ventures heading&nbsp;the round. e.ventures and Greycroft Partners also participated in the&nbsp;round.</p>
<p>The latest investments will be added to the US$10 million&nbsp;Series A financial support that the company was able to raise back in 2011&nbsp;and 2012 from investors that included Marvin Traub Associates and&nbsp;Carmen Busquets who was the founding investor of Net-A-Porter.com and&nbsp;founder of GIFTLAB.com.</p>
<p>Merchantry is the secret weapon of the majority of retailers that are&nbsp;either online based or traditional outlets plus most media companies.&nbsp;They make the products readily available to every consumer where&nbsp;merchant interaction is enhanced. The infused finances will be&nbsp;allotted for the expansion of the company's sales team and it clientele all throughout Europe and United States.</p>
<p>"Merchantry is helping some of the world's largest retailers succeed&nbsp;in a rapidly changing environment. "Their trust in Merchantry&nbsp;underlines the efforts of the team, which has done a terrific job in&nbsp;transforming the market. We are proud to be on board for this exciting&nbsp;ride." " according to Kite Venture's&nbsp;Managing Director, Edward Shenderovich.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></a></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-33724083.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>FORTUNE: Term Sheet by Dan Primack</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 01:48:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/5/6/fortune-term-sheet-by-dan-primack.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:33724070</guid><description><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;<span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 9.49.42 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1368755432021" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p>VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS</p>
<p>Merchantry, a New York-based provider of online marketplace technology, has raised $7 million in Series B funding. Kite Ventures led the round, and was joined by Greycroft Ventures and e.ventures. <a href="http://fortune.chtah.net/a/hBRh7qNB8aSrEB8yYsqNsoKexUc/for181"><span style="color: windowtext;">www.merchantry.com</span></a></p>
<p><span style="color: windowtext;"><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></a></span></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-33724070.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>PEHub: Merchantry Raises $7M From Kite, Greycroft, e.ventures</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 01:44:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/5/6/pehub-merchantry-raises-7m-from-kite-greycroft-eventures.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:33724064</guid><description><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="webkit-fake-url://7C122AC0-DA0F-49E9-A05F-E698B07CF554/www.pehub.com.png" alt="www.pehub.com.png" /></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pehub.com/?s=merchantry" target="_blank">Merchantry Raises $7M From Kite, Greycroft, e.ventures</a></p>
<p>By Mark Boslet</p>
<p>Merchantry said it raised $7 million of Series B growth capital in a deal led by Kite Ventures and joined by Greycroft Partners and e.ventures. The new investment comes on top of the $10 million the company raised in Series A funding in 2011 and 2012 from <a href="http://giftlab.com/"><span style="color: windowtext;">GIFTLAB.com</span></a> founder Carmen Busquets, Marvin Traub Associates and others. <a href="https://www.pehub.com/200011/merchantry-raises-7m-from-kite-greycroft-e-ventures/" target="_blank">More here...</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></a></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-33724064.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>INC. Magazine: Where Have All the Big VC Deals Gone?</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:56:02 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/4/19/inc-magazine-where-have-all-the-big-vc-deals-gone.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:33413016</guid><description><![CDATA[<p><img title="Small Business Resources for the Entrepreneur" src="http://www.inc.com/images/inclogo.gif" alt="Inc.com - The Daily Resource for Entrepreneurs" width="198" height="68" /></p>
<p class="deck"><a href="http://www.inc.com/magazine/201304/darren-dahl/where-have-all-the-big-vc-deals-gone.html">What's behind the Series A Crunch? Since 2008, the gap between the number of seed rounds and Series A investments has widened.</a></p>
<p class="deck">By Darren Dahl</p>
<p>A disturbing rumor has been snaking its way through Silicon Valley  and the start-up community: Venture capitalists aren't funding  start-ups, specifically with investments of more than $1 million, as  they have in the past. The rumor even has a name: the Series A Crunch.</p>
<p>The rumor isn't entirely true: VCs haven't dramatically cut back on  Series A investments--the first big rounds of VC funding. But lately,  competition for Series A deals has been increasingly fierce. More and  more entrepreneurs are discovering that raising seed funding doesn't  guarantee there will be Series A money down the line. CB Insights, a  research firm in New York City, projects that some 1,000 recently funded  seed companies will be "orphaned"--or unable to raise follow-on  financing.</p>
<p>There are a couple of factors contributing to the crunch that  entrepreneurs are feeling. For starters, there was a slight dip in  venture capital funding in 2012. Overall, VC firms invested 10 percent  less capital in private companies last year than in 2011, and they  struck 6 percent fewer deals, according to a report released by the  National Venture Capital Association and PwC.</p>
<p>But that's only a small part of the problem. The larger factor is  that the number of Series A investments (typically more than $1 million)  hasn't kept pace with the recent explosion in the number of angel and  seed investments (deals that typically range from $25,000 to several  hundred thousand dollars). The number of Series A investments has  actually doubled since 2008, but smaller seed-level deals surged some  262 percent, according to PitchBook, an industry research firm. (See the  table on the previous page.) "The real issue surrounding the Series A  crunch is not that there are fewer Series A investments," says Katherine  Barr, general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park,  California. "It's just that a ton of companies have received seed  funding in recent years. It's simply an issue of supply and demand."</p>
<p>Because many investors are making smaller bets--and more of them--an  increasing number of start-ups are getting off the ground, only to be  left hanging when they need larger investments. <strong>But that's the nature of  VC funding, says Tyler Newton, a partner at Catalyst Investors in New  York City. "Not every company that gets seed funding deserves to get  Series A, and not every company that gets Series A deserves to get  Series B," says Newton. "I believe there is still more venture money  available than good deals to be made."</strong></p>
<p>It appears that certain industries will bear the brunt of the crunch.  Companies in markets that are already saturated, such as mobile games  and social media, will have a harder time raising Series A funding, says  Charles Moldow, a general partner at Foundation Capital, also in Menlo  Park.</p>
<p>For now, entrepreneurs like Jeff Martens are left wringing their  hands. Martens is co-founder and CEO of CPUsage, a Portland,  Oregon-based company with five employees. His company raised a seed  round of less than $1 million from Morado Venture Partners and Crosslink  Capital in September 2011. Martens plowed that money into the  development of a platform that will eventually let customers process and  analyze large amounts of data via cloud computing.</p>
<p>Martens, who drove to California and slept on friends' and family  members' couches for four months to land seed funding, says investors  seem to have a renewed focus on companies that can generate significant  revenue--something his business has yet to do.</p>
<p>To get his product to market, Martens figures he needs to raise  another $3 million to $5 million in the next six to nine months. It's an  increasing source of anxiety. "Everything has taken twice as long and  has been twice as expensive," he says. "Our goal now is to last long  enough to reach our revenue milestones so we can pull the trigger on  that Series A." Until then, Martens is hanging on to his hope that  CPUsage will be one of the lucky few.</p>
<p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></a></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-33413016.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>AppNewser: Curate Twitter Content With ShadowMe iOS App</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:24:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/2/21/appnewser-curate-twitter-content-with-shadowme-ios-app.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:32876213</guid><description><![CDATA[<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-02-26 at 3.27.39 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1361910508951" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/appnewser/curate-twitter-content-with-shadowme-ios-app_b32493" target="_blank">Curate Twitter Content With ShadowMe iOS App<br /></a>By&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/appnewser/author/diannadilworth">Dianna Dilworth</a></p>
<p><span class="full-image-float-left ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/mzl.levzokkf.320x480-75-175x300.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1361910346492" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p>Tendy Apps has upgraded its&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/SzKsQ5" target="_blank">ShadowMe&nbsp;for Twitter</a>&nbsp;discovery app in a move to make it easier for iOS users to view curated Twitter feeds</p>
<div></div>
<div>Using ShadowMe, Twitter users can &ldquo;shadow&rdquo; people that they have selected as interesting and view what these folks see in their own personal timelines. The latest upgrade includes two new features, the &ldquo;group shadow&rdquo;&nbsp;and the &ldquo;suggested shadows.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>The group shadow lets organizations curate lists of conversations to follow in one news feed. For example, the non-profit organization&nbsp;NIMBY created a Group Shadow of its events using the handle @NimbyProject. Fans can use the feed to see tweets from NIMBY and everyone else involved with the charity in a consolidated feed.</div>
<div></div>
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<div></div>
<div>The suggested shadow feature includes lists by category of interest curated by experts and celebrities from that category of interest. For example, the<strong>&nbsp;</strong>ShadowMe Stand Up list is&nbsp;curated by comedian Ben Kronberg. The list includes tweets from about 100 different comedians chosen by Kronberg in one consolidated feed.&nbsp;ShadowMe Chick Lit<em>&nbsp;</em>is curated by&nbsp;<em>New York.&nbsp;</em>There are 60 suggested shadows on varying subjects including sports, entertainment, technology, fashion and business.</div>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Body2"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></span></a></p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-32876213.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Retail TouchPoints: Fashion Execs Discuss Mobile And Social Best Practices</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:03:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/2/21/retail-touchpoints-fashion-execs-discuss-mobile-and-social-b.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:32871051</guid><description><![CDATA[<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-02-25 at 3.10.41 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1361823163921" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p><a class="contentpagetitle" href="http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/cross-channel-strategies/2315-execs-discuss-how-social-and-mobile-impact-fashion-e-commerce" target="_blank">Fashion Execs Discuss Mobile And Social Best Practices<br /></a>By <span>Alicia Fiorletta</span></p>
<p><span>The web, mobile technologies and social networking sites all have amplified and accelerated product research and validation for consumers. As a result, today&rsquo;s connected consumers always are in tune to with the latest trends and must-have products, and can instantly connect with their favorite brands and designers.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span>Executives from&nbsp;</span><strong>C. Wonder</strong><span>,&nbsp;</span><strong>Perry Ellis International</strong><span>&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><strong>Polyvore</strong><span>&nbsp;gathered in New York City to discuss the effect of these instant connections on the fashion industry. In a panel sponsored by&nbsp;</span><a href="http://merchantry.com/solutions/for-retailers/">Merchantry</a><span>, titled:&nbsp;</span><strong><em>Fashion eCommerce: How To Succeed And Lead,&nbsp;</em></strong><span>fashion retail leaders shared their opinions on the latest digital trends, and how their organizations are spearheading new developments in social media and mobile.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/images/stories/c.wonder.png" alt="c.wonder" width="250" height="168" /></span></span></span></p>
<h3><strong>Social Media Enables Instant Fashion Validation</strong></h3>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong>While shopping always has been an inherently social behavior, the Internet is making product discovery, research and sharing easier, and allowing purchase validation to occur more quickly and seamlessly, explained Katherine Crane, Senior Director of Advertising at<a href="http://www.polyvore.com/">Polyvore</a>. Approximately 20,000 unique visitors per month gather on the Polyvore web site to browse the latest clothing and accessories, create outfits and share their ensembles with their social graphs via Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, usually to seek approval.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Ongoing commentary takes place between Polyvore members because they're always looking for a source of validation,&rdquo; Crane said. &ldquo;Shopping is and always has been the act of receiving validation along with researching trends and products. Now, it's just happening earlier and faster."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Because more consumers are turning to social networks and the web to authenticate potential purchases, as well as get approval of their overall senses of style, large and emerging brands are focusing on driving buzz across social networks.&nbsp;<br /><br />For example, C. Wonder, a newer fashion brand, has an internal group within the e-Commerce team dedicated to social strategy, according to Caroline Covington, Implementation and Operations Manager for e-Commerce at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cwonder.com/">C. Wonder</a>. "As a startup, it's all about how to leverage your internal resources for maximum gain,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We recognized even before our launch that social was a channel very important for driving our brand awareness, customer service experience and general brand promotion,&rdquo; so it warranted its own group.&nbsp;C. Wonder also taps social media to test product and brand content. For example, the retailer&rsquo;s social team recently published messaging on Instagram, which allowed them to see instantly what strategies drove image &ldquo;likes&rdquo; and comments.</p>
<p>Covington also noted that social is a big part of sales discussions. A key goal during company sales meeting is for the social team to summarize campaigns and results, so C. Wonder executives can pinpoint what methods drive acquisitions and engagement, and which connect the dots best between social media platforms and the e-Commerce site.</p>
<div><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/images/stories/perry_ellis_international.png" alt="perry_ellis_international" width="300" height="205" /></span></span></div>
<p>Perry Ellis International has a similar focus on social media, and is evolving internal business processes to ensure integration and improve collaboration between social media and other digital properties, according to Michelle Magallon, VP of Digital Commerce for<a href="http://www.pery.com/">Perry Ellis International</a>.</p>
<p>"We measure everything that is executed via social media,&rdquo; Magallon said, &ldquo;to determine the value of a Facebook referral, for example and how it changes over time.&rdquo; The brand taps solutions such as Radian6 and Pinfluencer to listen to and track social conversations, and better understand the impact of different campaigns and strategies leveraged across social sites and digital properties.</p>
<h3><strong>Brand Personality Is Key To Digital Success</strong></h3>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong>While it is imperative that fashion retailers and brands create and disseminate content across digital channels to drive awareness and customer acquisition, some organizations miss the mark when it comes to creating a compelling and relatable brand personality, which helps generate long-term loyalty.&nbsp;<br /><br />"Social media is much more focused on projecting the personality of designers and trying to establish them directly as aspirational authority figures," explained Martin Zagorsek, CEO of<a href="http://www.launchcollective.com/welcome">Launch Collective</a>, an agency that offers strategic and operational support to emerging designers and brands.&nbsp;<br /><br />Brands &ldquo;need to become more human by developing personalities,&rdquo; Zagorsek added. He said they need to take cues from companies such as J. Crew, &ldquo;which has greatly benefited from [executive creative director] Jenna Lyons&rsquo; personality&rdquo; among consumers as well as editorial outlets.&nbsp;<br /><span class="full-image-float-right ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/images/stories/polyvore.png" alt="polyvore" width="300" height="211" /></span></span><br />Polyvore helps emerging designers develop more compelling brand personalities with its Designer Collective, a program developed to help boost awareness for up-and-coming fashion design talent. The program, Crane noted, spotlights designers so they can speak about their inspiration for products, which &ldquo;really matters [to our visitors].&rdquo;<br /><br />Crane explained that in traditional retail, designers start with retailer relationships, and convince celebrities to wear items to get additional promotion within specific consumer markets. However, the Polyvore audience is &ldquo;genuinely interested in products and wants to learn more about brands,&rdquo; she stated. "These designers have a swell of support from our global audience, which allows them to become digital-first fashion brands."&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Successful Mobile Strategy Relies On Usability</strong></h3>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong>Mobility also was a key topic during the session, with panelists highlighting the need for an optimal customer experience on tablets and smartphones.&nbsp;<br /><br />Zagorsek offered advice from an agency perspective, explaining that in order to have a successful mobile strategy, organizations must rely on simplicity. "It's about taking what you have on the e-Commerce site and stripping it away,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it's usually a fight to do that because a lot of brands and designers are very attached to their content."&nbsp;</p>
<p>Confirming the importance of a refined mobile experience, Magallon revealed that Perry Ellis will be focusing on a &ldquo;swipe, tap and drag&rdquo; model for its mobile strategy. Presented as a tile-based approach,&rdquo; the mobile site is being designed to &ldquo;empower consumers to customize the look and feel of the mobile experience based specifically on their own preferences,&rdquo; she said. Though the plan is still being fleshed out, Magallon indicated that &ldquo;2013 is the year of mobile optimization for Perry Ellis International.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Polyvore also is setting sights on expanding its mobile strategy in 2013. The e-Commerce and digital content site saw a successful launch for an iPhone app in December 2012, which has led to an &ldquo;extraordinary amount of engagement,&rdquo; according to Crane. To keep pace with this mobile demand, Polyvore executives plan to release an Android app next and then an iPad app.</p>
<p><span><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Body2"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></span></a></span></p>
<div></div>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-32871051.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>WWD: Flash-Sale Sites Reinvent the Model</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:05:11 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/2/11/wwd-flash-sale-sites-reinvent-the-model.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:32792670</guid><description><![CDATA[<div id="header-container" class="from-issue">
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<div id="author-container"><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/WWD logo.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1360606360686" alt="" /></span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.wwd.com/retail-news/direct-internet-catalogue/flash-sale-sites-navigate-changing-landscape-6729590?module=hp-topstories" target="_blank">Flash-Sale Sites Reinvent the Model</a></span></div>
<div>By&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wwd.com/wwd-masthead/sharon-edelson-1616438">Sharon Edelson<br /><br /></a></div>
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<p>Are flash-sale sites a flash in the pan?<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a viable concept,&rdquo; Martin Zagorsek, chief executive officer of Launch Collective, which provides strategic and operational support to fashion and lifestyle companies, said of the members-only e-commerce sites featuring limited-time sales geared to create a sense of urgency in shoppers. &ldquo;But the format is not a game changer. It&rsquo;s a great idea, but not nearly as big as all the start-ups and venture capitalists thought.&rdquo;<br /><br />The first wave of sites bowed in 2007, touted by their founders and investors as the next big retail trend, the platform poised to become a significant online player to rival eBay and Amazon. That hasn&rsquo;t happened, and now many sites are retrenching to adapt to a more realistic growth trajectory.<br /><br />According to industry experts, only 3 percent of online shoppers buy apparel from flash-sale sites. This despite the fact that 85 percent of consumers browse the Internet for apparel and 72 percent buy clothes online.<br /><br />One reason for the low percentage may be the nature of online shopping. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of the trolling process,&rdquo; said Paco Underhill, founding president of Envirosell. &ldquo;Whether on Gilt Groupe or other sites, there&rsquo;s a portion of the public that&rsquo;s just there to look. They might buy something [occasionally], but they&rsquo;re actually using it as a recreational activity. It&rsquo;s a time-filler for them.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;There&rsquo;s still a little growth left, but not that much,&rdquo; said Tommaso Trionfi, ceo of<a href="http://merchantry.com/">Merchantry.com</a>, an e-commerce software provider for retailers. &ldquo;The market in the U.S. could be about $5 billion to $6 billion. Gilt Groupe did about $600 million in 2012. Ideeli, MyHabit and Rue La La all do between $200 million and $300 million each. There should be consolidation. They&rsquo;re fighting each other.&rdquo;<br /><br />One problem for flash-sale sites has been securing inventory. During the height of the recession, when affluent consumers put the brakes on spending, luxury brands were happy to sell excess inventory to flash-sale sites. Now, the pipeline for luxury goods has slowed and sites are finding it harder to secure the best labels as manufacturers cut production. In addition, retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus have introduced their own flash-sale sites, increasing the competition for inventory.<br /><br />&ldquo;It is no secret that this business has been challenged,&rdquo; said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. &ldquo;We knew the biggest challenge would be the inventory. You sell the inventory you have access to. You gain traction based on your access to inventory. At some point, the reality hits that this is an easy business to launch but a really difficult business to scale.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Nobody wants to give away their inventory at a low price,&rdquo; said Trionfi. &ldquo;Technology is helping manufacturers forecast better and better. There will always be some leftover, but it&rsquo;s getting smaller.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;We do some things that we didn&rsquo;t do before,&rdquo; admitted Kevin Ryan, ceo of Gilt Groupe, who is stepping down and will be succeeded by Michelle Peluso this month. Ryan, a Gilt cofounder, will remain chairman, and Susan Lyne, the current chairman, will become vice chairman. &ldquo;We do more cutting, and we are increasing private label.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Gilt is going around asking brands to &lsquo;do a run for us,&rsquo;&rdquo; Trionfi said. &ldquo;Gilt will say, &lsquo;I have 2 million members. Your product will be seen by 2 million people. How many people go through Bloomingdale&rsquo;s in a day? I can expose a much larger inventory to a much larger audience. I&rsquo;m selling you communications, I&rsquo;m selling you advertising.&rsquo;&rdquo;<br /><br />According to experts, some brands are manufacturing specifically for flash-sale sites. &ldquo;If you see a large and steady supply of a designer, chances are they&rsquo;ve made a decision to cut for the channel,&rdquo; Trionfi said. &ldquo;To meet production minimums, it may make sense to take the risk.&rdquo; Geren Ford is an example of a small designer that is said to have cut directly for Gilt. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about it [doing manufacturing runs for flash-sale sites],&rdquo; a spokeswoman for Halston Heritage said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s actually been up for discussion in the last few weeks. We don&rsquo;t think it downgrades the brand.&rdquo;<br /><br />Gilt has started designing and manufacturing its own children&rsquo;s apparel, which gives the site more control over its destiny. It may be a precursor to other categories. &ldquo;Gilt created new product in men&rsquo;s and a few other categories,&rdquo; said Mulpuru. &ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been very successful. Let&rsquo;s see if it works in baby, which isn&rsquo;t as heavily branded.&rdquo;<br /><br />To compensate, some sites branched into new product categories and services, with mixed results. Gilt, the largest flash-sale site in North America, shuttered Park &amp; Bond, its full-price men&rsquo;s site that launched in September, after the holiday season, merging Park &amp; Bond with Gilt Man on the main site. Gilt put its Jetsetter travel business up for sale in October and has scaled back its food businesses. Ideeli is dropping the travel category, phasing out kids&rsquo; and exiting the men&rsquo;s business, moves intended to allow the site to focus on women&rsquo;s fashion and its core mainstream and aspirational female customers.<br /><br />The changes to the site will &ldquo;add a lot of incremental sales,&rdquo; said Ideeli founder and ceo Paul Hurley. &ldquo;We think there&rsquo;s a $1 billion business to build here.&rdquo;<br /><br />Ideeli wants to be less reliant on overruns. &ldquo;When we want to broaden our assortment of private label, we&rsquo;re able to address that from a vertical standpoint,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;We have this amazing infrastructure to use. Bob [Rosenblatt, who was hired in October as president of Ideeli] was responsible for sourcing at Tommy Hilfiger. He did a lot of things in the factories.&rdquo;<br /><br />Hurley said private label at Ideeli accounts for about 30 percent of sales. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting out of the men&rsquo;s business, but we&rsquo;ll continue to offer men&rsquo;s products to women to buy for men,&rdquo; Hurley said. &ldquo;The most successful business models are very focused.&rdquo;<br /><br /><a href="http://ideeli.com/">Ideeli.com</a>&rsquo;s sales volume in 2011 was $100 million to $200 million. Hurley declined to give a 2013 estimate.</p>
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<p>Analysts estimated Gilt&rsquo;s gross revenues rose from $25 million in 2008 to $605 million in 2011, an annual growth rate of 189 percent. However, the revenues have not ensured profitability. Gilt is still struggling to report a profitable year. The company in September said it would turn a profit for the first time in the second quarter of 2013.<br /><br />Nordstrom continues to invest in HauteLook, which it acquired in February 2011, with the expectation that it will become more profitable. &ldquo;Earnings are a little bit below breakeven,&rdquo; Mike Koppel, Nordstrom&rsquo;s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said during a third-quarter conference call with analysts. &ldquo;HauteLook&rsquo;s doing fine,&rdquo; a Nordstrom spokesman said. &ldquo;The business is on track to achieve its sales plan for the year, which will be a roughly 50 percent sales increase. &ldquo;We continue with our teams at Nordstrom and at HauteLook, to work to find new ways to enhance all the channels we have available to sell product to customers.&rdquo;<br /><br />The Web site is providing Nordstrom with some learnings and synergies. &ldquo;[HauteLook] has been growing, not retrenching,&rdquo; the spokesman said. &ldquo;It has been putting up some pretty impressive growth in both sales and membership.&rdquo;<br /><br />The site has more than 11 million members, up from 4 million last year. &ldquo;Our integration is coming along, and we&rsquo;re pleased with the value we&rsquo;re getting from HauteLook,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our customers have been responding favorably to this form of discovery-based shopping for some time now. We&rsquo;re also finding there are benefits to being on the same team as we work together to try to secure the best product available. We&rsquo;ve added a lot of talent and capabilities [to HauteLook], and we see a lot of opportunity.&rdquo;<br /><br /><a href="http://sneakpeeq.com/">Sneakpeeq.com</a>, a social shopping site that combines limited-time sales with aspects of gaming, is switching to a marketplace format. On Sneakpeeq, users turn over tags to &ldquo;peeq&rdquo; at an item&rsquo;s price, encourages users to share their finds with friends, who also peeq at products. As items get more peeqs, their price continues to fall.&nbsp;<br /><br />Sneakpeeq, which offers 3,500 brands, is &ldquo;looking to double that number,&rdquo; said Judy Zhu, vice president of merchandising. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing month-over-month double-digit growth. Because we have 3,500 brands and so many more waiting to get on,&nbsp;<a href="http://sneakpeeq.com/">Sneakpeeq.com</a>&nbsp;is becoming a marketplace.&rdquo; Brands such as Kerastase hair care, Dana Blair Designs and Chella skin care will be able to load the products themselves and collect the same data Sneakpeeq collects. &ldquo;We already have a vendor portal tool that brands can use to process an order,&rdquo; Zhu said.<br /><br />Sneakpeeq could pull out and create Web sites for its most popular categories. &ldquo;If beauty, the fastest-growing category, continues to grow, Sneakpeeq could create a separate beauty destination,&rdquo; Zhu said. &ldquo;We could have a more luxe boutique. It would be a different environment for shopping. We could do something with the personalization aspect.&rdquo;<br /><br />While Gilt and Ideeli have narrowed their focus, Rue La La founder Ben Fischman revealed that the site will be expanding into several new businesses. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re launching a much larger men&rsquo;s experience in the next six months,&rdquo; Fischman told WWD. &ldquo;Also, home will be relaunched in the first quarter. Women&rsquo;s continues to be an incredible growth driver. So does the shoe business and men&rsquo;s. We talk about whether there&rsquo;s any fatigue in the space. So many people are trying to get into the space. There&rsquo;s a very low barrier to entry.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;At the end of the day, brands don&rsquo;t want to offload too much of their inventory that way,&rdquo; Trionfi said. &ldquo;Brands will scale back production, which is what the top brands have done. Louis Vuitton offers any inventory remaining at the end of the season to employees of LVMH Mo&euml;t Hennessy Louis Vuitton, then destroys anything that&rsquo;s left. Once the sale [to employees] is finished, they take all the clothing and burn it. You will never find Louis Vuitton on sale, and they don&rsquo;t have outlet stores.&rdquo;<br /><br />Brands may prefer to sell to flash-sale sites over off-price retailers because the Web sites can pay 10 percent to 15 percent more for inventory than off-price chains, experts said. Flash-sale site operators said that their sites can help maintain a brand&rsquo;s image through beautiful photography, while at off-price stores, garments can be sloppily displayed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great way for consumers to get luxury goods at discount prices in a way that doesn&rsquo;t degrade the brands,&rdquo; Zagorsek said.<br /><br />Department and specialty stores such as Saks and Neiman&rsquo;s are taking advantage of their own cache. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re doing flash sales the right way because they don&rsquo;t consider the sites a primary way for people to shop,&rdquo; Zagorsek said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a way to get rid of some stuff that they [the stores] overbought. In a healthy retail environment, discount is not as big.&rdquo;<br /><br />Saks tries to leverage its full-price site and&nbsp;<a href="http://saksfashionfix.com/">Saksfashionfix.com</a>&nbsp;in the hope of migrating event-oriented flash-sale shoppers to higher-end price points on the main Web site.<br /><br />&ldquo;All of a sudden the industry had $1 billion of excess inventory that went to Gilt and other flash sites,&rdquo; said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive officer of Saks Fifth Avenue. &ldquo;Now, the availability of [that degree of] inventory for flash sites has dried up.&rdquo; Estimating that the amount of crossover shoppers patronizing luxury stores and flash-sale sites is less than 10 percent, Sadove said, &ldquo;There is a role for these sites, but I wouldn&rsquo;t worry about them taking over the industry in the future.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Body2"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></span></a></p>
<div></div>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/rss-comments-entry-32792670.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Data Center Knowledge: Cloud Growth Propels Turnaround at Codero</title><dc:creator>Bazini Hopp</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:37:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.bazinihopp.com/bulletin-board/2013/1/23/data-center-knowledge-cloud-growth-propels-turnaround-at-cod.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">347755:4801695:32871228</guid><description><![CDATA[<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.bazinihopp.com/storage/Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 10.01.11 PM.png?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1368756098294" alt="" /></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/01/23/cloud-growth-propels-turnaround-at-codero/" target="_blank">Cloud Growth Propels Turnaround at Codero<br /></a>By Jason Verge</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">A look at the cabinets inside a data center operated by Codero, a growing hosting provider. (Photo: Codero)</p>
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<p>A year ago, Emil Sayegh took the reins as CEO at&nbsp;<strong>Codero</strong>, a dedicated hosting provider&nbsp;that had&nbsp;pretty flat growth at the time. After a year of adding talent and expanding the product portfolio, the company has returned to a year-over-year growth of better than 20 percent, and is set to expand its infrastructure.</p>
<p>Sayegh says that success was tied to growing the company&rsquo;s cloud portfolio to enable hybrid infrastructures and a sharper focus on customer service. The company has evolved from a solid dedicated hosting provider with flat growth&nbsp;to a hybrid hosting provider with growth above industry averages.</p>
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<p>There was a sequence of three CEOs that came on board after the rebranding. Customer satisfaction was always very high and Codero developed an automated platform that was quite unique early on.&nbsp;&nbsp;But the&nbsp;company didn&rsquo;t really begin to hit its stride until last year, when it started to see notable growth.</p>
<h3>Staff Changes</h3>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve added some really good people,&rdquo; said Sayegh. &ldquo;We just hired some of the top networking experts in the industry, bolstering the networking team. It&rsquo;s the reason we&rsquo;ve had great uptime. You need to have a good networking architect. From an uptime perspective, we&rsquo;ve differentiated ourselves by constantly holding ourselves to the highest standards. 100% uptime guaranteed, plus we mean it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>100 percent uptime? Website monitoring company Pingoscope tracks hosting provider performance throughout the year. Codero clocked in at 99.99517% uptime, having a single 7 minute outage, and was at the top of the list.</p>
<p>The company continues to improve its automation and cloud offerings. Sayegh says hiring Chandler Vaughn as senior VP of products&nbsp;was instrumental. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an industry expert who knows cloud like no other,&rdquo; said Sayegh said.&nbsp; Vaughn was a major part of hosting strategies at Rackspace and Sungard, and also headed the cloud computing institute at the University of Texas before joining Codero in September. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made tremendous progress with cloud and automation since,&rdquo; said Sayegh.</p>
<p>The company also opened an office in Austin, Texas in 2012. &ldquo;Opening an office in Austin enabled us to get a completely different pool of talent,&rdquo; said Sayegh. &ldquo;Before we were limited to Kansas City and Phoenix. Austin is becoming a good place for hosting talent.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>Focus on Cloud Hosting</h3>
<p>The company has three lines of service: Dedicated hosting, cloud hosting and managed hosting, with the company launching deeper into both cloud and managed services over the year.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve added several new products: smart servers, a virtual dedicated offering,&rdquo; said Sayegh. &ldquo;We added private cloud that we branded micro-cloud.&rdquo; Adding these pieces as a compliment to its bread and butter dedicated hosting has been a boon for the company.</p>
<p>&rdquo;It&rsquo;s all on one interface, on one data center software platform &ndash; true on-demand hybrid, &rdquo; said Sayegh. Customers can provision hybrid infrastructures and the network in front of it, all on demand and by the hour. Smart servers take less than 20 minutes. They&rsquo;re cloud-like, but operating systems take some time to configure. A truly dedicated server without a hypervisor takes around 1 hour.&nbsp; Completely custom-built servers take around 4 hours to provision, down from the days where it used to take, well, days to get a dedicated server.</p>
<p>From a pure growth rate, public and private micro cloud and smart servers are growing because they come from a smaller base. Micro cloud is the private cloud offering, which the company unveiled just last December.</p>
<p>&ldquo;MicroCloud offers customers the flexibility of cloud computing in private, with 100 percent dedicated hardware,&rdquo; said Vaughn.&nbsp;&rdquo;Our goal at Codero is to enable customers to leverage the best of both virtualized and dedicated servers so that they can place their workloads on preferred platforms, all with the reliability and exceptional service Codero is known for.&rdquo;</p>
<div id="sm-content-ad">The company also has a loyalty program that&rsquo;s different from the industry norm. Think of a corporate rewards program &ndash; customers earn points, and as they earn points with, they can use them for a variety of things like migrations, upgrades, or even t-shirts. It adds a bit of customer stickiness.</div>
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<h3>A Changing Customer Profile</h3>
<p>An expanded product portfolio means Codero is now landing bigger fish looking for hybrid solutions. The top verticals it targets are IT services, gaming, non-profits, resellers, and online retail services. Though it&rsquo;s not its bread and butter, Codero is now attracting some Fortune 500 customers as well.</p>
<p>Codero now has about 4,000 business customers. &ldquo;The vast majority of our customers are multi-server customers,&rdquo; said Sayegh. &ldquo;Even those single server deals are upgrading in the next six months to multi-device, multi-server. We have one of the lowest churns in the industry. Average customer life is about 3.5 years and we get very high customer satisfaction ratings&rdquo;</p>
<p>Codero&nbsp;has 3 data centers in Chicago, Phoenix and Ashburn, the newest location, which was added in 2012. These facilities are fully Tier III compliant, SSAE 16 Certified; SOC 2 Type II &amp; SOC 3 Audited.</p>
<h3>Global Expansion Ahead</h3>
<p>The company has been hinting of going into Europe, and indicates it will most likely enter Amsterdam next. The company echoed a reccurring sentiment in the hosting industry as to why Amsterdam continues to be attractive to hosting providers: it&rsquo;s easier to do business there than the UK, has excellent connectivity, and the costs are very good comparatively. The company will hit Europe around the midpoint of 2013.</p>
<p>The next US site will most likely be in Dallas. It&rsquo;s a hotbed of data center activity and just makes sense. There&rsquo;s no target for the next US site yet.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have a vision for the company; we believe it&rsquo;s a pretty differentiated vision in terms of our product offering,&rdquo; said Sayegh. &ldquo;One of the inhibitors of cloud adoption is the fact that there&rsquo;s no cloud hybrid solution that meets all needs. (Cusomers) go out there, and then go back to doing just dedicated when it doesn&rsquo;t meet their needs. So the ability to do it all in one network will enable those folks that had their reservations to do it all seamlessly.&rdquo;</p>
<div id="attachment_89154" class="aligncenter wp-caption"><img class="wp-image-89154 " src="http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Codero-Data-Center-1-web.jpg" alt="Codero-Data-Center-1-web" width="470" height="707" />
<p class="wp-caption-text">Codero operates data centers in three markets: Chicago, Phoenix and Ashburn, Virginia, where it opened its newest facility in 2012. Here&rsquo;s a look at some of the overhead cabling infrastructure supporting Codero&rsquo;s services. (Photo: Codero)</p>
<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/goalee-is-helping-you-win-your-networking-game/" target="_blank"><span class="articleText"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Body2"><span class="articleText">_________________________________________________________________________</span></span></span></a></p>
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