Abercrombie adult, kids’ brands offered on Chinese website
In another move to expand its online presence in Asia, New Albany-based retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has launched its namesake brand and children’s brand abercrombie kids on Alibaba Group’s Tmall, China’s largest consumer e-commerce website.
Abercrombie’s other main brand, Hollister Co., has been offered on Tmall since 2014.
The partnership with Tmall follows a similar launch in April of its merchandise on Asia’s leading e-commerce merchant, Zalora.
Zalora serves more than 600 million online customers in 11 countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan — but not China.
Tmall is part of China’s Alibaba Group, which sells merchandise to 454 million shoppers annually on it retail websites. Tmall says that 75 percent of its customers are younger than 35, demographics which “align well with the updated A&F brand’s target consumer in their 20s,” Abercrombie said in a statement.
While Abercrombie has 10 physical stores in mainland China and a local website at abercrombie.cn, the addition of Tmall will help Abercrombie reach a larger audience, said Fran Horowitz, Abercrombie’s CEO, in a statement.
The expansion on the big websites is a good idea, said Lee Peterson, an executive vice president at Dublin consulting firm WD Partners. “That’s the way you proliferate now, especially in a market where people aren’t that familiar with your brand — you get on a website where there are millions and millions of customers.”
The addition of Tmall and Zalora is yet another indication that Abercrombie executives are moving ahead with their plans to reboot the brand and are putting in the past efforts to reach a buyout deal, which they terminated last week.
The company still faces critics. Earlier this week, shareholder SLS Management sent a letter to Abercrombie outlining a plan that it said would maximize value for shareholders, including buying back stock, reducing dividends and selling the company’s New Albany headquarters.
Abercrombie officials would not comment on the plan.
As of the end of the first quarter, Abercrombie operated 278 stores in 20 countries.
OAK BROOK, Ill. — With McDonald’s now offering a delivery service, the fast-food giant is looking to make customers comfortable eating at home with a new clothing line that includes an adult-size Big Mac onesie.
McDonald’s describes the McDelivery Collection as “a selection of fun, fashion-forward items you
To lure more midafternoon customers, McDonald’s is rejecting its recent health-food kick and rolling out the sweets: croissants, muffin tops and a new sundae-topping station for ice cream lovers.
The challenge is daunting. The hours between lunch and dinner are a fast-food dead zone. Only about 5 percent of McDonald’s customers show up at non-meal times such as 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., according to Peter Saleh, an analyst with BTIG in New York.
“You’re going to have to give customers a real reason to come in during that off-peak hour,” he said.
McDonald’s has a lot riding on the initiative. At a time when its standing as the country’s dominant fast-food restaurant has weakened — its share of the market slipped to 15.1 percent last year from 17.5 percent five years earlier, according to Euromonitor — Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook has identified snacking and coffee as “underdeveloped opportunities” that could spur growth. The goal is to “bring the casual customer in the door more often,” Easterbrook said at an investor conference in May.
McDonald’s $1 and $2 drink specials are hurting others in the industry, according to Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. CEO Nigel Travis, who called the discounts “pretty aggressive.”
“We’ve struggled somewhat in the afternoon,” Travis said last month. “Some of that will be competition from McDonald’s, Burger King.”
Others have attempted to capitalize on afternoon snacks. Wendy’s has tried selling 50-cent Frosty desserts after lunch. Starbucks, which among quick-serve restaurants is one of the few who are successful at boosting afternoon visits, has lured customers with “treat receipts” that give discounts for purchases after 2 p.m., along with pre-dinner happy hours that feature half-price Frappuccinos.