Shoes.com Climbs 37 Positions on Internet Retailer Top 500
Footwear e-tailer posts 81 percent sales growth in 2006
LOS ANGELES, May 24, 2007 – Internet Retailer magazine has ranked Shoes.com, the e-commerce division of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS, www.brownshoe.com,) No. 155 in its 2007 Top 500 Guide, a list of the top 500 online retailers, based on sales.
Bolstered by an 81 percent sales increase, Shoes.com improved its 2006 Top 500 Guide standing by 37 positions, and moved into the top 31 percent of companies in the e-commerce industry. This is the second consecutive year the online footwear retailer has reported tremendous revenue growth, as sales increased by 98 percent in 2005.
“We share with our consumers the honor of being recognized as one of the top online retailers,” said Shoes.com President Steve Adler. “People are growing increasingly comfortable with purchasing footwear online, and we constantly seek to further enhance the customer experience. Internet Retailer’s ranking confirms that we are succeeding in making Shoes.com even easier and more enjoyable for consumers to shop.”
Shoes.com recently implemented several new features, including guided navigation and real-time inventory powered by site search leader Endeca®; alternative payment services such as PayPal® and Bill Me Later®; and customer ratings and reviews.
Internet Retailer magazine's Top 500 Guide, a ranking and analysis of America's 500 largest e-tailers, is based on annual 2006 online sales, researched by Internet Retailer and confirmed by retailers. The report, published this month, includes company financial, operational and performance data.
Launched in 2001, Shoes.com offers more than 700,000 pairs of women’s, men’s and kids’ footwear from more than 450 well-known and loved brands.
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Published by Chicago-based Vertical Web Media LLC, Internet Retailer is a monthly national business magazine, web site, conference and directory that serve the retailing community. The Internet Retailer family of products focuses on the Internet's vital role in a wide array of retailing activities, including web merchandising, supply chain management and multi-channel integration. Its 40,000+ subscribers are senior executives primarily from retail chains, independent stores, catalogs, virtual merchants and brand-name manufacturers. Internet Retailer's circulation represents the largest multi-channel readership base of any retailing magazine. The magazine also publishes the most widely read e-mail newsletter in retailing, IRNewsLink, which is distributed twice-weekly to 35,000 opt-in subscribers, operates the largest retailing information web site, InternetRetailer.com, sponsors the largest conference in the e-retailing industry and publishes an annual ranking of the 500 largest web sites.
Brown Shoe is a $2.5 billion footwear company with global operations. Brown Shoe’s Retail division operates Famous Footwear, the 1,000-store chain that sells brand name shoes for the family and approximately 300 specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada under the Naturalizer, FX LaSalle, and Franco Sarto names, and Shoes.com, the Company's e-commerce subsidiary. Brown Shoe, through its Wholesale divisions, owns and markets leading footwear brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, Via Spiga, Nickels Soft, Connie and Buster Brown; it also markets licensed brands including Franco Sarto, Dr. Scholl's, Etienne Aigner, and Carlos by Carlos Santana and Barbie, Disney and Nickelodeon character footwear for children. Brown Shoe press releases are available on the Company's Web site at http://www.brownshoe.com.