|
Pacific Sunwear Successfully Launches E-Commerce Site
6/16/99
ANAHEIM, Calif.--June 17, 1999--Pacific Sunwear of California Inc.
(Nasdaq: PSUN) a leading retailer of casual apparel, footwear and
accessories to teens and young adults Thursday announced the successful
launch of its pacsun.com online store at www.pacsun.com.
Pacsun.com offers a selection of the latest fashion apparel available in
Pacific Sunwear stores including merchandise from vendors such as
Quiksilver, Billabong, O'Neill, Roxy, Rusty, Redsand, Bullhead,
Breakdown, Venus Girl Trap and Tilt.
The online store displays high quality digital images in both medium and
large size photographs with front and alternate views of the product. The
store also offers a unique Wish List function where customers can let
family and friends know exactly which items they would like to receive.
Pacsun.com will automatically e-mail chosen family members or friends
with the desired items for purchase. With one click the e-mail recipient
will be linked back to the item(s) for instant purchase. A complete gift
wrap service is also offered to customers. The online store makes it easy
to buy gifts for multiple recipients in one single transaction, avoiding
the need for multiple orders. Pacsun.com plans to ship all orders within
24 hours of receipt (excluding weekends). Once an order is shipped,
customers receive an automatic e-mail confirmation with a USPS tracking
number. Items purchased online may be returned at any Pacific Sunwear
store.
The company has established its own customer service/call center which is
available to customers from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday
and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. PT Saturday. The center is staffed with supervisory
and support personnel to respond to all e-mails and customer service
issues. The online store has been fully integrated with the company's
back-end inventory and fulfillment systems, (real time inventory),
allowing for the immediate and automatic processing of orders. The
company has also established an e-commerce fulfillment area within its
distribution center with separate support and supervision.
Also unveiled at pacsun.com is its new community section, PipeLine.
PipeLine features many areas of interest to Pacific Sunwear's teen
customers including: upcoming events, feature stories, interviews,
contests, news, free e-mail and more. This section provides original
content, such as an interview with Nick Hernandez, lead singer of "Common
Sense" and an interview with Rochelle Ballard, the only female
professional surfer on O'Neill's surf team. PipeLine will also include
regular features such as Fashion Nation, a view of teen fashion from
around the country and Locals Only, a focus on a local hot spot for
skateboarding or surfing, etc. from around the country. PipeLine will
also offer free e-mail for its customers, with a pacsun.com address,
using a high quality service.
The initial marketing efforts of pacsun.com are being concentrated in the
company's retail stores, encouraging its customers to "Get an
e-Life"(SM). The initial promotion is the "Get an e-Life(SM) Sweepstakes"
which includes a generous list of prizes including a free winter getaway
for two to the Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding in Breckenridge, Colo.
The company also intends to promote its e-commerce efforts through its
national print advertising campaign. In addition, Pacific Sunwear
recently began an aggressive online and offline campaign to rapidly build
its e-mail database to support a direct to customer marketing approach.
Greg Weaver, chairman, and chief executive officer said, "We are excited
to be up and running and receiving orders. We believe there are a number
of factors that will assist us in our online success including: a
nationwide retail presence, strong brand recognition, a proven
merchandising track record and the participation of our key brands. Our
target customers are very Internet savvy and have over $130 billion of
spending power. We are optimistic that pacsun.com will become a favorite
destination for teens. We now have the additional benefit of our offline
stores being exposed to millions of Internet shoppers," concluded Weaver.
Pacific Sunwear is a leading specialty retailer of everyday casual
apparel, accessories and footwear designed to meet the needs of active
teens and young adults. The company currently operates 343 Pacific
Sunwear stores, 14 Pacific Sunwear outlet stores and 27 d.e.m.o. stores
for a total of 386 stores in 45 states. Pacific Sunwear's Web site
address is www.pacsun.com.
Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. releases are available on Pacific
Sunwear's Corporate News on the Net site at
http://www.businesswire.com/cnn/psun.htm.
The matters discussed in this release with respect to e-commerce, the
belief of the company that it can become a leading online retailer to its
target customers, new business relationships and the hardware and
software to be used by the company each are forward-looking statements
and involve risks and uncertainties. These risks include higher than
expected volumes of traffic on the Web site that could lead to system
failures and the need to invest in additional computer systems to support
the traffic, technical problems and the company's lack of experience with
e-commerce and its implementation, rapid technological change, online
security breaches, changes in customer demands and preferences and
uncertainty concerning the receptivity of the company's customers to
e-commerce, competition from other e-commerce retailers and uncertainties
generally associated with apparel retailing. Additional information on
factors that could affect the company's financial results and e-commerce
activities is included in the company's Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended Jan. 31, 1999 and subsequent periodic reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT:
Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Anaheim
Carl Womack, Senior Vice President
714/701-4003
Carol Apkarian, Director of Marketing
714/701-4123 (media)
or
James K. White, Investor Relations
562/437-0655 (investors)
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
|