Columbus Consulting Renews Relationship with American Eagle Outfitters
Company to help leading lifestyle retailer better define business processes in order to improve sales and inventory productivity, and reduce markdowns
Columbus, OH (PRWEB) May 24, 2005 -- Columbus Consulting, Inc., a leading
retail merchandise systems consulting firm, today announced that it has been
retained by American Eagle Outfitters (AE) to help the fashionable retailer
improve business processes relating to assortment planning, allocation and
replenishment. AE, with total annual sales of more than $1.8 billion, currently
operates 780 stores in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and
70 stores in Canada.
“American Eagle Outfitters has been one of the most
successful retailers for the past couple of years, and is definitely one of the
leaders of the industry,” said Rick Amari, president of Columbus Consulting,
Inc. “Being selected by a company with AE’s standing is strong endorsement of
our capabilities, and we look forward to working with the AE team to implement
processes that will help the company continue its long-term growth strategy and
vision of being a dominant, multi-brand lifestyle retailer.”
The first
phase of the AE project began in the first quarter of 2005. In addition to
helping identify areas for improvement in assortment planning, allocation and
replenishment, Columbus Consulting will also assist AE in the development of an
RFI (Request for Information) for a software vendor selection process. This
marks the second engagement with American Eagle Outfitters for Columbus
Consulting. In 2001, AE hired Columbus to identify and implement business
process improvements for its product development, sourcing and supply chain
efforts.
“As a result of our past successful experience with Columbus
Consulting, we are comfortable with bringing in Rick and his team to help us
once again identify areas of improvements in our business processes,” said Jim
Ford, vice president of planning and allocation for American Eagle Outfitters.
“In this very competitive retail marketplace, it is important to stay on top of
everything relating to merchandising operations. Columbus offers us significant
experience in retail operations and technology that we intend to capitalize on
in order to streamline operations, improve merchandising processes and maintain
our growth.”
About American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters
(NASDAQ: AEOS) is a leading lifestyle retailer that designs, markets, and sells
its own brand of casual, fashion-right clothing for 15 to 25 year-olds,
providing high-quality merchandise at affordable prices. AE's collection
includes modern basics like jeans, surplus, and graphic Ts as well as a stylish
assortment of cool accessories, outerwear, footwear and
swimwear.
American Eagle Outfitters currently operates 779 AE stores in
49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 70 AE stores in Canada.
AE also operates via its Web business, www.ae.com, which offers additional sizes and styles of
favorite AE merchandise.
About Columbus Consulting, Inc.
Founded by
industry veteran Richard Amari in 2001, Columbus Consulting, Inc. is comprised
of a team of highly experienced specialists in retail systems and processes. The
company works with many of the world’s largest and well-known retailers, general
merchandisers and apparel stores, including American Eagle Outfitters, Ann
Taylor, Big Lots, CVS Pharmacy, and New York & Company. Columbus Consulting
is called upon to provide a variety of services, from managing short-term,
high-impact, executive-level advisory services on matters of strategic
importance relating to retail systems and processes, to overseeing large,
multi-disciplinary, multi-million dollar projects, lasting more than a year. The
company is based in Columbus, Ohio. For more information on Columbus Consulting,
visit www.columbusconsultinginc.com.
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Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb243960.htm