Jones Apparel Group Rolls Out Multiple e-Commerce Storefronts On Demandware as Part of Aggressive Online Growth Strategy

Jones Apparel Group is a leading designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded apparel, footwear and accessories, including handbags and jewelry. The Company selected the Demandware eCommerce Platform as the foundation for its direct-to-consumer online channel as part of an aggressive e-commerce growth strategy.

"We have been very pleased with our decision to go with the Demandware eCommerce Platform," said Ron Offir, President of E-Commerce for Jones Apparel Group. "As a fashion brand, we believe our competitive advantage is in merchandising and marketing our products. With Demandware, we have industry-leading merchandising capabilities and complete control over our sites, without having to worry about servers and maintaining a costly and burdensome technology infrastructure."

The new sites include custom features such as "Look Book," which guides consumers through the purchase of a complete outfit; "Scene & Seen," which helps consumers shop for items seen in magazines, TV, etc.; and "Time-Based Assets," which provides the ability for merchandisers and marketers to pre-schedule site asset changes.

Jones Apparel Group wanted an e-commerce platform that would enable it to quickly and cost-effectively launch multiple brand online storefronts, without having to incur massive infrastructure costs. With Demandware, Jones was able to develop a re-useable set of core functionality enabling the quick roll-out of multiple distinct e-commerce sites. In less than six months, Jones was able to launch the first two brands, Easy Spirit and Nine West, as well as get other sites, including Jones New York and Bandolino, well underway. Jones will now leverage the functionality and development environment that is already in place to quickly launch additional brands on an as-needed basis.

The Demandware eCommerce Platform provides Jones Apparel Group with the following key capabilities:

-- Full in-house control: Jones Apparel Group is able to customize the sites based on the needs of the individual brand and customer segment, with full control over merchandising promotions, catalog, pricing and all other aspects of the online shopping experience

-- Ability to launch multiple sites quickly: Demandware's architecture makes it possible to develop multiple sites from a shared development environment, giving merchandisers the ability to work across multiple brands and sites from within one application

-- Reduced infrastructure costs and maintenance: Demandware's on-demand delivery model eliminates the need to invest and maintain costly IT infrastructure, freeing up valuable resources to focus on e-commerce merchandising

-- Seamless upgrades: Automatic upgrades allow Jones Apparel Group to continually leverage new merchandising functionality for site innovation.

"Jones Apparel Group has built itself into the pinnacle of the fashion industry through product and merchandising excellence. With Demandware, it can now extend those capabilities to the online channel to grow its brands worldwide, all without the technology bloat of traditional e-commerce applications," said Stephan Schambach, chairman and founder, Demandware.

About Jones Apparel Group, Inc.

Jones Apparel Group, Inc. (http://www.jonesapparel.com) is a leading designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded apparel, footwear and accessories. The Company also markets directly to consumers through its chain of specialty retail and value-based stores. The Company's nationally recognized brands include Jones New York, Nine West, Anne Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Kasper, Bandolino, Easy Spirit, Evan-Picone, l.e.i., Energie, Enzo Angiolini, Joan & David, Mootsies Tootsies, Sam & Libby, Napier, Judith Jack, Albert Nipon and Le Suit. The Company also markets costume jewelry under the Givenchy brand licensed from Givenchy Corporation, footwear under the Dockers Women brand licensed from Levi Strauss & Co and apparel under the Rachel Roy brand licensed from Rachel Roy IP Company, LLC. Each brand is differentiated by its own distinctive styling, pricing strategy, distribution channel and target consumer. The Company contracts for the manufacture of its products through a worldwide network of quality manufacturers. The Company has capitalized on its nationally known brand names by entering into various licenses for several of its trademarks, including Jones New York, Evan-Picone, Anne Klein New York, Nine West, Gloria Vanderbilt and l.e.i., with select manufacturers of women's and men's products which the Company does not manufacture. For more than 30 years, the Company has built a reputation for excellence in product quality and value, and in operational execution.

About Demandware, Inc.

Demandware drives the success of high-growth brands with the only enterprise-class On-Demand eCommerce Platform that empowers merchandising and marketing talent with total control over the shopping experience and continuous competitive differentiation. Leading brands such as Bare Escentuals, House of Fraser, Playmobil, Sally Beauty Supply and Timberland leverage Demandware's enterprise class ecommerce functionality and automatic upgrades to help achieve higher conversion rates, increase average order size, and improve customer retention. Demandware is the only on-demand ecommerce solution that enables the rapid rollout of new sites, provides ubiquitous access to business and technical users, and is backed by a patented grid computing architecture that delivers capacity as needed for performance and reliability that exceeds industry standards. For more information about Demandware, visit www.demandware.com, call 888-553-9216 or email info@demandware.com.

SOURCE: Demandware, Inc.

fama PR Christi Dean, 617-758-4153 Demandware@famapr.com