A Chat With February's Profile, Margaret Moraskie, vice president of e-commerce, Boston Proper

CS: What's been your most difficult challenge in the catalog/multichannel business, and how did you overcome that challenge?
MM: As a company, one of the hardest decisions for the senior management team was to divest of the other brands. Mark, Fore & Strike was a family brand, so to make that decision and get behind the winning horse was difficult. However, it didn't take very long for sales to continue to skyrocket and you reap the benefits of those rewards. But that was a very difficult personal decision, too. I started with Mark, Fore and there were a lot of us that were here that grew up with Mark, Fore. That was difficult all around.
Personally, with the Internet, in the beginning you were kind of like the stepchild. Everyone was like, ‘What's going on, you're taking our business.’ Or you were like the kid whose parents went away for the weekend. So we could do not just about anything, but we were running under the radar for a long time because it wasn't a huge percentage of sales in the beginning. When sales started to pick up, and it happened very quickly, all of a sudden your parents have come home from the vacation and they want to see what you're doing, how you're doing it. So we had always operated effectively and efficiently, but it was a challenge to be ignored and then it was a challenge to have a spotlight on the division, too.
CS: What year did Boston Proper divest itself of Mark, Fore & Strike?
MM: We closed Mark, Fore & Strike in 2001, and by 2003 we had divested of Charles Keath, too. So by 2003 everything was done.
CS: Over time, do you fell the right decision was made to divest of these businesses?
MM: Absolutely.

Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.