Williams-Sonoma

Karen Katz, president and CEO of Neiman Marcus announced that John E. Koryl will be joining the company, June 20, as president of Neiman Marcus Direct. Koryl succeeds Gerald Barnes, who will become EVP, chief merchant Neiman Marcus Direct.

Williams-Sonoma, a specialty retailer of high-quality products for the home, announced today that Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma will offer international shipping, joining PBteen in its partnership with FiftyOne Global Ecommerce, a provider of international e-commerce services and infrastructure to U.S. retailers. Customers in more than 75 countries will now be able to shop online for Williams-Sonoma products.

Williams-Sonoma announced that PBteen, a resource for home furnishings for teens and tweens, will now be available to Canadian customers for the first time through a partnership with FiftyOne Global Ecommerce.

The more active a brand is on Facebook, the better chance consumers will "Like" it. This was the key finding from a recent study on retailers' growth on Facebook and Twitter conducted by marketing agency Media Logic. However, a follow-up study released this month shows that the majority of brands on Facebook saw their growth on the social media site lose steam as the holiday season came and went.

E-commerce is already the most valuable player on Williams-Sonoma's team, and the retailer is committing major money to keep up its star's winning streak. The multichannel retailer will invest $75 million in e-commerce and the information technology and supply chain solutions to support it in fiscal 2011, with $25 million earmarked specifically for long-term international e-commerce growth.

Housewares retailer Williams-Sonoma reported fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday that exceeded Wall Street estimates.

With an average response time of 11.58 seconds and an impressive 99.98 percent availability, the home and kitchen furnishing store took top place in AlertSite's recent rankings.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. issued a profit forecast that could fall short of Wall Street estimates in the period covering the all-important holiday season, and its shares fell.

Howard Lester turned a West Coast kitchenware store into a retail powerhouse of 600 stores. Mr. Lester, who died Monday at age 75, was chairman and CEO of Williams-Sonoma, the high-end kitchenware chain found in malls nationwide. He liked to describe the store's luxury lineup as "aspirational."

This summer, why not chat about the strength of your merchandise’s kindle factor and see if there aren’t ways you can turn up the inspiration intensity of your product offering?