SURFSTITCH NEW WEBSITE 04.08.10
After more than 12 months development, SurfStitch, Australia’s number one and arguably largest online surf store today launched a brand new website with new features, functionality, added choice and style. The news follows SurfStitch’s nearest rival brick and mortar cum online retailer City Beach winning the ‘Best Use of Technology’ award at the recent Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIAs) held in July. Despite City Beach’s site being barely eight months old at the time, City Beach hit the winner’s podium alongside mainstream online players like The ABC Shop, Big Brown Box and Eway. Not to be outdone, the new SurfStitch site boasts exclusive product launches, exclusive US and European fashion lines, enhanced imagery for a greater touch and feel experience, a wish list and gift list as well as product reviews. There’s no doubt that in the last two years competition in the online retail space has hotted up. The two frontrunners appear to be Surfstitch and City Beach and as if validation of the surf industry’s place in online retail was required at the inaugural Online Retailer Expo and Conference, Nicholas Nathanson, Senior VP of Direct for Quiksilver, was a guest speaker while Patrick Terrell, Marketing Director for SurfStitch.com, was also invited to address the event alongside speakers from online juggernauts like Best Buy, Google, PayPal and Yahoo! For the full story catch our next issue feature story ‘Chasing E-Tails’
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BANKING HEIR TALKS PLASTICS WITH BILLABONG 04.08.10
David de Rothschild, the heir to a Rothschild banking fortune is talking to Billabong about a new recycled plastic product his business has developed. Adventurer and conservationist David de Rothschild says Seretex, or self re-enforcing textile, was developed during experiments to invent new ways of recycling plastics for Plastiki. The Plastiki is a vessel made of 12,500 plastic soft drink bottles and fully recyclable plastic, which he and his crew sailed into Sydney Harbour a week ago. The vessel has attracted worldwide attention since leaving San Francisco on March 21 to raise awareness about plastic waste in our oceans. Mr de Rothschild said his scientists developed Seretex as they searched for a way to make structural supports for the boat out of recycled plastic.
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QUIKSILVER ANNOUNCE WINTERSPORTS DIVISION 04.08.10
Quiksilver’s local operation Ug Manufacturing has appointed Jeff Sweeney to head its Wintersports Division and bolster its Mervin distribution arm including Mervin snowboard brands Lib Tech, Gnu and Roxy. Whilst Quiksilver Inc have owned the Sequim, Washington based Mervin Manufacturing for some 12 years, Mervin’s previous local distribution was managed by Melbourne based Sidelife Distribution.
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SURF HARDWARE TO DISTRIBUTE MATUSE WETSUITS. 01.08.10
Surf Hardware International have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with US based wetsuit brand Matuse, Inc.
Until now Matuse Wetsuits have been available in the USA. Under the new arrangement, SHI will distribute Matuse Wetsuits to the Australian, New Zealand and Japanese markets, as the demand for high-quality rubber continues to grow. John V. Campbell, Founding Partner, President & CEO of Matuse, Inc expressed his excitement about having a well established and respected surf company increasing the global availability of the brand.
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SURFING AUSTRALIA TO BUILD WORLD'S FIRST DEDICATED SURF TRAINING FACILTY 01.08.10
Australia is set to maintain its tag as the world’s premier surfing nation, with the federal government pledging $2 million to Surfing Australia for a dedicated training facility at Casuarina, NSW. As part of its commitment to the sport, Surfing Australia will build the world’s first purpose-built high performance training facility at Casuarina, Northern NSW to support its elite athlete development pathway. Minister for Sport The Hon Kate Ellis, Member for Richmond The Hon Justine Elliot along with a host of past and present Australian world surfing champions including 7 x ASP Women’s World Champion Layne Beachley (Sydney, NSW), 1978 ASP Men’s World Champion Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew (Coolangatta, Qld) and 2009 ASP Men’s World no.2 Joel Parkinson (Coolangatta, Qld) were present for the day’s announcement.
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VOLCOM STONE Q2 PROFIT SINKS 30.07.10
Volcom Inc. (USA) reported a disappointing second quarter result and offered an outlook for the current one that fell short of what Wall Street had been expecting. Volcom reported a second-quarter profit of US$68,000, down from $872,000 a year earlier and well short of the $1.2 million analysts were expecting. Volcom says profitability was impacted by higher selling, general and administrative costs, which rose 15% from a year earlier to $29.7 million. Volcom also cites higher marketing expenses at stores that sell its products for the rise in costs. Volcom are offering retailers what they call "incentive pricing" as a bid to gain market share. Revenue came in at $62.5 million, up 15% from a year earlier and on par with Wall Street’s average expectation.
For the third quarter, Volcom offered an outlook that fell short of what analysts had been expecting. The company said it projects a profit of $11.5 million to $12.5 million, below the $15 million analysts had been forecasting. Revenue is seen coming in at $102 million to $105 million, below the $106.8 million Wall Street had been expecting. The company also cited retailers remain "cautious" and production issues in China that stand to delay the shipment of winter clothes as additional contributing factors. Late last week Volcom Inc. announced the acquistion of its Australian licensee for a reported $8 million. Volcom Australia has estimated annual revenues of $20 million.
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