Gregory, There is a research article by AMR published on our site at: http://www.bluemartini.com/news/articles/amr_990910.html It explains Levi's status and continued work with Blue Martini Software. -- Ronny "Blue Martini Undaunted by Levi Strauss' Exit from Web Selling" Source: Greg Girard, The AMR Alert on Retail Applications for November 10, 1999Levi Strauss is backing away from plans to sell its apparel merchandise direct to consumers through an Internet site powered by Blue Martini Software. After discussions with both companies, AMR Research believes the decision has a lot more to do with marketing, channel conflict, and logistics than with the Blue Martini E-Merchandising System.
Publicly, Levi has pointed to the high cost of operating a world-class e-commerce business. True enough: these costs include marketing the site, operating a separate logistics network to fulfill consumer-direct orders, managing site content, and building business rules for personalized merchandising. Levi isn't pulling the plug on Blue Martini; it's still a very happy client.
The project continues with the aim of delivering, just before Thanksgiving, personalized merchandising and sales of Levi's products. Sales, but not merchandising, will be discontinued sometime after the holiday season for Levi's standard products. However, Levi will still consider selling special offers over its Website using the Blue Martini E-Merchandising System on an ongoing basis. see full article at http://www.bluemartini.com/news/articles/amr_990910.html
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