Gerald Barnes Appointed New President and CEO of Neiman Marcus Direct
Posted on April 20, 2009
Veteran retail executive Gerald Barnes has been named as the new president and CEO of Neiman Marcus Direct. He replaces Brendan Hoffman who left to become CEO of Lord & Taylor. Barnes has been acting as the interim CEO of NM Direct.
Barnes tells WWD, "The Internet is definitely the healthy part of the direct business. It's driving our business, and it's definitely the part of the business we are concentrating on. Our traffic online is up compared to last year. We are very excited that we continue to reach customers in their homes. Now we are trying to entice them to buy more. We are always making improvements to the Web site. We have different things being tested right now that are working out well. Over the next three or four months you will see a number of improvements in the way it works."
Neiman Marcus Direct is doing much better during the recession than the retail part of the operation and Barnes said he has no plans to change the way the catalogue or the website does business. Many customers read the catalogue, then go buy items on the website.