Operations
31 March 2022
American Eagle Outfitters wants to lead the 'supply chain revolution'
The retailer made big moves to own its supply chain in 2021. Now it wants to work with others.

The retailer made big moves to own its supply chain in 2021. Now it wants to work with others.
2021 was a year of supply chain disruptions. It was also the year American Eagle Outfitters (AEO, Inc.) embraced the role of supply chain disruptor.
With the digital side of its business growing, the company turned heads in the retail world with a pair of acquisitions to strengthen its supply chain.
The two moves were key components of a remade supply chain for AEO. The company started to put the pieces in place prior to the pandemic, COO Michael Rempell said at ShopTalk this week. Previously, the company had an effective model that was set up for a traditional retail approach, with distribution centers, technology and ship-from-store.
But EVP and Chief Supply Chain Officer Shekar Natarajan told company leaders that owning the supply chain and distribution, just like the largest retailers, would be critical for the future. Executives soon embraced this. As the company looked to make changes, it was focused in three areas:
AEO had the plan. Then the pandemic arrived, and the company had to put it into action quickly. By cutting SKUs and opening more distribution centers, it made fast strides. It also partnered with other companies to support specific components of the process. Yet to achieve "hyperscale" that Natarajan said would be necessary, the company’s leaders decided that making the acquisitions was the best way to get there.
It underscores the importance of supply chain investments for growth in ecommerce. The acquisitions added fulfillment centers and capabilities. They also added more retailers using the company’s supply chain services. As of the time of the acquisition, Quiet Logistics worked with Outdoor Voices and Mack Weldon, while AirTerra remains an independent brand. Now the compny is partnering with others, offering a path for brands to work with them. AEO sees a "massive unmet need," said Rempell.
"There's a supply chain revolution happening and we want to lead it,” Rempell said. “We want to work with other retailers and brands. We think it’s leveling the playing field and allowing like-minded companies to compete with Amazon, Walmart, Target - the biggest retailers in the world.”
It's a classic case of how a part of a business that is not a company's primary product can become a growth center if it effectively solves a problem for others. American Eagle wasn't founded as a supply chain company, but it is now a meaningful player in the business. With supply chain challenges and the continuing growth of ecommerce, American Eagle sees this infrastructure only becoming more important.
“We’ve always been customer focused,” said Natarajan. “During COVID, we also realized supply chains are a customer-facing function.”
The virtual store was built by Emperia.
As it opens a new boutique, Italian women’s fashion brand Pinko is opening a virtual store that is designed to create a personalized experience for customers to browse handbags digitally.
Pinko's virtual shopping experience powered by the platform Emperia, which allows users to access metaverse environments through commonly-used devices such as laptops and mobile phones. The launch of the store, which is dubbed Pinko Galleria, is timed with the opening of the brand’s boutique in the exclusive Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.
The store has exclusive offerings that allow the brand to cross the physical and digital worlds:
The opening comes on the heels of last week’s closing of a $10 million Series A investment round for Emperia, which has also worked with Bloomingdale’s and Dior. Founded in 2019 by fashion and retail expert Olga Dogadkina and VR technologist Simonas Holcmann, Emperia’s platform provides the technology and visual infrastructure that architect the virtual stores, as well as data and analytics that provides key insights to retailers about how shoppers interact with the store and what is needed to personalize experiences.
The virtual store is designed to complement the physical store. It presents new opportunities for brand-building that is untethered from physical parameters. It also makes the exclusive more accessible. Shoppers anywhere in the world can now enter the store, even as the physical location is only in Milan.
“The new experience allows audiences, worldwide, to experience the unique, bold design that Pinko is so well-known for, wherever they choose to,” says Olga Dogadkina, Co-founder & CEO at Emperia, in a statement. “Our 3D technology ensures a high merchandise-viewing quality, which complements its real-life twin product, to the smallest detail, allowing Pinko to present and directly-sell its exclusive capsule collection in a way that simulates a realistic shopping experience.”
Inside the virtual store, shoppers have the opportunity to browse and navigate through a space that is laid out and merchandised in 3D with all the hallmarks of a Pinko physical store, right down to a full layout of the brand's signature pink. They’re also greeted by music. A sign that the store is not in the physical world arrives upon turning toward the front. Look out the window, and a shopper will find that they are high above the clouds.
That’s a new way to elevate the experience.
Here are more photos of the Pinko virtual store:
Handbags in Pinko's virtual store. (Courtesy photo)
Hands holding handbags. (Courtesy photo)
NFTs in Pinko's virtual store. (courtesy photo)
Looking out the window at Pinko's virtual store.