DSW 2008 Annual Report Download - page 13

Co
l
um
b
us, O
hi
o to process or
d
ers
f
or
d
sw.com, w
hi
c
h
are s
hi
ppe
ddi
rect
l
y to customers us
i
ng a t
hi
r
d
party s
hi
pp
i
n
g
p
rovider
.
M
anagement Information and Control
S
ystem
s
I
n order to promote our continued growth, we undertook several major initiatives in the past to build upon th
e
m
erc
h
an
di
se mana
g
ement s
y
stem an
d
ware
h
ouse mana
g
ement s
y
stems t
h
at support us. In
fi
sca
l
2008, we ma
d
ea
s
i
g
nificant investment in up
g
radin
g
our Point of Sale (“POS”) s
y
stem to a consistent platform. In our stores, w
e
utilize POS re
g
isters with full scannin
g
capabilities to increase speed and accurac
y
at customer checkouts and
f
ac
ili
tate
i
nventory restoc
ki
ng. W
i
t
h
our top ven
d
ors, we ut
ili
ze an e
l
ectron
i
c
d
ata
i
nterc
h
ange
f
or pro
d
uct UPC
barcodes and electronic exchan
g
e of purchase orders, Advance Shipment Notifications and invoices. We use
e
nterprise data warehouse and customer relationship mana
g
ement software to mana
g
e the “DSW Rewards”
p
rogram. T
hi
sa
ll
ows us to support, expan
d
an
di
ntegrate “DSW Rewar
d
s” w
i
t
h
t
h
e POS system to
i
mprove t
h
e
c
ustomer ex
p
erience.
C
ompetitio
n
We view our primary competitors to be department stores. We also compete with mall-based company stores
,
n
at
i
ona
l
c
h
a
i
ns,
i
n
d
epen
d
ent s
h
oe reta
il
ers, s
i
n
gl
e-
b
ran
d
spec
i
a
l
t
y
reta
il
ers, on
li
ne s
h
oe reta
il
ers, mu
l
t
i
-c
h
anne
l
s
pec
i
a
l
t
y
reta
il
ers an
db
ran
d
-or
i
ente
ddi
scounters. We
b
e
li
eve s
h
oppers pre
f
er our remar
k
a
bl
ese
l
ect
i
on o
f
on-tren
d
m
erchandise compared to product offerin
g
s of our competitors because those retailers
g
enerall
y
offer a more
li
m
i
te
d
se
l
ect
i
on at
hi
g
h
er
i
n
i
t
i
a
l
pr
i
ces,
i
na
l
ess conven
i
ent
f
ormat t
h
an DSW an
d
w
i
t
h
out t
h
e mem
b
ers
hi
p
b
ene
fi
ts
of the “DSW Rewards” pro
g
ram. In addition, we also believe that we successfull
y
compete a
g
ainst retailers who
have attempted to duplicate our format because the
y
t
y
picall
y
offer assortments with fewer reco
g
nizable brands an
d
m
ore sty
l
es
f
rom pr
i
or seasons.
Intellectual Pro
p
ert
y
We
h
ave re
gi
stere
d
a num
b
er o
f
tra
d
emar
k
san
d
serv
i
ce mar
k
s
i
nt
h
eUn
i
te
d
States an
di
nternat
i
ona
lly
,
i
ncluding DS
W
»
a
nd DSW Shoe Warehouse
»
.
The renewal dates for these U.S. trademarks are A
p
ril 2
5
, 201
5
an
d
Ma
y
23, 2015, respectivel
y
. We believe that our trademarks and service marks, especiall
y
those related to the DSW
c
oncept,
h
ave s
ig
n
ifi
cant va
l
ue an
d
are
i
mportant to
b
u
ildi
n
g
our name reco
g
n
i
t
i
on. To protect our
b
ran
did
ent
i
t
y
,
we have also protected the DSW trademark in several forei
g
n countries
.
We a
l
so
h
o
ld
patents re
l
ate
d
to our un
i
que store
fi
xture, w
hi
c
h
g
i
ves us greater e
ffi
c
i
ency
i
n stoc
ki
ng an
d
operatin
g
those stores that currentl
y
have the fixture. We a
gg
ressivel
y
protect our patented fixture desi
g
ns, as wel
l
as our pac
k
ag
i
ng, store
d
es
i
gn e
l
ements, mar
k
et
i
ng s
l
ogans an
d
grap
hi
cs
.
A
ssocia
t
es
As o
f
Januar
y
31, 2009, we emp
l
o
y
e
d
approx
i
mate
ly
10,000 assoc
i
ates. None o
f
our assoc
i
ates are covere
dby
any collective bargaining agreements. We offer competitive wages, comprehensive medical and dental insurance
,
vision care, company-paid and supplemental life insurance programs, associate-paid long-term and short-term
di
sa
bili
t
yi
nsurance an
d
a 401(
k
)p
l
an to our
f
u
ll
-t
i
me assoc
i
ates an
d
some o
f
our part-t
i
me assoc
i
ates. We
h
ave no
t
e
xperienced an
y
work stoppa
g
es, and we consider our relations with our associates to be
g
ood
.
Seasonalit
y
Our
b
us
i
ness
i
ssu
bj
ect to seasona
l
tren
d
s. T
h
esa
l
es
i
n our DSW stores
h
ave typ
i
ca
ll
y
b
een
hi
g
h
er
i
nt
h
e
fi
rst
and third quarters, when our customers’ interest in new seasonal st
y
les increases. Unlike man
y
other retailers, we
have not historicall
y
experienced a lar
g
e increase in net sales durin
g
our fourth quarter associated with the winte
r
h
o
lid
ay season.
9