6 Trademarks Dressbarn®, Maurices®, Justice®, YVOS®, Brothers And
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Trademarks dressbarn®, maurices®, Justice®, YVOS®, Brothers and Studio Y® are our owned trademarks. In addition, we have a one year license that is renewable in perpetuity (so long as certain notice requirements are met) for the Limited Too® trade name which is considered an defensive intangible asset. We have U.S. Certificates of Registration of Trademark and trademark applications pending for the operating names of our stores and our major private label merchandise brands. We believe our “dressbarn,” “maurices,” “Justice,” “YVOS” and “Studio Y” trademarks are material to the continued success of our business. We also believe that our rights to these trademarks are adequately protected. E-commerce Over the past couple of years, the Company focused on better developing its e-commerce channel across brands by leveraging the expertise of the pre-existing, e-commerce operations of Justice. All of our brands now have e-commerce operations. Total e- commerce revenues amounted to approximately $100 million during Fiscal 2011, an increase of approximately 150% over the prior year period. We continue to develop our e-commerce platform and believe this will be an on-going source of sales growth in future periods. Our segments sell products online through their domestic e-commerce sites: • dressbarn segment – www.dressbarn.com • maurices segment – www.maurices.com • Justice segment –www.shopjustice.com and www.shopbrothers.com Product Licensing We earn licensing revenue through our Justice brand’s international franchised stores along with advertising and other “tween-right” marketing initiatives with partner companies. Licensing revenue is less than 1% of our consolidated annual net sales. Justice has 37 international franchise stores located in the following countries: Australia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Sourcing During Fiscal 2011, Justice increased its direct sourcing penetration from its previous levels. Through Justice’s sourcing offices in Seoul, South Korea, and Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, Justice continues to develop and expand relationships with manufacturing partners within sourcing networks, enabling Justice to control the quality of goods, while achieving speed to market and better/favorable pricing. With Justice’s successful sourcing operations, Justice is able to eliminate the middleman, reduce costs and increase initial markup. Justice has registered marks in foreign countries to the degree necessary to protect these marks, although there may be restrictions on the use of these marks in a limited number of foreign jurisdictions. International Store Expansion Our Justice division opened 6 stores in Canada during the second half of Fiscal 2011 and is planning on additional expansion in Canada during Fiscal 2012. In addition, we are planning to expand our international presence in Canada by introducing our dressbarn and maurices stores during the next two years. Office and Distribution Centers For a detailed discussion of our office and distribution centers, see Part I, Item 2 “Properties” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Management Information Systems Our management information systems make the design, marketing, importing and distribution of our products more efficient by providing, among other things, comprehensive order processing, product and design information, and accounting information. We are currently undergoing an initiative to standardize certain information systems across brands including a common general ledger, financial planning and consolidations platform. The project is expected to be completed by the end of Fiscal 2012. 6 .