EVANSVILLE, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shoe Carnival, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCVL) a leading retailer of value-priced footwear and accessories, appointed Kent Zimmerman as Vice President E-Commerce, effective Monday, June 3, 2013. In this position, Mr. Zimmerman will oversee the Company’s e-commerce and omni-channel strategies.
“We believe Shoe Carnival has a tremendous opportunity to grow our e-commerce and overall omni-channel presence in the family footwear industry and we are extremely excited to welcome Kent to the Shoe Carnival team,” said Cliff Sifford, Shoe Carnival’s President and CEO. “We look forward to Kent’s future contributions and we believe his extensive experience and proven track record of building successful, direct-to-consumer businesses from the ground up will help to drive our emerging online growth, improve Shoe Carnival’s omni-channel customer experience, and enhance sales and profitability long-term.”
Mr. Zimmerman joins Shoe Carnival with over 15 years of experience in the e-commerce industry, having launched and managed highly successful direct-to-consumer organizations in the footwear, retail and manufacturing industries. Most recently, he worked for Optaros, Inc., a global systems integration and solutions provider, which develops and builds solutions designed to accelerate growth for leading corporations including Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Macy’s. Mr. Zimmerman also worked from 2000 to 2007 for The Finish Line to help build and grow their direct-to-consumer business, as well as led design and development efforts of their omni-channel inventory systems. Throughout his career, Mr. Zimmerman has helped leading consumer companies on multiple facets of their e-commerce businesses, including development of personalization strategies, driving operational best practices, and site conversion optimization.
Mr. Zimmerman stated, “I am very pleased to join Shoe Carnival, as this new role enables me to leverage my direct-to-consumer background to help accelerate sales of their broad assortment of moderately priced footwear for the entire family across multi-channels as the Company continues to further expand their retail locations in new and existing markets in the US and Puerto Rico.”
About Shoe Carnival
Shoe Carnival, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest family footwear retailers, offering a broad assortment of value-priced dress, casual and athletic footwear for men, women and children with an emphasis on national and regional name brands. As of June 5, 2013, the Company operates 363 stores in 32 states and Puerto Rico, and offers online shopping at www.shoecarnival.com. Headquartered in Evansville, IN, Shoe Carnival trades on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC under the symbol SCVL. Shoe Carnival's press releases and annual report are available on the Company's website at www.shoecarnival.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in the areas of the continental United States and Puerto Rico in which our stores are located; the effects and duration of economic downturns and unemployment rates; changes in the overall retail environment and more specifically in the apparel and footwear retail sectors; our ability to generate increased sales at our stores; the potential impact of national and international security concerns on the retail environment; changes in our relationships with key suppliers; the impact of competition and pricing; changes in weather patterns, consumer buying trends and our ability to identify and respond to emerging fashion trends; the impact of disruptions in our distribution or information technology operations; the effectiveness of our inventory management; the impact of hurricanes or other natural disasters on our stores, as well as on consumer confidence and purchasing in general; risks associated with the seasonality of the retail industry; our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy, including the availability of desirable store locations at acceptable lease terms, our ability to open new stores in a timely and profitable manner, including our entry into major new markets, and the availability of sufficient funds to implement our growth plans; higher than anticipated costs associated with the closing of underperforming stores; our ability to successfully grow our e-commerce business; the inability of manufacturers to deliver products in a timely manner; changes in the political and economic environments in China, Brazil, Europe and East Asia, where the primary manufacturers of footwear are located; the impact of regulatory changes in the United States and the countries where our manufacturers are located; and the continued favorable trade relations between the United States and China and the other countries which are the major manufacturers of footwear.
In addition, these forward-looking statements necessarily depend upon assumptions, estimates and dates that may be incorrect or imprecise and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Accordingly, any forward-looking statements included in this press release do not purport to be predictions of future events or circumstances and may not be realized. Forward-looking statements can be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking terms such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “pro forma,” “anticipates,” “intends” or the negative of any of these terms, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy or intentions. Given these uncertainties, we caution investors not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We disclaim any obligation to update any of these factors or to publicly announce any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect future events or developments.