Targeting major retailers running their direct-to-consumer units on in-house technology, Limited Brands and a partner have launched n2N Commerce, a provider of on-demand e-commerce technology whose first job is rebuilding the web and catalog operations of Limited’s marquee brand, Victoria’s Secret.
Victoria’s Secret expects to launch on n2N Commerce in the second half of this year, replacing a 15-year-old mainframe system developed in-house, Victoria’s Secret president and CEO Sharen Turney tells InternetRetailer.com. By leveraging n2N’s suite of new-generation technology, including Ajax and other new web-technology applications, Victoria’s Secret will be able to interact with customers in real time through shopping behavior-triggered online merchandising displays and e-mail promotions, Turney says. “This will allow us to collaborate with the customer, and share customer knowledge across our call center and web site,” she says.
Limited Brands, No. 43 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, and investment firm General Catalyst Partners have together provided $30 million in financing to launch n2N Commerce, based in Cambridge, MA. Stan Dolberg, formerly chief research officer at research and advisory firm Forrester Research and now chief marketing officer at n2N, says the new company expects to serve other large, multi-channel retailers who are ready to move from platforms based on in-house and multi-vendor technology applications to a single on-demand system accessed over the Internet.
“The concept of n2N came out of looking at the pain Limited Brands was having in owning and operating its own technology,” says Ruben Pinchanski, CEO of n2N and a former executive vice president of Limited’s web operations. N2N will operate independently of Limited Brands, he adds.
N2N is working with several e-commerce technology partners, who will help develop on-demand applications. The partners include executives from e-commerce technology and services companies Allurent Inc., which develops online shopping carts and other applications; Demandware, which provides on-demand e-commerce technology to brands and retailers including Playmobil, Gardener's Supply Co. and The Vermont Teddy Bear Co.; and ChoiceStream, a provider of online personalization technology.
Although n2N is targeting multi-channel retailers, the company isn’t planning to integrate its technology platform with retailers’ store point-of-sale and other store systems. But the flexibility of its platform would let retailers build such integration if they wanted it, Dolberg says.
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