Neiman Marcus buys Seattle tech firm that helps it mix shops and on-line buying

Neiman Marcus is buying a Seattle-based tech company that has helped it accelerate its distance selling during the pandemic and said it plans to make several more investments to expand its capabilities.

The Dallas-based luxury retailer said Tuesday that it will acquire Stylyze Inc., a developer of a machine learning sales platform, but did not disclose a price. Neiman Marcus said the acquisition is part of a three-year plan to invest more than $ 500 million to strengthen its digital business, which includes moving Irving’s warehouse operations to Pinnacle Park in Dallas.

The debt-reducing restructuring of Neiman Marcus, which was completed last year, makes it easier to pursue the digital strategy. At the end of April, Neiman Marcus was $ 1.1 billion in debt, up from $ 5.1 billion before his financial restructuring a year ago. The company gave a snapshot of its newfound flexibility: $ 850 million in cash compared to $ 132 million last year. It also has a $ 900 million line of credit that it hasn’t tapped.

Neiman Marcus has been working with Stylyze since 2018 and is a key company behind the retailer’s remote selling platform Connect, which more than 3,000 store stylists use to integrate digital with physical shopping.

Since the launch of Connect, sales reps have completed more than 5 million interaction sessions and placed hundreds of thousands of orders on the platform. Neiman Marcus stepped up the use of the tool when his stores closed during the pandemic.

“We knew the recovery was coming and we are witnessing the return of luxury as it accelerates,” said Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck. “The acquisition of Stylyze will enable us to advance our strategy of integrated luxury and build long-term relationships with our luxury customers.”

A men’s stylist from Neiman Marcus uses the Connect platform to help a customer shop remotely.

Comparable sales for the retailer’s third fiscal quarter, which ended in April, were unchanged from 2019 and above plan. With pre-pandemic sales performance reached, e-commerce sales have soared from a historical level of around 30% to 35%. NM.com has approximately 12 million customers monthly and the retailer added 263,000 new customers in the third quarter.

Although it has more competition than it did a few years ago from brands that sell direct to consumers and luxury goods resale, van Raemdonck said that Neiman Marcus is still the largest luxury e-commerce company in the US and customer service Must excel both online and in stores.

Because of this, the company is planning acquisitions that will give it proprietary tools, he said. “Luxury is not a self-service model, great service can also be offered digitally, and we are finding ways to equip our employees.”

The average Neiman Marcus store clerk has been with the company for nine years, selling $ 750,000 worth of merchandise a year, he said for building customer relationships.

The acquisition of Stylyze is expected to be completed in the fall of this year.

Kristen Miller, CEO and Co-Founder of Stylyze, said her employees are ready to rapidly develop “unique and distinctive digitally assisted” services for the retailer.

Bob Kupbens, Neiman Marcus’ chief product and technology officer, said the two companies now have a “common direction” and plan to integrate Connect with other digital tools such as e-commerce, mobile apps, messaging, chat and phone calls examine.

Working with Miller and her employees with Kupbens, who worked in Customer Experiences at Apple, eBay and Delta Airlines before joining Neiman Marcus in February, makes recruiting easier for Neiman Marcus, says van Raemdonck. “Talent attracts talent.”

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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