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The purpose of this paper is to assess one fashion retailer’s use and implementation of a Web site. The article adopts a case study approach using Schuh, an established fashion footwear retailer operating on the high streets of the UK and Northern Ireland. Research data were collected through exploratory interviews with both the marketing director of Schuh and Marketing and PR personnel of Shoeworld, a Yorkshire based footwear retailer who have developed an electronic footwear shopping mall, and who were responsible for setting up Schuh’s Web site pages. This work also considers how other fashion retailers are currently using their Web sites. With the inclusion of Schuh, very few are using it for transactional purposes; therefore further consideration is given to why this should be the case.

Much attention, both within the popular media and the academic milieu, is devoted to presenting a very positive image of the Internet in terms of its usefulness and its importance within the business environment of the 1990s. The above statements convey that any company can ill afford not to have a presence on the Internet. The objective of this paper is to establish whether a strategic intention exists for companies being on the Internet or whether there is an element of ‘keeping up with the Jones's’. This has been achieved by undertaking investigative research in order to establish the reason why companies, who already have a presence on the Internet, have selected to be there. The research will concentrate on clothing retailers operating within the UK marketplace. In all, it is hoped that this research will go some way to offering a more focused view on the use of the Internet and its potential as part of a viable strategy for clothing retail marketing.

A recent development within the UK fashion sector has been the adoption by younger consumers of products and brands which have been traditionally targeted towards older customer groups. While previous research has tended to focus upon developing an understanding of the motivations which lead young consumers to adopt, adapt and in some cases undermine the brands and products typically associated with other demographic groups, little attention has been given to the role that fashion companies play in this process of market extension and development. By examining the activities of four fashion companies which have successfully extended into the youth market, the research identifies the varying strategic approaches that these firms adopted as well as the alterations they were required to make in order to satisfy the needs of this new group of customers. The research concludes by examining the long‐term implications of this type of market development.

The second annual conference of the Research Alliance of Fashion and Textiles (RAFT), hosted by the Department of Clothing Design and Technology of Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), took place in Manchester in June.

On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined to replace the XT and AT models that are the mainstay of the firm's current personal computer offerings. The numerous changes in hardware and software, while representing improvements on previous IBM technology, will require users purchasing additional computers to make difficult choices as to which of the two IBM architectures to adopt.

Whilst increasing numbers of firms have launched themselves on the Internet, evidence suggests that they are doing this without any consideration of the strategic implications of developing, implementing or running a Web site. Adopting a strategic perspective, the aim of this paper is to critically examine the potential growth opportunities of on‐line retailers together with identification of consumer value a Web site may offer. In being accountable to their shareholders, these firms’ efforts must make a profit. For those wishing to recoup their investments in a short time frame, it seems that putting funds into e‐commerce firms is not recommended. Rather e‐commerce is for long term play.

This section of the Journal is entitled News and Views. It can include practitioner papers, news, events, conference reports, calls for papers, trend summaries, statistics, working papers, etc. Submissions are invited from both academic and industry sources. Contributions are welcome and because this section has a shorter lead time than the main body of the Journal we will be accepting and including ‘copy’ right up to going to press.

John Cole shows how consumer demand for fewer additives provides the smaller food manufacturers with an ideal opportunity for product development.

Welcome to the new section of the Journal entitled News and Views. This section will include practitioner papers, news, events, conference reports, calls for papers, trend summaries, statistics, working papers etc. Submissions are invited from both academic and industry sources.

As we opened this chapter in relation with Loyla's life, we did so with a transcript excerpt from a research conversation in which Loyla spoke about a series of experiences shaping much unhappiness in her life; they were experiences also creating significant concern for Orie. On the day in May when Loyla, Orie, and Janice engaged in the conversation from which the transcript excerpt is taken, Orie and Loyla had, just hours prior, participated in an after-school meeting with Mrs. Gallagher. Orie explained to Janice that she had requested the meeting as a result of a series of situations unfolding over a number of months between Loyla, Cicily, and Ahlam. Recounting the events to Janice, Orie began with Loyla's shift in inviting Ahlam to her birthday party. Initially, Loyla suggested Ahlam as a friend she wanted to invite but then, the next morning, she told Orie she no longer wanted to invite Ahlam because Cicily had said that if Ahlam was invited, she would not attend (Journal entry, Orie, December 8, 2008).