What a difference a new CEO can make: The Children’s Place has made a dramatic recovery since CEO Jane Elfers took over in 2010.
Back then the retailer was struggling with obsolescent manual inventory and financial-reporting systems, fallout from an options backdating scandal under the previous management, and a dispute over its operation of the Disney Store chain, which it owned for a time, notes The Wall Street Journal.
The Children's Place CEO Jane Elfers
Elfers moved quickly to close underperforming stores, update the systems and strike a deal with Amazon.com to carry Children’s Place merchandise on its site. All of this has yielded results, with net income up by 14 percent for the fiscal year ended in February, and sales up by 18 percent.
In March the retailer agreed to buy the assets and intellectual property of competitors Gymboree and Crazy 8.
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT
