California Apparel News

Tilly’s Inc., a multibrand, casual-clothing retailer, named Jon Kosoff as its chief digital officer on Feb. 24. He will direct the Irvine, Calif.–based company’s e-commerce business.

Kosoff has a long résumé in running e-commerce operations, said Ed Thomas, Tilly’s president and chief executive officer.

“Jon brings nearly 20 years of direct experience in managing e-commerce and customer-relationship-management operations to Tilly’s,” he said. “I am excited to be working with someone of his caliber to continue to grow and improve our e-commerce business.”

Kosoff most recently served as vice president of e-commerce and performance marketing at the fast-food chain Taco Bell. He also helmed e-commerce at a number of high-profile California retailers such as Hot Topic, Bebe and Wet Seal.

Kosoff joined the company as it campaigns to revive its sales, which stumbled during the crucial holiday 2019 season. Same-store sales for its bricks-and-mortar stores declined 2.7 percent during the holiday season, according to a Tilly’s statement that was released on Jan. 13.

Its holiday e-commerce, which had been one of the company’s star performers, posted anemic gains. E-commerce net gains increased 1 percent during the 2019 holiday compared to explosive growth of 42.8 percent during the 2018 holiday season. E-commerce is an important part of the Tilly’s holiday business. E-commerce made up 19.5 percent of the retailer’s holiday net sales. Because of the holiday decline, Tilly’s revised its fiscal 2019 fourth-quarter comparable-store net sales to decrease by 2 percent to 3 percent compared to the same quarter the previous year. Tilly’s will announce its fourth quarter results on March 12.